John:Jet settinglife notcueto complain
JOHN HIGGINS last night rubbished players’ claims life on tour is tough because of all the miles racked up.
The Scot has done as much jet-setting as anyone else on the circuit having been out to China three times in the last two months.
Mark Selby was almost falling asleep at the table during the Champion of Champions a fortnight ago.
But Higgins said: “I feel fine. Players are saying it’s tough – my dad used to work on oil rigs, that was tough.
“It’s not tough playing snooker and travelling business class on nice airplanes. It’s certainly not tough.”
Higgins faces Hossein Vafaei of Iran in the last 64 at the Northern Ireland Open today after seeing off England’s Nigel Bond 4-2.
Stephen Maguire joined him in round two with a 4-0 rout OF Basem Eltahhan.
But Graeme Dott lost 4-3 to China’s Zhou Yuelong while Alan McManus went down 4-1 to Yuan Sijun.
Scott Donaldson crashed out 4-2 to Wang Yuchen as Rhys Clark was crushed 4-0 by Matt Selt and Chris Totten exited after a 4-0 defeat to Chris Wakelin.
Judd Trump was the latest big-name casualty, losing 4-2 to world No.52 Stuart Carrington after former world champion Shaun Murphy exited on day one.
But English Open winner Ronnie O’Sullivan can still land a £1million bonus for triumphing in all four Home Nations events after a 4-2 win over Lukas Kleckers.