Ronnie O’Sullivan pulls out of Welsh Open hours before match | Other | Sport
Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the Welsh Open just a few hours before he was scheduled to make his comeback to snooker.
The World Snooker Tour released a brief statement confirming that the Rocket’s absence from the sport would continue, as Jamie Clark was handed a bye into the second round in Llandudno.
The statement read: “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.”
The Rocket has been absent since he snapped his cue and struck the table during a disappointing Championship League exit in January, followed by a dramatic withdrawal from the Masters just over a day before his scheduled clash with long-time rival John Higgins.
O’Sullivan, a four-time Welsh Open winner, did not take part in the German Masters, Masters or the remainder of the Championship League.
‘Medical reasons’ have been cited in the past and O’Sullivan admitted that it was a “nightmare” not to compete against Higgins at Alexandra Palace last month.
“Yeah, it was a nightmare decision to make,” he explained on Eurosport. “You know, if you’d have asked me Sunday if was I ready to play, I probably would have been okay to play, but it’s such a massive tournament.
“I’ve obviously been on this three-week trip away playing, and I just think I exhausted myself. [There was] a lot of pressure while I was away, and I just think the build-up of all that kind of just got a bit too much, really.
“The right decision was not to play. It’s such a big tournament I felt whoever was going to come in should at least have a couple of days’ notice.”
O’Sullivan would have been desperate to compete for the Ray Reardon Trophy for the first time since the legendary Welsh potter’s passing in July 2024.
The six-time world champion died at the age of 91 and after retirement, became a consultant and mentor to O’Sullivan, helping him to win at the Crucible in 2004. The Welsh Open renamed their trophy in honour of Reardon in 2016.
Recent Masters champion Shaun Murphy, who begins his campaign in north Wales against Ma Hailong, cast doubt on whether O’Sullivan would make his comeback at the event.
“Ronnie spoke at the Masters about not being in a great place,” Murphy told the BBC. “The last time that he was out with his cue he actually snapped it, so I wouldn’t say his appearance here to play on this table is absolutely guaranteed. But all of us in the snooker world are excited about his return, whenever that might be.”
O’Sullivan’s next scheduled match is at the World Open in Yushan, China, against Stuart Carrington on February 23.
