Why Ronnie O'Sullivan's Masters record will stand test of time despite Shaun Murphy's historic scoring spree at China Open
By Desmond Kane
Published 11/08/2026 at 11:38 GMT+1
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There is a hoary old question trotted out by football fans, mainly of a Premier League persuasion, regarding Lionel Messi's ability to perform in any environment on any given day: could the football GOAT do it on a cold winter's night in Stoke?
Murphy misses out on a massive break as he wraps up the fifth frame
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It remains an amusing thought for a UEFA Champions League and World Cup winner who has conquered every ground in seemingly any climate, but the basis of the question can be applied to other fields of play.
Shaun Murphy, a player dubbed 'The Magician' for his spellbinding ability with cue in hand, produced an astonishing scoring burst of 607 points unanswered in a 6-0 filleting of Matthew Selt on Sunday at the China Open in Taiyuan City.
Knocks of 61, 132, 103, 139 and 113 saw the 2005 world champion set the new all-time record total before Selt finally potted a ball in frame six in the last-32 whitewash.
"I haven't set that many records throughout my career, and I am sure someone will go out and beat this one at some stage," he said. "But to be part of snooker history in this way is a great thrill."
But could Murphy do it before a raucous Alexandra Palace crowd at the Masters in old London town?
Like the Messi question, whether he could or not remains irrelevant.
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O'Sullivan seals victory over Page with classy century
Video credit: TNT Sports
The circumstances and weighting of O'Sullivan's achievement produced at the biggest invitational event in the sport, second in prestige behind only the World Championship, probably makes his record of 556 unanswered points for a Triple Crown event a stand-alone achievement.
A bit like his iconic 147 compiled at the 1997 World Championship in only five minutes and eight seconds, it will stand the test of time for its location and value in transcending the sport.
O'Sullivan claimed the fifth of his eight Masters titles 12 years ago with a 10-4 final win over Mark Selby, but nobody will forget how he went on the rampage against an unsuspecting Ricky Walden on Friday, January 17, a surge that was monumental even by the snooker GOAT's standards.
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Doing it on a cold winter's afternoon near Stoke Newington, if you like.
Walden made a break of 38 in the first frame before witnessing O'Sullivan reach a snooker state of utopia in completing a 6-0 quarter-final victory in only 57 minutes and 48 seconds.
"For the amount of shouts he gets, he handles the crowd phenomenally well," said Stephen Maguire, who lost 6-2 to O'Sullivan in the semi-finals.
"It is unbelievable. I don't know how he handles it, he thrives on it. Good luck to him."
Breaks of 79, 88, 72, 134, 77 and 56 saw O’Sullivan sprint to victory against an opponent curiously once dubbed the 'Stamina Man' because he ran a marathon.
"Probably the best performance I have seen from anybody in all the years I've been coming to the Masters," said 1997 world champion Ken Doherty.
Walden led 39-1 in the first frame in what was to prove his only scoring contribution to the match.
Quite simply, nobody has played snooker - and arguably any sport - at a higher level than O'Sullivan did at the Masters in 2014. As always in snooker, the record books reflect only part of the story.
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