Judd Trump added four titles to his collection in 2023, Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy each collected three while the “formidable triumvirate” of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and John Higgins continued to shine at the highest level. Luca Brecel became world champion and Zhang Anda stunned to win the International Championship in what Dave Hendon believes is an “ultra-competitive era” of snooker.
The final balls have been potted on the World Snooker Tour for another year in which, once again, no one player dominated and the various titles were shared around.
For the record, Judd Trump won four tournaments in 2023, Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy each collected three trophies and Ronnie O’Sullivan captured two.
However, the inescapable truth is that the World Championship towers above every other event. Its unique challenge is set by the length of matches, its intimate venue and the enhanced scrutiny the players are under. There is no hiding place at the Crucible. This is where champions are made and pretenders to the throne found out.
Luca Brecel did not feature in much of the pre-tournament build-up. There was no reason why he should. He had never won a match at the Crucible in five previous appearances and had enjoyed a solid if unspectacular campaign as the Sheffield marathon approached.
Determined not to succumb again to pressure on snooker’s most hallowed stage, Brecel behaved as if none of it mattered. He didn’t practice properly, he went out with friends to play darts, got on the beers and generally eschewed conventional preparation.
He arrived feeling relaxed and soon found himself the main character in a snooker fairytale. In every round he could have lost. He won a decider against Ricky Walden, held off Mark Williams 13-11 and produced a remarkable display of potting and break-building to overturn a 10-6 deficit against O’Sullivan, winning all seven frames of their final session.
14-5 down to Si Jiahui in the semi-finals, he produced the Crucible’s greatest-ever comeback to win 17-15. In the biggest match of his life, he raced 3-0 ahead of Mark Selby. Leading 9-8 overnight, he started day two with four centuries in the six frames he won to pull away to 15- 10. Selby turned the screw, recovering to trail just 16-15, but Brecel ended the championship with another century to become the first world champion from continental Europe.
It was a wonderful, scarcely believable, achievement for a likeable and greatly talented player, although it feels like more has been seen of him on Instagram than the tournament circuit since. Brecel has travelled the globe enjoying his landmark victory – and why not? – but his form has suffered through lack of matches and he has failed to qualify for the prestigious Players Series in the new year.
Trump has no such worries. He won the Masters at the start of the year before his season tailed off and ended in a first round defeat to Anthony McGill in Sheffield. During the new campaign, though, he has been a revelation, appearing in five finals already and becoming only the fifth player to win three ranking titles in succession.
This was a remarkable four-week purple patch. It began with a recovery from 7-3 down in the English Open final against Zhang Anda. Trump flew the next day to Wuhan and won the new event there. A week off and it was a flight to Belfast where he battled to victory in the Northern Ireland Open.
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – OCTOBER 29: Judd Trump of England celebrates with the trophy after winning the Final match against Chris Wakelin of England on day eight of 2023 Northern Ireland Open at Waterfront Hall on October 29, 2023 in Belfast, Northern Image credit: Eurosport
By now, Trump may reasonably have expected to be recognised as snooker’s top dog, having seen off his older rivals, but they somehow continue to perform at the highest level. Williams, 48, won the British Open and O’Sullivan was successful first at the Shanghai Masters and then, in typically eye-catching fashion, at the UK Championship where he became that tournament’s oldest-ever winner 30 years after he had become its youngest.
The third member of this formidable triumvirate, John Higgins, has appeared in four semi-finals this season, winning lots of matches but just falling short of silverware, although he did capture the invitational Championship League earlier in the year.
Allen was the player of the 2022/23 season, winning three titles and reaching the World Championship semi-finals. Already in the new campaign the Northern Irishman has triumphed at the Champion of Champions and the Shootout, transitioning from dangerman capable of picking up the odd trophy to a consistent winner.
In this ultra-competitive era, it is hard for new champions to emerge, but Zhang Anda did exactly that in Tianjin by winning the International Championship, making a maximum in the final. He had beaten O’Sullivan in the semis.
Zhang had been ranked 55th in the first week of October. He began December placed 13th in the standings, an incredible turnaround in fortunes for an apparent journeyman.
Robert Milkins had been drifting into that status just a couple of years ago but his resurgence continued when he won the Welsh Open in February and with it the European series bonus prize of £150,000.
Ali Carter and Barry Hawkins returned to the top 16 with victories in the German and European Masters respectively. However, Neil Robertson failed to win a title in a calendar year for the first time since 2005.
The year ended with Gary Wilson rekindling his love affair with Edinburgh by retaining the Scottish Open, having struggled in the 12 months since his maiden success.
Snooker is a somewhat eccentric sport and there were some bizarre moments during the year. Murphy’s experiment of bringing three cues to each tournament has raised eyebrows and is yet to yield results. Hossein Vafaei trash-talked O’Sullivan in Sheffield and smashed the pack against him early in their second round match before being overwhelmed 13-2. Ding Junhui was docked a frame at the English Open for wearing the wrong-coloured trousers.
Like any sport, snooker has faced its fair share of challenges in the last 12 months. Most seriously, ten Chinese players were banned for match-fixing offences, a desperate and depressing scandal, but China enthusiastically embraced the World Snooker Tour on its return there four years on from the Covid outbreak.
Grumbles continue over the players’ contracts and freedom to undertake lucrative exhibition work, a situation likely to come to a head in coming months, but 17 ranking events plus several invitation tournaments points to a healthy calendar.
WST has been successful in boosting ticket sales by at least 10% for every event bar the Shootout, which moved venues. For the first time, all standard tickets at January’s Masters are sold out in advance. Eurosport’s viewing audience for the recent UK Championship was up 20% on last season. New young players are starting to emerge, including British teenagers Stan Moody, Liam Pullen and Liam Graham.
The consistently high standard the players produce and the distinct narratives surrounding them, plus better promotion and use of digital media, have led to increased interest in a sport strong on navel gazing but less good at celebrating its own achievements.
The fact is, as the New Year dawns professional snooker retains a formidable presence on television and digital platforms. It has weathered various scandals and controversies, all of which are secondary to the fascinations of the game itself.
Let’s end by remembering some of the year’s most dazzling moments: Selby’s historic maximum break in the World Championship final. Murphy’s 147 against the clock at the Shootout. O’Sullivan’s astonishing dash for the line from 7-7 with Ding in the UK final. Brecel cradling the famous silver trophy on the Crucible stage.
All golden memories still fresh in the minds of snooker fans, who eagerly await 2024 and all it has to offer.
Of course David works for British Eurosport, but it’s still a shame that he only names the British upcoming teenagers and doesn’t mention the other promising young players, from Asia and mainland Europe. He also avoids mentioning the terrible “live scoring fiasco”. Other than that, it’s a great article. Thank you David.
Following the release of the latest episode of the OneFourSeven podcast, David Caulfield has published a very interesting piece on his blog.
Amongst other things he shares Shaun Murphy’s views on Ronnie’s withdrawal
“I’ve seen lots of things written about this,” Shaun Murphy said on the latest episode of the OneFourSeven Snooker Podcast.
“I’m curious. I want to understand and gauge the temperature and opinion of the snooker fraternity.”
“I think there’s quite a bit of misunderstanding here. No one is obliged to play in anything.
“Obviously he and I don’t see eye to eye on many things – everyone knows that – but he’s not obliged to play in anything.
“He’s well within the rules to withdraw from any event that he wants to. The reasons he gives? That’s a different subject.
“But he actually hasn’t done anything wrong by the letter of the law from WST’s point of view, so I’m confused where the narrative comes from.
“I think there is a nuanced difference between someone like Stephen Hendry, who has a tour card and chooses not to enter tournaments, versus someone who enters tournaments and withdraws last minute.
“Those two things are slightly different, and if you look at it from the point of view of the first reserve in this case, who is Anthony Davies’ son Alfie, he got the call to go to Edinburgh four or five hours before – it was completely undoable.
“Now, if O’Sullivan knew he had no intention of going and withdrew last minute, that’s not very good, because that obviously spoils the opportunity for young Mr. Davies.
“But you have no option in these cases but to take the player at their word.
“O’Sullivan has again cited health concerns, and I go back to what I said in the podcast a few episodes ago, he has had it really bad in recent times.
“He has been really poorly. He has been really ill, and to be that ill and to pull out of that many events on medical grounds, and then still turn up and win the UK Championship is incredible really.
That coming from Shaun, who admittedly often disagrees with Ronnie, does put things in a different light. Most of us only see the players on television, or from afar in the arena. But players like Ronnie and Shaun, who have been on tour for over 25 years and regularly meet at events, it’s different. They see each other close-up and away from the cameras. If Shaun says that Ronnie has been in ill health in recent months, then surely that’s true. They are not close friends, why would he lie about this? Of course, it’s worrying and it makes Ronnie’s UK victory even more extraordinary. So, yes, get well soon, Ronnie, or at least better, fingers crossed!
Shaun also speaks about what is at stake as the new board elections are about to take place
Murphy was also asked about his opinions on the ongoing saga between the World Snooker Tour and its players concerning contracts, players’ rights, and the possibility of a breakaway tour.
“This thing isn’t going to go away – the serious battle between the players, and the WPBSA players’ body that represents them, and WST with their players contract.”
“This isn’t going anywhere. It’s only going to increase in velocity and in seriousness, because these two parties are going to clash over this.
“I’m not sure which way it’s going to go. It’s a big week this week in snooker politically. We’ve got the AGM of the WPBSA and the elections to the WPBSA Players Board.
“Such is the interest in this – normally you have to crowbar players into these meetings and nominations – there are three spots available and there are seven candidates.
“That’s the first time in history that there are more candidates than spaces.
“Depending on who gets through the candidacy and the nomination process, if certain members find their way onto that board, that could cause WST a headache going forward.
“I know a few of the players who have put themselves forward have this as one of their key mandates to try to get a fairer and better deal out of WST.
“You know, we want a review of the contract. We want it looked at, we want to sit down and talk. It’s going to be interesting.”
So … it’s not just “some spoiled celebrities” … it’s the WPBSA representing the players vs the commercial body, WST. Note that Shaun, who is by no means an anarchist, uses the words “fairer” and “better deal”. That suggests that even him, known to be respectful of the authorities, finds the contract too onerous and too restrictive.
Interesting times ahead for sure …
David Caulfield on his blog always tries to be fair and expresses balanced opinions. I can only recommend any snooker fan to follow it, especially if they are Irish.
I’m grateful to David and a few others who regularly write about the most interesting topics discussed in the numerous snooker podcasts that are now available to the snooker fans… provided they aren’t partially deaf 😉 THANK YOU!
Yesterday was the “première” of Ronnie’s film, “the Edge of Everything” and, from what transpired, it was certainly a mediatic success with some well known figures attending the event, along with Ronnie’s family and friends.
From what transpired, Judd Trump attended as well. Good on him.
It was not necessarily a treat for O’Sullivan to watch back himself, though, with the documentary offering a really intense look at his life and the experience of competing under the pressure of the World Championship at the Crucible.
The documentary follows O’Sullivan’s campaign at the 2022 World Championship and at times, specifically in the final against Judd Trump, the level of pressure is enormous, with the Rocket admitting he was struggling badly to deal with it.
The 47-year-old says things were actually not as bad as they appear on film and seeing himself in that state was tough to watch.
In a video posted on Instagram, O’Sullivan said: ‘To give you a little insight, it’s quite sort of live, not staged, warts and all. I have watched it and I must admit it was quite weird to watch yourself in them moments.
‘I can honestly say it didn’t feel anywhere near as bad as it looked. It was a hard one for me to watch back. But don’t worry for me, I’m all good, I’m healthy, I feel great, I’ve loved every minute of my life. I do love the pressure, I enjoy it. I thrive in it. I just find it hard to contain it.
‘I’m getting better and I’m learning. It is a skill but I do deliver, evern under the most extreme pressure and you’re going to get to see that in his documentary. Live, not staged, warts and all.’
Clearly seeing himself suffering on screen has had an effect on O’Sullivan, also posting on X: ‘I look back and I think, “wow, how have I got through that?” It’s so important to look after your mental health!’
Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything is available exclusively in cinemas across UK & Ireland on November 21 and launches on Prime Video on November 23.
There were a few short snippets of the film shared on social media in the last couple of days.
Also these:
The 2023 UK Championship Qualifiers…
Today, the lat round of the 2023 UK Championship qualifiers will start with eighth matches. They will be covered extensively in “Judgement Day” style.
Veteran Ken Doherty remains on course to reach the last 32 of the MrQ UK Championship for the first time since 2014, as he upset the form book with a 6-4 win over Chris Wakelin in the penultimate qualifying round.
Wakelin was runner-up at the recent Northern Ireland Open but couldn’t reproduce that form as he was knocked out by 54-year-old Doherty, who was runner-up in this event in 1994, 2001 and 2002.
From 2-1 down, Ireland’s Doherty won three frames in a row to lead 4-2. Wakelin battled back to 4-4, but Doherty got the better of the last two frames and now faces a Judgement Day clash on Thursday afternoon with China’s Yuan Sijun, who top scored with 135 in a 6-5 win over Alexander Ursenbacher. All winners on Wednesday and Thursday will go through to the final stages in York, which start on Saturday.
“Chris has been playing well so I was just delighted to be keeping pace with him,” said 1997 World Champion Doherty. “I made some good breaks. I’m as surprised as anyone! It would be fantastic to walk down those stairs at the Barbican, but this game is difficult and the last round here will be tough. I’m still a competitor and I love that side of the game.”
Stephen Maguire, the 2004 UK Champion, showed signs of a return to form in reaching the quarter-finals of the recent International Championship and he rattled in breaks of 124, 75, 140, 77 and 115 in a 6-4 defeat of Ashley Hugill.
Hossein Vafaei fired runs of 133 and 109 as he whitewashed Martin O’Donnell 6-0. Stuart Bingham’s hopes of adding the UK title to his World and Masters crowns will have to wait another year as he lost 6-2 to David Lilley.
Matthew Selt fired runs of 84, 59, 127, 52, 95 and 73 as he saw off Dylan Emery 6-4, wile Anthony McGill top scored with 89 in a 6-3 defeat of He Guoqiang. Zak Surety sprang a surprise 6-3 victory over Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson, while David Gilbert’s top break of 93 helped him beat Julien Leclercq 6-1.
Joe O’Connor made a 68 clearance, from 53-0 behind, in the deciding frame to beat Oliver Lines 6-5. Germany’s Lukas Kleckers, enjoying his deepest run in this event, top scored with 105 as he beat Ryan Day 6-2.
Once again this report focuses mainly on the older players – known figures – and on the UK/Irish winners. Lukas Kleckers is the only “non UK/Irish” winner mentioned despite the fact that Hossein Vafaei, Lyu Haotian, Pang Junxu, Zou Yuelong and Yuan Sijun all won as well.
Meanwhile, this article by the BBC , confirms that Ronnie faces disciplinary sanctions for supporting the “Macau” players. I know that Grump will disagree, and I’m ok with that, but personally, I’m still firmly of the opinion that self-employed players should be allowed to take the best offers for them. WST argument is that their absence is detrimental to their business. Possibly, but why? Mainly because they still rely on UK/Irish players nearing their 50th for their main promotion… as the above article shows again. Those players were always going to age, and, as they near the end of their career, they were always going to look for future opportunities away from the main tour. It’s normal, it’s wise on their part and it was totally to be expected. In addition to that, they should remember how Barry Hearn grew to fame: by taking the then top players for exhibitions/tournaments all over the world and away from the “established” tour. That’s how he grew the game and, as such, he has no right to criticise those “current” players who see opportunities away from the WST tour because that’s exactly what he did at the time and it did the sport no harm, quite the opposite.
Ronnie O’Sullivan documentary finally gets release date on Amazon Prime Video
Phil Haigh – Friday 27 Oct 2023
Ronnie O’Sullivan won his record-equalling seventh world title in 2022 (Picture: PA)
The film documenting Ronnie O’Sullivan’s seventh World Snooker Championship win is finally set for release, hitting cinemas on 21 November, before launching on Prime Video two days later.
The Rocket granted cameras extensive access to his Crucible campaign last year, which helpfully ended with him lifting the world title for a seventh time, equalling Stephen Hendry’s record.
O’Sullivan was followed everywhere in the build-up to the event and throughout the tournament, even wearing a microphone during matches, so ‘Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything’ is set to be an incredible insight into the world of the greatest player the sport has ever had.
David Beckham’s Studio 99 has produced the documentary, with the Manchester United icon involved in live Q&A with O’Sullivan when the film is exclusively released in cinemas, before landing on Prime Video on 23 November.
On his motivation for the documentary, O’Sullivan said: ‘My highs and lows have been well-documented by the media but I felt like now was the right time to do something more definitive – something that I can look back and reflect on as I contemplate retirement.
‘Going into my 7th World Championship I wasn’t sure I had it in me but allowing the cameras in ended up driving me on in many ways and gave me a different perspective.’
The Rocket gave some clues on what to expect during the 2022 World Championships, which eventually saw him beat Judd Trump in the final.
‘I’ve given complete access to the point where if you put a fly on the wall and followed me for 17 days, that’s basically what happened,’ O’Sullivan said.
‘They’ve been in my dressing room, they’ve been in my hotel room before and after matches and sessions. I embraced it because whatever I get involved in, let’s just make it the best I could possibly do.’
He also said before the 2022 tournament got underway: ‘If I’m going to get bombed out in the first round, I couldn’t give a monkeys.
‘The documentary isn’t about me trying to win a world title. If it happens, great. If not they’ll have to put up with a first-round exit. They’re the business guys behind it, I’m just an actor.
‘The reason I’m doing it is because of everything I’ve done in my past. It’s a chance for people to watch someone they’ve followed for years.
‘Let them see the pressure, the stress, the good and the not-so-good
Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything is available exclusively in cinemas across UK & Ireland on November 21 and launches on Prime Video on November 23. Theatrical release includes LIVE Q&A featuring Ronnie and very special guests.
World number 109 Hammad Miah scored a 4-3 victory over a player ranked 84 places higher, Zhou Yuelong, to reach the final stages of the Cazoo British Open in Cheltenham.
…
China’s Zhou is a three-time ranking event finalist but he won’t be at the final stages of this one as he finished second best in the qualifying round despite making a break of 105 in the opening frame then going 2-0 ahead. Miah hit back to win four of the last five frames with a top break of 61.
World number 20 Ricky Walden was another player to lose to a lower-ranked opponent as he went down 4-0 against Xu Si, whose top break was 67.
Highest break of the day was 134, made by Robbie Williams during a 4-0 rout of Pang Junxu. Dominic Dale rattled in runs of 91, 67 and 54 during a 4-1 defeat of Mark Joyce.
Oliver Lines top scored with 71 in a 4-0 win over practice partner Liam Pullen, while Oliver Brown made a 79 clearance in the deciding frame to edge out Himanshu Jain 4-3.
The match between Oliver Brown and Himanshu Jain was as close and as hard-fought as it gets. Neither deserved to lose. They both gave it everything. The match actually over-ran. It’s good that the tournament director allowed them to finish it, and didn’t pull them off.
I didn’t expect Xu Si to beat Ricky Walden by 4-0. Ricky was really poor and Xu played well. Another surprise for me was Robbie Williams trashing Pang Junxu by 4-0. Robbie on his day is a very big scorer. It must have been one of these days: Pang potted just one ball in the last three frames, whilst Robbie scored breaks of 51, 77 and 134.
Once again some matches are missing in the report, this time they are the two that finished late. You will find all the detailed results on snooker.org
Scott Donaldson beat Adam Duffy by 4-1 in a match that featured 5 breaks over 60. It was “one visit” snooker from start to finish. It’s nice to see Scott play well again despite still not being completely over his health issues.
Barry Hearn was on Hendry’s “cuetips”, answering fans’ questions
It’s very interesting, and very funny at times as well. You may need to listen to it several times to absorb everything. Here are the things I picked as important
Confirmation that Eddie Hearn is NOT interested in snooker one bit. Barry insist that he can still be useful on the commercial side but will he want to make the effort if he’s not interested?
Barry Hearn is all about money, but we knew that, and it has benefitted snooker that he has that mentality actually.
The Saudi Arabia contract is not signed yet but the event will almost certainly happen. They won’t be able to put on an extravagant prize money because Barry insists that the World Championship must stay the one offering the biggest prize money. So he capped their acceptable offer at equalling it.
Barry would love to stay at the Crucible, but at the same time he wants a bigger Crucible, some 2500 seats. And it should be a multipurpose venue that Sheffield can use all year long.
Barry praised Ronnie for what he brought to the game but is convinced that once he retires, players will come that will be better than him. Personally I’m not sure about the latter, I can’t see anyone in the current crop with such a potential. I can’t see the next Ronnie, nor can I see the next John Higgins or the next Willo. Not unless the amateur game grows and becomes far more brutal and competitive.
Barry recognises that the game is UK centric, too much so, and he wants to expand it. Europe though doesn’t seem to be on his radar. Probably because that’s not where he sees the money coming from. And his thoughts are about having more events outside UK, but there was no mention of the current organisation with all qualifiers being held in the UK and that’s a huge part of the issue.
In a few hours the 2023 Wine Cellars Women Snooker US Open will enter it’s last day of action as we are currently at the semi-finals stage, where the four highest seeds in the competition will do battle.
Three of the semi-finalists are or have been competing on the main tour: Mink, On Yee and Bex. Jamie Hunter is the defending champion. All four have won their QF match by 3-0.
The best players in the competition so far have been Mink and On Yee. At the time of writing, we had ten breaks over 50 during the competition, three by On Yee, seven by Mink. On Yee still has the highest break, a 121. Mink has a century as well, a 107 … that could have been a 142 had she not missed the last red.
For us in Europe, the action – streamed on YouTube by OXBilliards – will start in the evening and one hour earlier than on the two previous days. The semi-finals and Final are best of 7, and all three matches will be played, and streamed on the main table.
Yesterday players were invited to join the commentary team. Maryann McConnell was particularly interesting. Maryann, who started playing competitively at the age of 24 whilst at University was runner-up to Mandy Fisher in the 1984 Women Snooker World Championship. She explained how thriving snooker was in Canada when she started, and how important a figure Cliff Thorburn was at the time, and still is. She also explained why, in her opinion, snooker has regressed and pool has thrived instead. She’s a multiple pool champion herself.
Maryann McConnell
If you are interested in the history of snooker and want to understand the challenges this sport faces, it’s worth a listen. The streams are on the OXBilliards YouTube, even those from last year … so no hurry and well worth it.
Ray Reardon, one of snooker’s all-time greats, still plays and watches snooker and retains his love of the sport at the age of 90.
David Hendon travelled to Churston Golf Club in Devon to interview Reardon, and found the six-time World Champion in fine fettle. Here are a few extracts from the interview, which you can watch at the bottom of the page.
On whether he still plays snooker
“Very badly. I think they have moved the pockets actually. Either that or the balls got bigger and the pockets smaller. I still enjoy playing. I can help all of the members a little bit if they need it and there’s no charge. I never charge anybody.
On what still attracts him to the sport
“It is the nature of the game. The unreliability and the uncertainty of it. Some days you can do most things and others you can’t do anything. There is no rhyme or reason for it. Just whether or not you feel in the mood for it. I don’t know what it is. When you are in a little world of your own you can pot everything, get out of everything and you aren’t aware of anything. Nothing distracts you and you just get on doing your job.”
On his dominance of snooker in the 1970s
“I was number one for seven years, how about that? That is something isn’t it? You can only be the best of your day. You can’t compare it with modern times. They are much younger now and conditions seem to be much better than what we had. The tables are nice and warm, the balls are nice and light and the clothes are thinner. I would love to be able to play in these conditions. The table is so fast now and you see them screw the ball effortlessly over long distances. It is fascinating.”
On whether Ronnie O’Sullivan will beat his record as oldest ranking event winner
“I can’t see any reason why not. I wish him well because I’m on his side. It would be wonderful. Good for him. What a wonderful player and the most natural player you will ever see. I was amazed when I worked with him. I saw him play and I’d heard about him and read about him. To stand by him for a practice session is unbelievable. It is magic and I used to call him the magician. He wouldn’t have that, he wanted to be the Rocket.
“He is the greatest player without a doubt and I think most players would agree. I can’t think of anybody who wouldn’t agree. He is so natural and effortless. You would have to see him practising to realise how good he really is. Snooker is one of these games where you have an audience going along and I’m sure they don’t understand what they are seeing. They don’t realise how good this person is. They see a ball go from A to B. The white ball goes here there and everywhere. You can’t understand the skill involved in making this happen.”
On the resurgence of Mark Williams
“Look how dangerous he is. He has a second lease of life hasn’t he? He’s coming back. Mark came down here for a game of golf. What a good golfer he is. He birdied 15, 16, 17 and 18. It was unbelievable. He has a new lease of life on a snooker table and how nice it is to see that.”
Ray also gives his views – enthusiastic views – on the reigning World Champion, Luca Brecel, but no word of that in the above account. Oh well … Luca might be World Champion, he isn’t from the UK , so, who cares he?
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Ronnie O'Sullivan 