ROCKET CAN POCKET £1M
One down, three to go if O’sullivan wants to hit the jackpot
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN claimed a 29th ranking title last night to give himself a shot at a £1million bonus.
The Rocket crowned a brilliant and turbulent week with a 9-2 victory over world No.15 Kyren Wilson at Barnsley’s Metrodome.
At 41, the five-time world champion was giving 16 years to his opponent but battered the former Shanghai Masters winner into submission.
And as well as pocketing the £70,000 first prize at the first of the four
Home Nations events, only O’sullivan can now claim the sevenfigure incentive for winning all of them.
Asked about his chances of landing the jackpot by adding the Welsh
Open, Scottish Open and Northern Ireland Open to his English Open success, he said: “It’s do-able – but I have more chance of winning the lottery.
“Anything is possible but over these short matches that are best of seven frames, it will be very tough.”
O’sullivan was delighted with a first ranking success in almost two years and his biggest winning margin in a ranking final since he beat Stephen Maguire 10-2 in the UK Championship 10 years ago.
It saw O’sullivan equal the title tally of long-time rival John Higgins (below), who edged ahead earlier this season. Stephen Hendry holds the record with 36.
It came at the end of an extraordinary six days that almost saw O’sullivan withdraw with an ankle injury – and hand his cue to an arena intruder to try to finish a century break.
He has previous form winning tournaments when in pain, having triumphed at the UK Championship three years ago despite a broken foot. He went through his glorious repertoire yesterday, making breaks of 115, 54, 131, 77, 87, 96, 127 and 132. Amazingly he turned up last night without his cue, sending a pal on an emergency 40-minute dash to retrieve it from his hotel. The cue arrived with minutes to spare, saving him from being docked a frame.
O’sullivan said: “It’s great to win another ranking title. I’m my own worst critic at times but it was very, very good today.
“I made a lot of good and important breaks. I’ll keep driving myself on to reach a higher level.
“I’m enjoying the challenge of hanging in there against these young players, but you play well if you have to – and I know what a good player Kyren is.”