Why Ronnie O'Sullivan's 2013 World Championship Win Was So Impressive – Throwback

One of the best accomplishments in snooker that won’t be achieved ever again. Ronnie O’Sullivan has many accolades and records but one of his great victories, that doesn’t necessarily have a statistic attached to it, could arguably be the best of them all. His fifth and most recent world title in 2013 saw an exemplary performance, only surpassed by what occurred before the event.

And that was nothing. Nothing at all. O’Sullivan spent the entire season away from snooker. Actually, it wasn’t a wholly vacant season. He did compete in one competitive match at the PTC in September 2012; which was a best-of-7 against Simon Bedford that he actually lost 4-3. If you look at his Wikipedia page, you’ll see an entire empty column for the 2012/13 season with the exception of his victory at the Worlds.

O’Sullivan’s reasons for not participating that season were his own. After winning his fourth world title in 2012, he announced that he would be taking six months out of the sport. Indeed, he did take part in that one PTC match however, he then formally wrote to WST that he intended not to continue or enter any events for the remainder of the season.

That is, until February of 2013. O’Sullivan announced with Barry Hearn that he would be participating in the WSC. As the defending champion, he was automatically qualified as the No. 1 seed, hence no need to go through that turmoil despite naturally falling out of the Top 16 from not competing. Following this announcement, ticket sales spiked and BBC 2 announced live coverage of the opening match as opposed to Red Button access (which is a pretty big deal for those in the UK).

Which is why there was understandable outrage when snooker was cut as O’Sullivan was 9-3 up in his opening match against Marcus Campbell. The live broadcast switched to a repeat showing of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em as the match was in its final stages. While most would be happy to see Frank Spencer, many were unhappy on this occasion.

Whatever O’Sullivan did during his sabbatical is known to him, but one article stated his attempt at handiwork on a farm. This didn’t match too well with O’Sullivan and made him appreciate snooker more. O’Sullivan stated that his friendship with Damien Hurst as one of the reasons for his comeback; mainly due to the social aspect of competing in snooker.

Nevertheless, O’Sullivan returned that season to the grand stage and it was like he didn’t miss a beat. Following his opening win against Campbell, O’Sullivan saw away 2008 finalist Ali Carter, before he displayed a formidable display of snooker against Stuart Bingham. O’Sullivan won 12 out of the first 13 frames which John Parrott classed as ‘snooker from the gods’. And this only continued as O’Sullivan went on to beat Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins whilst not losing a session in the whole tournament.

Can I just reiterate that a player who has not competed all season just won the World Championship without losing a single session? Not bad for someone who considered winning the title that year after a year off as a ‘silly goal to set’.

O’Sullivan states whenever he is asked that 2012 is his best WSC victory and the one where he probably played his best. I can agree with that – in terms of snooker, he absolutely shined. However, 2013 will always be the most impressive for me because it’s as if nothing had changed. Please tell me someone who takes a year out of their sport only to return and win the highest prize of the season. All in a season which saw the likes of Selby, Robertson, Ding, Trump and Higgins breaking through as they were adding to their trophy cabinets.

So I think of it accurate when O’Sullivan once mentioned that he felt like he stole this WSC because that’s precisely what he did. You have players that practice and compete year round to try and financially support themselves; those that try to win tournaments; and then an outsider comes in and swipes it from all of them, just after a few practices with Peter Ebdon. There isn’t a single other player, past, present or even in the future that could do what O’Sullivan did in 2013. Which is why I think it is one of the best achievements in snooker, period.

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What Is The Snooker Challenge Tour?

Considering all the snooker that we watch consists of main-tour events where professionals compete to take a bite of the £14 million+ season prize fund, the Challenge Tour exists to provide amateur players the opportunities to advance their progress to reach the main tour and professional status. The Challenge Tour is a secondary circuit run throughout the snooker season whereby successful individuals will be granted a two-year tour card to compete with the best.

Much like events such as the World Open, Grand Prix and Paul Hunter Classic, the Challenge Tour was formerly known by different monikers such as the UK Tour or Minor Tour. It mainly ran from 1997-05 but was then recently revived in the 2018/19 season with more events and opportunity for those in the amateur game. The Challenge Tour used to contain four tournaments throughout the season but since its recent revival, this number has been increased to ten.

Eligible contestants for the Challenge Tour are those at the top of the Order of Merit (i.e. equivalent Q-School ranking) with the exception of those who have already qualified for the main tour via Q-School. Each of the ten tournaments will include 64 participants with a potential of up to 8 wildcard players being considered to compete if number count is low.

Prize money is also up for grabs for those who compete in the Challenge Tour; albeit a fairly minimal amount. While it is better than nothing, it can be difficult to offset some of the travel and accommodation costs unless you win an event, particularly as some of the events can take place across Europe. Winning an event will earn a competitor £2000 and the Order of Merit ranks these players in the same way as professionals – using the money list, i.e. £2000 is equivalent to 2000 ranking points and all matches are played over a best-of-five (first to three frames).

The top two performers in the Challenge Tour will be granted a two-year tour card. In the case of the 2019/20 season, a series of playoffs will be contested which will involve the winners of the ten challenge events as well as some from the rankings that perhaps didn’t win an event. The two final winners of the playoffs (i.e. the semi-finalists) are the successful players that are then ranked professional status.

But how does the Challenge Tour differ from Q-School? While Q-School is the formal qualification process for the main snooker tour, the Challenge Tour provides those who weren’t successful another chance to secure a tour card for the following season through these ten events. If they are not successful in the Challenge Tour, they can try via Q-School once again to qualify for the main tour next season.

The renewal of the Challenge Tour has aided in bridging the gap between amateurs and professionals by providing them a platform to increase their competitive exposure. While it may not be perfect, amateurs of the sport will be grateful for the additional chances to accomplish their goals of becoming a professional player and competing with those they aspire towards.

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On Fire Maguire! Tour Championship Final 2020 – Shorts Thoughts

Even though there’s only been two iterations of the Tour Championship, it’s already established as one of the favourite tournaments as it brings together the current top performers of the season and puts them in matches that you normally have to wait multiple rounds in others events to wait and see.

This year’s final saw two contenders go head-to-head; one of which wasn’t even supposed to be in the tournament in the first place. Mark Allen made his way to the final with an epic fightback against Murphy and a dominant performance against Selby. On the other hand, Maguire took Ding’s place in the tournament and had an extremely tough draw as he had to beat both Robertson and Trump to earn his place in the final.

Breakdown

It was an even exchanging of frames in the opening session. Allen commenced with a 2-0 lead aided by breaks of 50 and 76. However, a missed black off the spot was his downfall in Frame 3 as Maguire hit 89. Following this, Maguire was able to capitalise off an unexpected miss to left centre whilst Allen was on a break of 50. A 69 break for Maguire allowed him to equalise in what really should have been a 4-0 start for Allen.

Maguire displayed impressive safety during this match as he was able to steal Frame 5 despite Allen making a break of 40. However, Allen got back on track as he won the following two frames (one of them with a 125). Allen’s positional play was struggling in the match as he tried to win the session but Maguire held him off in order to square things up going into the evening session.

The recess clearly did wonders for Maguire as he came back out firing on all cylinders as he made his only century break of the match of 139. Conversely, Allen still seemed to be struggling as he missed fairly routine pots and wasn’t his usual self in and around the black. Nevertheless, Maguire was able to extend the score to 9-6 as he was within reach of a massive payday.

Allen played valiantly to try and stage a comeback similar to his first round bout, which included a 107 in Frame 15 however, was unable to do so as we reached the epic final frame. Allen was in first but missed another red to the right centre which allowed Maguire to respond with 44. After a lengthy safety battle between the pair at 58-38, Allen played a lethal snooker behind the black which netted him 16 points.

Perhaps he could have had the cue ball replaced again but he tried to cut the yellow into the left corner following a terrific escape attempt by Maguire. He then found himself in very similar trouble next shot. One thing led to another and Allen was able to pot an impressive brown as he was almost able to keep himself in the match for another frame. Although, a tricky pink and solid safety from his opponent turned out to be the final straw.

Afterthoughts

What I particularly enjoyed about this final is that it involved two players that I like to call ‘workers’ of the sport. These are players that maybe aren’t on every poster that is produced, or the names that are thought of when one considers the ‘top’ players; but are the ones that are always high in the rankings, giving the household names a run for their money.

There are quality individuals such as Allen and Maguire that may fly under the radar of the general viewer as they tune in hoping to see the likes of O’Sullivan, Selby, Trump etc. Maguire and Allen showed their skill as they competed against those ranked higher than them and put on a show in the process. That’s what made these two contesting the Tour final so satisfying to watch.

As for the match itself, it just came down to Maguire playing better than Allen. Maguire wasn’t playing in the same form as he was against Robertson; nor was Allen when he played Selby. Allen seemed to have lost his touch on the day as he missed many pots he would deem standard. There were multiple frames during the match where he was in with a chance first but couldn’t convert like he normally does.

On the other hand, Maguire was playing in fine form. I’ve longed to see Maguire in a final for some time now and since his resurgence this season and performance at the UK, I knew that we would be seeing more of him. Throughout the day he bettered his opponent but I think it was particularly in the safety that he did this. Maguire’s safety was excellent as he really caused Allen some trouble. Case in point, his safety shot in Frame 12 that allowed him to take the frame – you’ll know which one.

The Tour Championship is an event that involves the best of the best of the best. Allen and Maguire should both take great pride in their performances as they fell in the lower half of the rankings for this event and proved their places in this event. They once again prove just how competitive snooker is right now (link to older Short about snooker competitiveness) as they highlight to other players as well as fans that they’re ones to watch out for. Seriously, keep an eye on Maguire when it comes to the Worlds.

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Memorable Hits - Judd's Elegant Escape

This new series of Short posts will look at specific, individual shots that remain in memory as time goes by. Shots that stun a crowd and makes jaws drop; either from their technical difficulty, creativity, or both. No shot will be excluded, so pots as well as safeties, snookers and escapes will be mentioned as the ‘Memorable Hits’ grow in size. For this instance, I want to share one of my favourite all-time shots in recent years as Judd Trump was forced into a difficult position by opponent Neil Robertson, during the Masters 2019 semi-final.

Trump was 4-3 up against Robertson with a 40 point lead in a match where Robertson had been rebounding against every 2 frame lead that Trump was generating. As shown in the video above, Robertson played a safety shot that didn’t promise any obvious return-to-baulk solution.

The left side of the cluster couldn’t be played off as any contact would’ve resulted in hitting the side cushion first, or even going in-off. There wasn’t any space to swing around the reds on the right side of the table, and there were no plants available. There was a possibility of a dump shot but that could only result in trouble for Trump in his next visit. However, I reckon this is the shot most would have played because I don’t know many that could have visualised what Trump did next.

He played off the red up the middle of the table, manoeuvred around the reds on the right of the table and manufactured an angle that allowed the cue ball to travel in the gap between these reds and the main cluster in the middle of the table. Because Trump was playing off the side cushion before the bottom cushion, the relevant running side involved striking the cue ball on the right, to allow the cue ball to have the pace to make it up the table. If he overdid the side, the cue ball would have careered into the cluster; if he underdid it, at the pace he struck it, the cue ball wouldn’t have made it far.

Making it up the table to the top cushion wouldn’t have changed how incredible that shot was, so getting the bonus snooker behind the brown was the icing on the cake. And Trump reaped the rewards of that escape/snooker as he secured the frame and went on to win the Masters.

The reason this shot was so ingenious and imaginative is because we are mostly used to seeing safety shots played off the bottom then side cushion. When situations like this arise, players often find a way to play a dump shot or nestle into a red. Trump showed real visual acuity here which is something he has significantly improved upon this past couple of years, and still only really took a minute or so to work out.

When compared with Gary Wilson’s phenomenal safety shot in the world championship (against Trump, ironically) which is also considered as the shot of the year, it’s a tricky one. While Wilson’s shot was technically more difficult because it had to be struck to absolute perfection, Trump’s shots required more inventiveness because there was very little alternative.

What do you think? What are some of the most memorable snooker shots that stay in your mind? Let me know in the comments or using the socials below!

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