Maximum and century breaks made by Ronnie O'Sullivan

Ronnie O'Sullivan holds both the record for the highest amount of competitive century and maximum breaks, as well as the fastest maximum break of all time, in the game of snooker.

Maximum breaks
See also: Maximum break

Ronnie O'Sullivan has made fifteen official maximum breaks in professional competition.[1] This is the highest number of maximums completed by any player in the history of the game. 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 at the 2007 Irish Masters against Joe Swail in the quarter-final.[2] The maximum break prize of a Citroën Coupe, worth €20,000, was withdrawn by the organisers after they were unable to obtain insurance against a 147 being made. However, the withdrawal of the prize was concealed from the players and O'Sullivan only learned of this fact after making the maximum.[3]

O'Sullivan also deliberately refused at least one almost guaranteed 147 during the 2016 Welsh Open.[4] He made this decision 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.[5] A similar incident 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 convinced to pot the final black by the referee Jan Verhaas.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]

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 still-standing world record for the fastest maximum in the history of the game. Initially Guinness World Records recorded the time of the break at 5 minutes and 20 seconds.[9] However, an investigation 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.[10] 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.[11] 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,[11] which is the time now officially recognised by both World Snooker and Guinness World Records.[12] 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 his opponent's previous shot, and under this convention the break would have been timed at 5 minutes and 15 seconds.[11]

Additionally, O'Sullivan holds the record for the highest number of 147 breaks completed in the final frame of a match, having done so on six occasions. Of these six, one was in the deciding frame of his semi-final victory over Mark Selby at the 2007 UK Championship.

List of maximum breaks

A full list of O'Sullivan's competitive maximum breaks is given below:

Table Legend
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 Last 32 [13][14]
2. 1999 Welsh Open James Wattana Quarter-final [1][15]
3. 1999 Grand Prix Graeme Dott Last 32 [1][16]
4. 2000 Scottish Open Quinten Hann Last 32 [1][17]
5. 2001 LG Cup Drew Henry Last 16 [1][18]
6. 2003 World Championship Marco Fu Last 32L [1][19]
7. 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy Ali Carter Last 16 [1][20]
8. 2007 UK Championship Mark Selby Semi-finalD [1][21]
9. 2008 World Championship Mark Williams Last 16F [1][22]
10. 2010 World Open Mark King Last 64Q,F [1][23]
11. 2011 Paul Hunter Classic Adam Duffy Last 32 [1][24]
12. 2014 Welsh Open Ding Junhui FinalF [25][26]
13. 2014 UK Championship Matthew Selt Last 16F [27][28]
14. 2018 China Open Elliot Slessor Last 64L [1][29]
15. 2018 English Open Allan Taylor Last 64F [30][31]

Century breaks
Up to date as of 15 August 2020

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.[32] Two days later, in his second round match, he broke Hendry's record, making his 776th century.[33] O'Sullivan made his 800th century on 5 January 2016 in a Championship League group match against Barry Hawkins.[34] His 900th century came on 10 November 2017 in the semi-final of the Champion of Champions, against Anthony Hamilton.[35] His 1,000th century came on 10 March 2019 in the final of the Players Championship against Neil Robertson; as of that date no other player had passed Hendry's total of 775.[36]

Since the start of 2015, O'Sullivan has made the following centuries:

Tournament Centuries made
2015 Masters4
2015 Championship League4
2015 German Masters3[lower-alpha 1]
2015 Welsh Open1
2015 World Grand Prix1
2015 China Open1
2015 World Championship7
Career total end of 2014/2015 season794
2016 Championship League9
2016 Masters5
2016 German Masters1
2016 Welsh Open10
2016 World Championship5
Career total end of 2015/2016 season824
2016 European Masters2
2016 English Open1
2016 International Championship2
2016 Champion of Champions6
2016 Northern Ireland Open6
2016 UK Championship10
2016 Scottish Open4
2017 Masters3
2017 German Masters1
2017 World Grand Prix2
2017 Welsh Open1
2017 Players Championship3
2017 China Open3
2017 World Championship6
Career total end of 2016/2017 season 874
2017 Hong Kong Masters3
2017 China Championship4
2017 English Open12
2017 International Championship2
2017 Champion of Champions6
2017 Shanghai Masters4
2017 Northern Ireland Open1
2017 UK Championship10
2017 Scottish Open4
2018 Masters3
2018 World Grand Prix10
2018 Welsh Open4
2018 Players Championship5
2018 China Open2
2018 World Championship4
Career total end of 2017/2018 season 948
2018 Shanghai Masters5
2018 English Open4
2018 Champion of Champions11
2018 Northern Ireland Open10
2018 UK Championship8
2019 Masters5
2019 Welsh Open3
2019 Players Championship6
2019 Tour Championship8
2019 World Championship1
Career total end of 2018/2019 season 1,009
2019 Shanghai Masters8
2019 English Open2
2019 Champion of Champions1
2019 Northern Ireland Open4
2019 UK Championship4
2019 Scottish Open7
2020 World Grand Prix5
2020 Welsh Open5
2020 Championship League4
2020 World Championship12
Current career total 1,061
Note
  1. O'Sullivan made 3 further centuries during qualifying for the 2015 German Masters, in late 2014.

References
  1. "Official 147s". World Snooker. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  2. "O'Sullivan notches 147 in Ireland". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  3. Whebell, Charles (12 March 2007). "O'Sullivan driven to victory". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  4. stvmcal (15 February 2016). ""Because only I can" - Ronnie O'Sullivan's cocky 146 [BBC]" – via YouTube.
  5. stvmcal (3 September 2016). "Ronnie O'Sullivan Interview on why he made a 146 instead of a 147 - 2016 Welsh Open" – via YouTube.
  6. stvmcal (22 September 2010). "Ronnie O'Sullivan Bizarre 147 Break At World Open 2010 Against Mark King- (HQ)" – via YouTube.
  7. stvmcal (3 September 2016). "Ronnie O'Sullivan Interview on why he made a 146 instead of a 147 - 2016 Welsh Open" – via YouTube.
  8. stvmcal (3 September 2016). "Ronnie O'Sullivan Interview on why he made a 146 instead of a 147 - 2016 Welsh Open" – via YouTube.
  9. "Fastest 147 break in snooker". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  10. "Ronnie O'Sullivan's fastest maximum in history was faster than official time". Eurosport. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  11. Tippett, Ben (27 April 2017). "The Greatest Break In Snooker History Was Even Better Than Anyone Realized". Deadspin. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  12. "Ronnie O'Sullivan". World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 11 January 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  13. "Archive: Rocket's fastest 147". bbc.com. BBC. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  14. "World Championship 1997". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  15. "Welsh Open 1999". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  16. "Grand Prix 1999". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  17. "Regal Scottish Open 2000". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  18. "LG Cup 2001". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  19. "Embassy World Championship 2003". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  20. "Northern Ireland Trophy 2007". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  21. "Maplin UK Championship 2007". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  22. "888.Com World Championship 2008". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  23. "12BET.com World Open (2010)". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  24. "Players Tour Championship Event Four (2011)". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  25. "Magical Maximum Seals Rocket Triumph". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  26. "BetVictor Welsh Open (2014)". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  27. "BBC Sport - UK Championship 2014: Ronnie O'Sullivan makes 147 break". bbc.com. BBC. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  28. "Coral UK Championship (2014)". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  29. "Fuhua Group China Open (2018)". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  30. "Rocket Fire Magic Maximum". Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  31. "BetVictor English Open (2018)". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  32. "Masters 2015: Ronnie O'Sullivan equals Stephen Hendry's record". BBC Sport. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  33. Hafez, Shamoon (15 January 2015). "Masters 2015: Ronnie O'Sullivan breaks Stephen Hendry's record". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  34. "Ronnie O'Sullivan hits 800th century break in Championship League". BBC Sport. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  35. "Champion of Champions: Ronnie O'Sullivan and Shaun Murphy to meet in final". BBC Sport. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  36. "Ronnie O'Sullivan reaches 1,000 career centuries and wins Players Championship". BBC Sport. 10 March 2019.
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