Fair play to Ding to make a max, a quality break especially as earlier on he was clearly going for the more difficult shots to make the 147 happen. Nice to see that Neil was so pleased for him also (his recent tweet backs that up)

As for the Welsh Open itself, being based in Cardiff Arena with a best of 128 proved last year to be a foundation year after being in Newport for a while (I went to Newport and quite liked the venue and setting) - but this year the players have got used to it and so are knocking in quality breaks and the concerns from last year seem to have been addressed.

Shame I can't get to Llandudno for the World Grand Prix: quite enjoyed that last year and a nice venue to boot. Well worth going if you're based up North and can get there.

You know I think Ronnie could be playing better than ever this week, he has been outstanding.

One thing the commentators said was he can only qualify for the World Grand Prix if he wins this, how come ?

This is the Ronnie that the other players thank their lucky stars goes missing at some tournaments.

I just think it's incredible what he is doing.. at this stage of his career. I keep waiting for the inevitable slow down we saw with Davis.. with Hendry.. with all the other greats. And it never seems to start happening. He's unbeatable when he plays like this. It's a pleasure to watch. It's like he's in a small snooker hall practicing.

I'd love to know who his optician is

Because it's based money won only from after the 2015 Worlds onwards, i.e this season up to and including the Gdynia PTC, and obviously he's missed a lot of tournaments

I know that but I would have thought even a semi final or final place here would get him in the 32

Nope he's gotta win it - see here:

http://www.prosnookerblog.com/rankin...ld-grand-prix/

He's only won £1500 before this from the German Masters...

Mind you he might give it the flick anyway

Ah I thought it was from the Worlds inclusive

That was Ding's 6th competitive 147 which is impressive and shows he's as good a break builder as anyone when he's on song.

Pretty sure it was last year, bit confusing

Does anyone know how Snooker on the BBC does in ratings these days?

Well the last snooker on the BBC was The Masters. The final ( which attracted most viewers ) had 2.11m viewers on the night and 1.53m on the afternoon.

Don't think you can look past Ronnie and Robertson for the final..

Bonus snooker! Eurosport now showing the Woolly V Perry match

or maybe not

Do you know how that compares to previous finals that Ronnie wasn't involved in?

Well the 2015 Masters Final ( Murphy v Robertson ) had 1.89m in the evening and 1.39m in the afternoon

The World Final in 2015 ( Bingham V Murphy ) - The final session on the Monday night 3.33m, easily BBC2's most watched programme of the week. The 2014 final which Ronnie was in was 3.36m so nothing in it really

Only fair after my grumble earlier to praise Eurosport for their coverage today.
Not only ignoring the EPG to show all of the O'Sullivan masterclass but also switching to the Perry match after Allen wrapped up his easy victory.
Not that I saw any of that because I switched straight over at the end of the first match- berk that I am.

Was wondering however why they couldn't have started at 10.30 this morning like they have all week and have all 4 quarters on the match table?

Thanks.

Any place to look at historical snooker viewing figures?

I got them from BARB website

I've been looking at this site recently:

http://www.tvratingsuk.com/*********

EDIT: add 'UK Ratings' to that link without the space, no idea why its blocked out...

Not sure how far back it goes but its definitely something which I will be looking at in the future. Always tells you the figure for BBC2 at 7pm so will be useful when the Worlds are on in April/May.

Bit of needle between Allen and White:

http://www.inside-snooker.com/snooke...en-beats-white

He still looks like Jeffrey Fairbrother in that pic

Great 147 by Ding. Especially the colours.

Are them figures reasonable still? As in good enough yo keep Snooker on the BBC for the foreseeable future?