Ronnie O’Sullivan makes 15th 147 break at “hellhole venue”

Talking to Eurosport O’Sullivan said: “I felt sorry for Allan out there because you could see he was struggling, he’s a lot better player than that, I think the conditions and just being on the TV table got to him a bit. I got a bit fortunate earlier on, I missed quite a few balls. We both did and my bad was a bit better than his bad.”

“From about 40-odd I was in bits, I was twitching all over the gaff. My back arm was like a bit of fish, flapping all over the gaff and then they’ve all gone quiet to watch the max, and I thought that’s the worst thing you can do, just carry on playing, make some noise, do something.”

“When it went too quiet you felt the pressure is on you even more. I didn’t even fancy potting that black to be honest with you, I was feeling it.”

The Open took place at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley, a venue he described a few days prior as a “hellhole” that “smelt of urine.” “What they should do is hire the whole back of the venue rather than have the snooker part and then you have to walk through the bowling green to the press conference.”

“When I was walking through there yesterday Peter Ebdon was walking through and one old boy shouted, ‘Can you stop walking while I’m trying to play bowls.’ Peter looked around because he thought he was joking but he was really serious and he went ‘I’m going to start walking through when you are playing snooker.’”

“I just thought a top player should not be subjected to one old guy who’s really, really angry.”