O’Sullivan Makes It 36 Wins

Ronnie O’Sullivan wins the Tour Championship to join Stephen Hendry at the top with 36 ranking event wins!

The 43-year-old beat Neil Robertson 13-11 on Sunday to clinch the first ever Tour Championship. It was announced in April 2018 that a new tournament was to be introduced that would be a ranking event. The Tour Championship has the lowest number of entries out of all the ranking events. It takes the top eight players from the one-year ranking list. Whoever comes out as the winner will receive a fee of £150,000.

The final, that was held in Llandudno, is the best of 25 frames. It was split into three sessions, one on Saturday and two on Sunday. O’Sullivan took a 5-3 lead at the end of the first session. The Australian then replied with the same score the next session to level things up at 8-8. O’Sullivan then took the game to Robertson in the final session. He won 13-11, finishing the game off with a break of 96.

The win has now put the Englishman as World Number 1 for the first time since 2010. He has now taken Mark Selby off the top spot, who sits second. It is also his 36th win in a ranking tournament. He now sits joint top with Stephen Hendry with the most wins at ranking events. He will be looking to make it 37 so he can be the most successful snooker player ever in terms of ranking event wins.

It has already been a record-breaking year for Ronnie. He became the first person ever to reach 1000 centuries. This record was achieved when he beat Robertson 10-4 earlier in the year in the Players Championship final. The century he landed was in the final frame to win him the game and his 35th ranking event.

Next month is the World Championship that is being held in Sheffield. It starts on April 20th and O’Sullivan is the favorite for it. He has already won the competition five times, the last time being 2013. He has a fantastic record in the competition when it comes to getting to the final, he has won five out of six. A win here would see him overtake Hendry in ranking event wins but he would still be one behind in terms of World Championships.

The UK Championship is another event he would love to win. Ronnie has won it the last two years and is the favorite to win it again this year. No one has won the tournament more than him, winning it 7 times. It’s not until November but that gives him plenty of time to get in his very best form.

For O’Sullivan to win the World Championships next month Bet365 are offering odds of 5/2. Judd Trump, who O’Sullivan beat in the semi-final of the Tour Championship, is the second favorite at 4/1. If you fancy him to still be playing his best and win the UK Championship you can get him at 11/4 on Bet365. Judd Trump is again the second favorite at 4/1.