The 2018 Q School was a series of three snooker tournaments held at the start of the 2018–19 snooker season.[1] An event for amateur players, it served as a qualification event for a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the following two seasons. The events took place in May 2018 at the Meadowside Leisure Centre in Burton-upon-Trent, England with a total 12 players qualifying via the three tournaments.
Format
The 2018 Q School consisted of three events. The three events had 202 entries competing for 12 places on the main tour, four players qualifying from each of the three events. All matches were the best of seven frames.[2][3]
A Q School Order of Merit was produced for players who failed to gain a place on the main tour. The Order of Merit was used to top up fields for the 2018–19 snooker season where an event failed to attract the required number of entries.[12] The rankings in the Order of Merit were based on the number of frames won in the three Q School events. Players who received a bye into the second round were awarded four points for round one. Where players were equal, those who won the most frames in the first event were ranked higher and, if still equal, the player with most frames in event two.[13]
The following table shows the rankings of the 12 qualifiers from the 2018 Q School, at the end of the 2019–20 snooker season, the end of their two guaranteed seasons on the tour, together with their tour status for the 2020–21 snooker season. Players in the top-64 of the rankings retained their place on the tour while those outside the top-64 lost their place unless they qualified under a different category.[16][17]