The Magical
147.....
This is NOT a post about the game of Snooker but
merely a whimsical event that took place about twenty-five years ago.
The World Snooker Championship was played over the past couple of weeks at the Crucible venue in Sheffield. It is the premier event in the snooker calendar. It was a fantastic spectacle this year with the winner being Judd Trump.
What this little ditty is about is possibly the best snooker player the world has ever seen, namely Ronnie O’Sullivan. He is regarded by many of his fellow professionals at the greatest of all time. He suffers at times from a lack of interest in the game and is known for, let me just say, throwing tantrums.
About twenty-five years ago when I had a little job at my local Golf Course, Ronnie would appear, hire some clubs and play a game of golf. He was quite good and had potential. I liked him and although he was beginning to make his name in the snooker world and showing what the future was likely to hold for him, he was not over-confident in any way.
He would come up to me and ask me if I could get him in with someone with whom he could play his game of golf.
Just a few words about the ultimate scoring in snooker: There are fifteen red balls which must be potted singularly before playing a colour. The black ball scores seven. It therefore is the ultimate to score fifteen reds followed by fifteen black balls. The scoring continues until all the other colours are potted in a set sequence.
It is a rarity that a player scores 147....and there is usually a very large cash award for doing so in competition.
Back to the golf: I would speak to some golf players and ask them if they would mind allowing Ronnie to join them. I would then suggest to them that they record their golf scores incorrectly so that their score for the round would falsely show a score of 147.
They could then boast, probably for the rest of their lives, that they once beat ‘the great Ronnie O’Sullivan with a maximum score of 147’ (albeit in golf – not snooker).
The World Snooker Championship was played over the past couple of weeks at the Crucible venue in Sheffield. It is the premier event in the snooker calendar. It was a fantastic spectacle this year with the winner being Judd Trump.
What this little ditty is about is possibly the best snooker player the world has ever seen, namely Ronnie O’Sullivan. He is regarded by many of his fellow professionals at the greatest of all time. He suffers at times from a lack of interest in the game and is known for, let me just say, throwing tantrums.
About twenty-five years ago when I had a little job at my local Golf Course, Ronnie would appear, hire some clubs and play a game of golf. He was quite good and had potential. I liked him and although he was beginning to make his name in the snooker world and showing what the future was likely to hold for him, he was not over-confident in any way.
He would come up to me and ask me if I could get him in with someone with whom he could play his game of golf.
Just a few words about the ultimate scoring in snooker: There are fifteen red balls which must be potted singularly before playing a colour. The black ball scores seven. It therefore is the ultimate to score fifteen reds followed by fifteen black balls. The scoring continues until all the other colours are potted in a set sequence.
It is a rarity that a player scores 147....and there is usually a very large cash award for doing so in competition.
Back to the golf: I would speak to some golf players and ask them if they would mind allowing Ronnie to join them. I would then suggest to them that they record their golf scores incorrectly so that their score for the round would falsely show a score of 147.
They could then boast, probably for the rest of their lives, that they once beat ‘the great Ronnie O’Sullivan with a maximum score of 147’ (albeit in golf – not snooker).
Several golfers still
to this day proudly make the claim.................
-----Mike-----
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