Ronnie O’Sullivan set to revisit shock ending which made up his mind to quit major snooker event - 'Never again'
Published 15/05/2026 at 10:40 GMT+1
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Ronnie O’Sullivan is set to take a trip down memory lane on Friday night when he faces Billy Castle at the inaugural 900 Global Championship in Reading.
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Castle played the role of party-pooper on Thursday when he denied Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White a crack at O’Sullivan with a 5-3 win in the rapid invitational event, which sees frames last for a maximum of 15 minutes under a 20-second shot clock.
But former English amateur champion Castle also has previous with O’Sullivan, having defeated him at the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out in their solitary career clash.
Indeed, it was the last time O’Sullivan competed at the event with the snooker GOAT vowing to turn his back on a tournament that was probably the basis for the creation of the 900.
Seven-time world champion O'Sullivan had entered the 2020 event for the first time in five years, but did not appreciate the experience after losing 66-30 to then-world No. 104 Castle in the second round.
O'Sullivan has plenty of experience of coping with a shot clock, having won the World Seniors title in Sheffield on Sunday with a 10-4 final triumph over Joe Perry that saw him hit five centuries.
"I will never play in the Shoot Out again. I love it as an event, but as a player there is no value," he told TNT Sports.
"I played it this year, the first time in five years, because everyone said they were enjoying it and I thought: ‘I have got to see what it’s all about'.
"As a player, I don’t like playing in it, but I can step back and see as a spectator – which is the most important thing at the end of the day – it is enjoyable to watch."
Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy is set to return to action in his favoured form of the game after suffering an agonising 18-17 defeat to Wu Yize in the 50th World Championship final in Sheffield earlier this month.
Murphy, who compiled 12 centuries at the Crucible, is aiming to continue his rapid scoring form at the Snooker 900 Global Championship.
He joins fellow world champions O'Sullivan, Luca Brecel and Kyren Wilson in being seeded through to the quarter-finals of the 20-player competition.
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Wilson faces Pankaj Advani at 12:00 before Murphy meets Perry at 14:00, with Brecel taking on Florian Nuessle and O'Sullivan confronting Castle at 20:00.
The £100,000 tournament is being staged from Tuesday until Sunday.
The early rounds are the best-of-nine frames, with semi-finals the best-of-11, and a best-of-19 frame final.
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