I play snooker, and despite my terrible record, many mistake me for Ronnie O’Sullivan…
Snooker fans could be forgiven for doing a double take upon seeing this year’s Q School line-up.
A 19-year-old up-and-comer in the snooker world has a lot to live up to as he tries to make his way onto the World Snooker Tour (WST) with the name… Ronnie Sullivan. Just one letter and an apostrophe away from the legendary seven-time world champion, confusion may have struck fans when they saw the name listed on this year’s opening Q School event.
A group of hopefuls will compete for eight tour cards at Q School this year, with the first of two events being held at the Morningside Arena in Leicester later this month.
The eight semi-finalists across the two events will earn a coveted spot on the WST for the next two seasons. Mark Joyce, Peter Lines and Liam Highfield are among the former pros set to battle it out, as well as 39-year-old Allan Taylor, who may have scratched his head when first casting an eye over his Q School draw to see the name Ronnie Sullivan.
Attempting to make his way onto the pro tour at the third time of asking, Sullivan hasn’t had much success in his previous two Q School events.
Attending his first Professional Tour Qualifier last year, the teenager was thrashed 4-0 by Riley Parsons. And it was the same scoreline when he met Stephen Kershaw in another qualifier five days later.
That leaves Sullivan with eight frames conceded and zero won across his two Q School events to date, and he will naturally be hoping for a better outcome when he has another crack at the WST later this month.
All the while, the considerably better-known Ronnie O’Sullivan is still digesting his quarter-final exit at the World Snooker Championship, which was won for the first time this year by Kyren Wilson.
