FLEETWOOD’S REBORN IN THE USA
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN stands on the brink of one of the greatest milestones of a glittering career.
The Rocket took his tally of century breaks to 997, with two in a 6-4 win over John Higgins at the Players Championship, to set up a semi-final against Mark Allen.
Snooker’s No.1 maverick and box-office star is now within three of being the first to break the almost mythical 1,000 barrier.
The current world No.3 has the titles – the Crucible wins, the 34 ranking-event successes, and the record 19 majors, comprising the World and UK Championships, and the Masters.
But the centuries, including another record 15 maximum 147s, is something else. No trophy, but a supreme and in O’Sullivan’s case, often effortless exhibition of his art.
The 43-year-old is dubbed the TOMMY FLEETWOOD is poised for his first victory in the USA after a sparkling second-round 66 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The Ryder Cup star, whose round featured two eagles, knows he is on the verge of an American breakthrough.
“I’ve done a lot of good things over the last two or three years, so I think it’s pretty clear that the next logical step would be to win in America and then see ‘Mozart of snooker’, and watching him hit all the right notes in these demonstrations of skill can be spellbinding.
Reaching three figures and clearing the table was a hallmark of seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, whose total of 775 O’Sullivan passed some years ago.
And whenever O’Sullivan hits 1,000, whether it is this weekend, at the Tour Championships, or at the Crucible next month, it will rate alongside the great sporting ‘firsts’.
The real mystery is how a player acknowledged by his rivals as the best has not won the world title for almost six years. He is the favourite to end that drought this year.
On the centuries phenomenon, O’Sullivan said: “If you are confident, and break-building and scoring well, then 100 breaks can come along easily. The standard is very high now and a lot of players are used to where we go from there,” the 28-year-old (below) said after reaching nine under. Rory McIlroy recovered from a slow start at Bay Hill in Florida to sign for a 70. McIlroy is two under and, given the vagaries of a venue where he won 12 months ago, very much in position for a weekend charge. “The course is playing trickier than it did last year so it’s just about staying patient. I still feel like I have a good chance,” he said. winning frames in one visit. It is about being clinical, not missing easy balls, so that 70s become 100s.
“But records mean different things to different people. Neil Robertson scored a hundred 100s in a season once, which was phenomenal – but I suspect he’d have swapped them all day long for another world title.
“Getting to 1,000 centuries has been on my mind for a while, and I always felt, if I played on past the age of 40, it was definitely achievable.”
Hendry, now a respected TV pundit, heavily influenced O’Sullivan with his aggressive and attacking approach to the game.
He said: “The biggest asset in his armoury a player can have is breakbuilding, win frames in one visit.
“If you make a century, you’ve done that. And Ronnie is the best at it because of his cue ball control, that is at the heart of it. He does it better than anyone else.”