The second of the Home Series events, the Northern Ireland Open 2018 starts today.
Ronnie is scheduled to play tomorrow, facing Soheil Vahedi. I don’t think that he’s particularly looking forward to the 128 players field, but he usually loves to be in Ireland.
Here is a reminder of what happened in the first event, the English Open 2018 … the re-rack and another 147.
And, if Ronnie drops off the tour or gets really fed-up with snooker, he’s already found another job (only kidding)
Although I’m not so sure it’s a numpty free zone…
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
It’s too bad that these events have to be so jam-packed together. After winning the CoC, Ronnie is more or less faced with a decision of (1) making an honest effort to win in Northern Ireland, which would probably reduce his chances of winning the UK, or (2) prioritizing the UK, which would probably require him to lose relatively early in Belfast.
As much as I enjoy seeing Ronnie win prestigious invitational events like Shanghai and CoC, I hope he can throw in a win or two at the ranking events this season. The invitationals don’t count for much in the record books…
Even if he says he doesn’t like them, these Home Nations events probably help him to stay sharp. The alternative would be to practice at home, of set up exhibitions. I think it would be a decent challenge for him to aim to win all 4, to complete the set, although not within one season.