A snooker commentator joked that Ronnie O’Sullivan was lucky he “didn’t kill anybody” during a controversial appearance at the Welsh Open. After being set to appear at the Llandudno tournament this week, the Rocket withdrew hours before his first-round match versus Jamie Clarke, leaving fans disappointed.
It wasn’t the first time O’Sullivan had caused a stir at the north Wales venue, having dramatically broken a little-known rule at the 2023 event. In a match against Ross Muir, O’Sullivan found himself in an awkward position. After failing with a couple of two-cushion escapes, he eventually thundered the ball into the pack, hitting the pink first, with the cue ball dramatically flying off the table.
With the Rocket falling foul of the sport’s three-miss rule, which is applied if the player has a clear line of sight to the target ball, referee Luise Kraatz awarded the frame, which was in its early stages, to Muir. During the break between frames, Eurosport commentator Neal Foulds remarked: “Ronnie barely looked at the last one.
“I’m not sure if he wasn’t pleased with the decision. Not much good news to come out of this. He’s been informed that he can see that left red full ball. It’s not like a free ball you’ve got to hit either side. Yes, there’s reds in the way. That’s irrelevant.
“The only good news is the cue ball didn’t kill anybody. Other than that, it’s all bad if you’re an O’Sullivan fan. No-one got hurt, we’re still alive and we’ve got a deciding frame.”
The Rocket regained his composure to win that deciding frame and progress to the second round. He made it to the quarter-finals before being beaten by China’s Tian Pengfei in a 5-0 whitewash.
Foulds’ remark about crowd safety may have been tongue-in-cheek, but there has been little humour about O’Sullivan’s 2025 Welsh Open withdrawal as fans hoping to see the seven-time world champion in action were left gutted.
O’Sullivan has not played on the tour since he withdrew midway through his Championship League group in January, snapping his cue after losing four of his five matches. He subsequently pulled out of the Masters at Alexandra Palace and the German Masters in Berlin.
World Snooker Tour confirmed in a short statement: “Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the BetVictor Welsh Open. O’Sullivan was due to face Jamie Clarke at 1pm on Tuesday afternoon. Clarke will now receive a bye to the last 32.”