2020 Championship League Snooker Final Group Winner Odds & Tips

Brecel can justify his favouritism in event climax

Stuart Bingham / England ©imago images / ChinaImages 12.02.2020

The final round-robin group of the 2020 Snooker Championship is now set. All matches from the final group will be completed on June 11th, 2020.

So the tournament, the first professional event following the Covid-19 lockdown will be settled.

In this snooker betting preview, we will be taking a look at what is in store for that final group.

It is a group which is missing some big names.

Notably World Number One Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan who both failed to win their Group Winners’ groups.

Championship League Outright Winner Odds

Stuart Bingham 7/4
Ryan Day 12/5
Luca Brecel 11/4
Ben Woolaston 11/2
* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 00:55 GMT on Thursday, 11th June 2020)

How we arrived at the final table

The four groups in the Group Winners’ stage produced some fascinating action. None of the four players to make it through to the final group, managed to win all three of their fixtures in their respective groups.

So there were some tight squeezes.

2020 Masters champion Stuart Bingham had one. He finished level on points with Sam Cragie and Ronnie O’Sullivan, so he got through on Frame Difference.

So too did Ben Woollaston from Group D. He posted a W2 L1 record in his group. Both Luca Brecel and Ryan Day took W1 D2 records from their respective groups.

It was Group B that produced the biggest shock with Ryan Day thrashing world number one Judd Trump to go on and win the section.

Final Group Format

Everything stays the same for the final group of the 2020 Championship Snooker. The round-robin format says in place.

It’s simply the man who tops the table who walks away with the non-ranking title. Matches will be contested over 4 frames.

Stuart Bingham

Naturally now, former World Champion Stuart Bingham is going to be topping out this field of four.

The Englishman posted a W1 D2 record in his first stage group, only getting top spot because of a Highest Break decider over Ricky Walden.

That put him through to the Group Winners’ stage where his biggest challenger was Ronnie O’Sullivan.

The group didn’t get off to a great start with Bingham losing to Sam Craigie. But then he bounced back to secure a 3-0 success over Harvey Chandler, before going into the big showdown with O’Sullivan.

The reigning Masters champion defied some big odds to get a 3-0 win on the board in that contest, which saw him finish level on points with both Craigie and O’Sullivan.

But Bingham topped the group on frame-difference.

Bingham having produced that must-win performance in that final match, could speak volumes about him.

He did exactly what he had to do in that match to get the group win, against a player that he has such a poor record against.

Bingham is the 7/4 outright favourite for the title* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 00:55 GMT on Thursday, 11th June 2020).

Bingham reached the semi-final of the 2009 Championship League and claimed the title in 2015.

Ryan Day

The big challenge for Wales’ Ryan Day in the first round was getting the better of Kyren Wilson in the round-robin.

Those two met in the final match of the group and it was a group decider as well. A winner-takes-all scenario. Day won the match 3-1.

That put him through to a group which contained World Number One Judd Trump, David Gilbert and Barry Hawkins, the most stacked of the four Group Winners’ groups.

After blasting out a 3-0 underdog win over Trump in the opening match, Day then took back to back draws against the other two.

Come the final match of the tournament, Day knew that he just had to avoid defeat against Hawkins to get the group win.

Day is a 12/5 option to land the 2020 Championship League title* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 00:55 GMT on Thursday, 11th June 2020).

Day reached the semi-finals on his 2008 Championship League debut, with his best performance coming when he finished runner up in 2017.

Luca Brecel

Belgium’s Luca Brecel came through the first round by holding off the challenge of Jack Lisowski in Group 9.

There was a 2-2 between the two players in the final group match, which left Brecel moving ahead at the expense of the latter due to the Highest Break tiebreaker.

Brecel was up against Gary Wilson, Mark Joyce and Ashley Carty at the Group Winners’ stage.

It was a 1-2 record that he took there, the lone success coming against Ashley Carty. Brecel recorded a top break of 138 in the first round and 109 in the Group Winners’ stage.

This is just the third appearance at the Championship League for Brecel, having failed at the first stage in the previous two.

Ben Woollaston

Woolaston is the outsider to take the title out of the final four players remaining at 11/2.

He came through the initial stage with a 2-1 record against some fairly low-ranking opponents Jimmy Robertson, Liam Highfield and Thor Chuan Leong.

In the Group Winners’ stage, Woolaston did get a friendly draw too in taking on Martin O’Donnell, Tom Ford and Liang Wenbo.

It was very solid progress made from the Enlgihsmen to post a W2 L1 record. Woollaston has scored three centuries in the tournament.

Woolaston reached the semi-final stage in his Championship League debut in 2015.

Final Group Match Order (including head to head records)

Stuart Bingham v Luca Brecel (5-1)
Ryan Day – Ben Woolaston (2-2)
Ryan Day – Luca Brecel (5-3)
Stuart Bingham – Ben Woolaston (2-1)
Luca Brecel – Ben Woollaston (1-1)
Stuart Bingham – Ryan Day (15-7)

Championship League Snooker Final Group Predictions

If you are looking at the head to head, then Bingham holds some advantage here. He has a positive head to head record against each of the other contenders in the group.

You would have to imagine as well that having produced the goods against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the Group Winners’ stage, then Bingham should have some wind in his sails.

He does justify his 7/4 favouritism* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 00:55 GMT on Thursday, 11th June 2020).

Woollaston hasn’t been under big pressure against top players in this tournament and so there is a question mark over how he will handle that. Brecel has drawn four of his six matches at this year’s event.

The final match of the Final Group is Stuart Bingham v Ryan Day.

That’s likely to be the big showdown. With Bingham well up in the head to head against Day, then it is hard to look past the favourite when it comes to lifting the 2020 Championship League title.