How the rankings work and becoming Professional
Professional status
From 2025 the process has been updated to gradually introduce a promotion and relegation system.
In order to guarantee to become a Professional player, you must finish in the top 4 in the Amateur ranking list, after the final Tour event has been completed in the Isle of Man
If you reach the top 4, the IPA Secretary will contact you by the 30th November, and ask if you wish to become a Professional player. All players that wish to take up the status will be nominated at the following AGM and voted in by the current Professional players. It is at this point you are deemed to be Professional – not before. Your Pro status takes effect from Tour 1 and not at the World Championships.
The top 4 in the Amateur rankings at the end of the season, must take up Pro status for the following season. Failure to do so, will result in a 12 month suspension from the IPA Tour. Players would be able to enter other IPA events.
Players ranked 5 to 16 have the option to accept Pro status or not depending on availability of places. Professional player places are currently capped at 64.
Rankings
The system works on 2 years rolling ranking points list(Amateur rankings are based on 1 year)
At the end of each event, the player with the most ranking points is the Number 1 ranked player for the next event. This is based on the last 2 years points accumulated.
When we start the new year at Tour 1, the points gained from the same event 2 years ago are removed, and the new points gained are added. This continues throughout the year.
In the following example, Gareth has 30 points in total for the 2 years, of which 20 were gained in 2018, and 10 of those were accumulated from Tour 1.
He gained 4 points in the 2020 event, so these are added to his total and the 10 points from 2018 are removed, giving a new running total of 24 points. A second example is included for Craig Marsh. He had 25 points in total, then loses 2 points and gains 8 points, giving a new running total of 31 points, and he would therefore be the number 1 seed for the next event.
| 2018 Total | 2019 Total | Total | 2020(Event 1) | New Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gareth Hibbott | 20 (10) | 10 | 30 | 4 | 24 |
| Craig Marsh | 10 (2) | 15 | 25 | 8 | 31 |
The ranking point structure is as follows:
| Tours 1-4 Pro, Ladies, Amateur Tours 1-5 Open | Grand Final - Pro, Ladies, Amateur | World Championships | |
| Winner | 25 | 35 | 50 |
| R Up | 20 | 28 | 40 |
| Semi | 16 | 22 | 32 |
| Quarter | 13 | 18 | 26 |
| Last 16 | 10 | 14 | 20 |
| Last 32 | 8 | 11 | 16 |
| Last 64 | 6 | 8 | 12 |
| Last 128 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Round 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Round 1 | 1 | 2 |
Year 1 (2025) – No relegation. Top 4 Amateurs will qualify to turn Professional. Additional places will be offered from the 5th ranked player onwards (or wild cards) depending on availability
Year 2 – Relegation is introduced at the end of the season. Players ranked above 56 will be relegated and a minimum 8 Amateur players will move up to Professional status
Year 3 onwards – Bottom 8 Professionals replaced by 8 Amateurs