The 2011 Q School was a series of three snooker tournaments held at the start of the 2011–12 snooker season. An event for amateur players, it served as a qualification event for a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the following seasons. The events took place in May 2011 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England with a total 12 players qualifying via the three tournaments.

Format

The 2011 Q School consisted of three events with 12 qualification places available. ^{[1] [2]} The two events had 124 entries competing for the 12 places on the main tour, four players qualifying from each of the three events. ^[2] All matches were the best of seven frames. ^[3]

Event 1

The first 2011 Q School event was held from 11 to 16 May 2011 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England. Andrew Norman, David Grace, Adam Wicheard and Robin Hull qualified. ^{[4] [5]} The results of the four final matches are given below. ^[3]

•   Andrew Norman ( ENG) 4–3   Chen Zhe ( CHN)
•   David Grace ( ENG) 4–1   Zhang Anda ( CHN)
•   Adam Wicheard ( ENG) 4–1   Fraser Patrick ( SCO)
•   Robin Hull ( FIN) 4–3   David Gilbert ( ENG)

Event 2

The second 2011 Q School event was held from 17 to 22 May 2011 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England. Li Yan, David Morris, Simon Bedford and Tian Pengfei qualified. ^{[6] [7]} The results of the four final matches are given below. ^[8]

•   Li Yan ( CHN) 4–1   David Gray ( ENG)
•   David Morris ( IRL) 4–3   Michael Wild ( ENG)
•   Simon Bedford ( ENG) 4–3   Lee Walker ( WAL)
•   Tian Pengfei ( CHN) 4–2   David Gilbert ( ENG)

Event 3

The third 2011 Q School event was held from 23 to 28 May 2011 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England. Kurt Maflin, Stuart Carrington, Adam Duffy and David Gilbert qualified. ^{[9] [10]} The results of the four final matches are given below. ^[11]

•   Kurt Maflin ( NOR) 4–1   Martin O'Donnell ( ENG)
•   Stuart Carrington ( ENG) 4–2   Stephen Craigie ( ENG)
•   Adam Duffy ( ENG) 4–2   David Gray ( ENG)
•   David Gilbert ( ENG) 4–1   Allan Taylor ( ENG)

Performance of qualifiers

The following table shows the rankings of the 12 qualifiers from the 2011 Q School, at the end of the 2011–12 snooker season, together with their tour status for the 2012–13 snooker season. Unlike subsequent Q Schools, qualifiers were only guaranteed a single season on the tour. Since the world rankings were determined over two seasons, new players were given "starter points" to compensate them (see Snooker world ranking points 2011/2012). 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. ^{[12] [13]}

Player	End of 2011–12 season		Status for 2012–13 season
	Points	Ranking
Andrew Norman ( ENG)	18,000	78	Amateur
David Grace ( ENG)	17,565	80	Qualified through the PTC Order of Merit [14]
Adam Wicheard ( ENG)	15,715	85	Amateur
Robin Hull ( FIN)	10,925	94	Amateur
Li Yan ( CHN)	20,215	68	Qualified through the PTC Order of Merit [14]
David Morris ( IRL)	18,835	73	Amateur
Simon Bedford ( ENG)	12,970	89	Qualified through the PTC Order of Merit [14]
Tian Pengfei ( CHN)	17,280	81	Qualified as Chinese nominee
Kurt Maflin ( NOR)	18,450	74	Qualified through the PTC Order of Merit [14]
Stuart Carrington ( ENG)	11,545	92	Amateur
Adam Duffy ( ENG)	20,865	62	Retained place on tour
David Gilbert ( ENG)	23,420	57	Retained place on tour

References