Maximum and century breaks made by Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record for the highest numbers of competitive centuries and maximum breaks, as well as the fastest maximum break of all time, in the professional sport of snooker.
Maximum breaks
[edit]Ronnie O'Sullivan has made fifteen official maximum breaks in professional competition,[1] the highest number completed by any player. This total only includes maximum breaks that have been ratified by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA); it does not include maximums compiled in exhibition matches, or in events that are not sanctioned by the world governing body.
In addition to the fifteen maximum breaks officially recognised by the WPBSA, other high-profile maximums include a 147 compiled against Joe Swail in the quarter-final of the 2007 Irish Masters.[2] The maximum break prize of a Citroën Coupe, worth €20,000, was withdrawn when the organisers were unable to obtain insurance against a 147 being made. However, this was concealed from the players and O'Sullivan only learned of the withdrawal of the prize after he had made the maximum.[3]
At the 2016 Welsh Open, O'Sullivan was on course for a 147 after potting 14 reds and 13 blacks, but then opted to pot the pink instead of the black, meaning he finished with a 146 break instead. He said this was in protest against what he believed to be the insufficient prize money awarded for the maximum, which in that tournament stood at £10,000 for the 147 in addition to the £2,000 highest break prize.[4] A similar incident had occurred six years earlier in a match at the 2010 World Open (listed as number 10 in the table below). In this case, however, he was eventually persuaded to pot the final black by the referee Jan Verhaas. O'Sullivan has been criticised for such behaviour, which has been labelled unsportsmanlike and disrespectful to snooker fans, as well as to the socio-economically disadvantaged, who might benefit from a charitable donation of the ostensibly insufficient prize money. However, he has defended his behaviour whilst also conceding that in hindsight he would rather have given the money to charity. In an interview, he asserted his right to enhance his own enjoyment of the game, as well as the spectacle for his fans, by engaging in such characterful, mischievous, and showmanlike behaviour.
Completed in 5 minutes and 8 seconds, O'Sullivan's first 147 break, against Mick Price in their second-round tie at the 1997 world championship, set a world record (yet to be broken) for the fastest maximum officially recognised in professional competition. Initially Guinness World Records recorded the time of the break at 5 minutes and 20 seconds.[5] However, an analysis undertaken by Deadspin in 2017 revealed that the time recorded by Guinness World Records was incorrect, as a result of the timer being started too early on the BBC footage.[6] Breaks are not officially timed in snooker and the official rules of snooker do not specify how they should be timed, instead leaving the timing to the discretion of the broadcaster.[7] World Snooker has since suggested that a break starts when the player strikes the cueball for the first time in the break; this would result in a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds,[7] which is the time now officially recognised by both World Snooker and Guinness World Records.[8] However, this methodology for timing breaks is inconsistent with the one employed in shot clock events where timing for a player's shot begins when the balls have come to rest from the opponent's previous shot, and under this convention the break would have been timed at 5 minutes and 15 seconds.[7]
Additionally, O'Sullivan holds the record for the most 147 breaks to be completed during the final frame of a match. He has made a maximum in a final frame on six occasions, one of these in the deciding frame of his semi-final victory over Mark Selby at the 2007 UK Championship.
Full list
[edit]A full list of O'Sullivan's competitive maximum breaks is given below:
| Q | Qualifying round of the tournament |
| F | Final frame of the match |
| D | Deciding frame of the match (also implicitly the final frame of the match) |
| L | Match ended in a loss for O'Sullivan |
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Round | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1997 | World Championship |  Mick Price (ENG)
|
Last 32 | [9][10] |
| 2 | 1999 | Welsh Open |  James Wattana (THA)
|
Quarter-final | [1][11] |
| 3 | 1999 | Grand Prix |  Graeme Dott (SCO)
|
Last 32 | [1][12] |
| 4 | 2000 | Scottish Open |  Quinten Hann (AUS)
|
Last 32 | [1][13] |
| 5 | 2001 | LG Cup | Drew Henry (SCO)
|
Last 16 | [1][14] |
| 6 | 2003 | World Championship |  Marco Fu (HKG)
|
Last 32L | [1][15] |
| 7 | 2007 | Northern Ireland Trophy | Ali Carter (ENG)
|
Last 16 | [1][16] |
| 8 | 2007 | UK Championship | Mark Selby (ENG)
|
Semi-finalD | [1][17] |
| 9 | 2008 | World Championship |  Mark Williams (WAL)
|
Last 16F | [1][18] |
| 10 | 2010 | World Open | Mark King (ENG)
|
Last 64Q,F | [1][19] |
| 11 | 2011 | Paul Hunter Classic | Adam Duffy (ENG)
|
Last 32 | [1][20] |
| 12 | 2014 | Welsh Open |  Ding Junhui (CHN)
|
FinalF | [21][22] |
| 13 | 2014 | UK Championship | Matthew Selt (ENG)
|
Last 16F | [23][24] |
| 14 | 2018 | China Open | Elliot Slessor (ENG)
|
Last 64L | [1][25] |
| 15 | 2018 | English Open | Allan Taylor (ENG)
|
Last 64F | [26][27] |
Century breaks
[edit]By the start of the 2007–08 snooker season, O'Sullivan had made 479 century breaks.[28] He then made one century in the 2007 Euro-Asia Masters Challenge, seven in the 2007 Grand Prix, six in the 2007 Premier League Snooker before the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy, and six more in the Northern Ireland Trophy, bringing his total to 499. His 500th century was recorded on 15 November 2007, in the second frame of his Premier League match against Neil Robertson.[29]
By the start of the 2010–11 snooker season, O'Sullivan had made 597 century breaks.[30] He made one century in the Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 – Event 1, and four during the Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 – Event 4 which was played from 14 to 16 August 2010, making his 600th century during the tournament. He had made 695 century breaks at the start of the 2013–14 snooker season. He made four in the European Tour 2013/2014 – Event 1 to take his century total to 699. His first-round match in the European Tour 2013/2014 – Event 3 was against Lyu Haotian on 16 August 2013; Lyu led 3–1 but O'Sullivan came back to win 4–3, making his 700th century in the deciding frame.[31] He made his 750th century on 22 August 2014 in the 2014 Paul Hunter Classic against Robbie Williams.[32]
O'Sullivan had made 773 century breaks at the start of 2015. On 13 January, in the first round of the 2015 Masters, he made two centuries to equal Stephen Hendry's record of 775.[33] Two days later, in his second-round match, he made his 776th century and broke Hendry's record.[34] He made his 800th century on 5 January 2016 in a Championship League group match against Barry Hawkins,[35] and his 900th on 10 November 2017, in the semi-final of the Champion of Champions against Anthony Hamilton.[36] His 1,000th century was recorded on 10 March 2019, in the final of the Players Championship against Robertson.[37] O'Sullivan made his 1,100th century on 22 March 2021, in his quarter-final match at the 2021 Tour Championship against John Higgins.[38] His 1,200th century came in a second-round match against Hossein Vafaei at the 2023 World Snooker Championship.[39] At the 2022 Scottish Open, O'Sullivan scored a century in 3 minutes 34 seconds — just 3 seconds slower than the fastest televised century break, which was made by Tony Drago in 1996.[40]
Partial list
[edit]Since the start of the 2007–08 season, O'Sullivan has made the following centuries:[a]
- As of 14 November 2024[update]
- Notes
- ^ This list excludes two centuries made in the 2011 Snooker Shoot-Out.
- ^ Three of these centuries were made in late 2014 during qualifying for the 2015 German Masters.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "All Official 147s". World Snooker. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "O'Sullivan notches 147 in Ireland". BBC Sport. 10 March 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
- ^ Whebell, Charles (12 March 2007). "O'Sullivan driven to victory". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan criticised after turning down 'too cheap' 147 at Welsh Open". BBC Sport. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
- ^ "Fastest 147 break in snooker". guinnessworldrecords.com. Guinness World Records. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan's fastest maximum in history was faster than official time". Eurosport UK. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ a b c Tippett, Ben (27 April 2017). "The Greatest Break In Snooker History Was Even Better Than Anyone Realized". Deadspin.com. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan". World Snooker. 11 January 2015. Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ "Archive: Rocket's fastest 147". BBC Sport. 21 April 2014. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ "World Championship 1997". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Welsh Open 1999". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Grand Prix 1999". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Regal Scottish Open 2000". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "LG Cup 2001". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Embassy World Championship 2003". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Northern Ireland Trophy 2007". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Maplin UK Championship 2007". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "888.Com World Championship 2008". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "12BET.com World Open (2010)". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Players Tour Championship Event Four (2011)". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Magical Maximum Seals Rocket Triumph". worldsnooker.com. World Snooker Tour. 2 March 2014. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- ^ "BetVictor Welsh Open (2014)". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan makes 147 maximum at UK Championship". BBC Sport. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- ^ "Coral UK Championship (2014)". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Fuhua Group China Open (2018)". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Rocket fires magic maximum". World Snooker. 17 October 2018. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
- ^ "BetVictor English Open (2018)". snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ a b "Snooker's Top Century Makers". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. 8 May 2007. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
- ^ Beardmore, Michael (12 March 2019). "As Rocket reaches 1000 centuries, remember his 500th ton in Kidderminster?". The Shuttle.
- ^ a b c "Snooker's Leading Century Makers". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. 3 May 2010. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
- ^ "O'Sullivan holds on against 15-year-old". The Times. 17 August 2013 – via NewsBank.
- ^ Nunns, Hector (22 August 2014). "O'Sullivan homes in on Hendry ton record". inside-snooker.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ Hafez, Shamoon (13 January 2015). "Masters 2015: Ronnie O'Sullivan equals Stephen Hendry's record". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ Hafez, Shamoon (15 January 2015). "Masters 2015: Ronnie O'Sullivan breaks Stephen Hendry's record". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan hits 800th century break in Championship League". BBC Sport. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
- ^ "Champion of Champions: Ronnie O'Sullivan and Shaun Murphy to meet in final". BBC Sport. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan reaches 1,000 career centuries and wins Players Championship". BBC Sport. 10 March 2019.
- ^ "Tour Championship: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats John Higgins 10-8 to reach semi-final". BBC Sport. 22 March 2021.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan rockets past Hossein Vafaei at Crucible with session to spare". The Guardian. PA Media. 22 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
- ^ "Scottish Open: Ronnie O'Sullivan misses fastest TV century break by three seconds". BBC Sport. 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Snooker's Top Century Makers". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. 4 May 2008. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008.
- ^ "Snooker's Top Century Makers". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. 23 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "100+ centuries". snookerinfo.co.uk. 3 November 2024. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023.
- ^ a b "100+ centuries". snookerinfo.co.uk. 3 November 2024. Archived from the original on 7 May 2024.
- ^ a b "100+ centuries". snookerinfo.co.uk. 3 November 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.