Post a reply

Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby sas6789

What are some of the biggest misses in the history of the Game? Obviously there's:

1. Steve Davis's missed black in the 1985 world final

2. Stephen Hendry's missed black in the 1998 Master's final

3. Ronnie O'Sullivan's missed pink in the 2014 world final

4. Ken Doherty's missed black for a 147 in the Masters 2000

Any others?

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby Cheshire Cat

sas6789 wrote:What are some of the biggest misses in the history of the Game? Obviously there's:

1. Steve Davis's missed black in the 1985 world final

2. Stephen Hendry's missed black in the 1998 Master's final

3. Ronnie O'Sullivan's missed pink in the 2014 world final

4. Ken Doherty's missed black for a 147 in the Masters 2000

Any others?


Oddly enough, I always think this one was blown a little out of proportion. It was a pretty lacklustre final, so it just stands out as being one of the 'oh!' moments. It was a shot he never should have missed, but in the context of the match, the writing was on the wall well before that missed pink. Selby was completely in the ascendency from the start of the 3rd session onwards.

The other 3 are certainly iconic though, no denying those, especially the first 2. Those aren't just pivotal moments in their respective matches, they're 'classic' moments in the history of the entire game.

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby TheRocket

Another standout and imo most painful miss is Jimmys missed black off the spot in the decider of the 1994 World Championship final against Hendry.

Balls perfectly spread, everything set up for his championship clearance but then this bucking black off the spot and he missed it by a mile and gifted Hendry the title.

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby sas6789

TheRocket wrote:Another standout and imo most painful miss is Jimmys missed black off the spot in the decider of the 1994 World Championship final against Hendry.

Balls perfectly spread, everything set up for his championship clearance but then this bucking black off the spot and he missed it by a mile and gifted Hendry the title.

Yeah i missed that, that's another one. another one maybe Willie Thornes missed blue against Davis in the 1985 UK final at 14-7 up.

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby Cheshire Cat

Also, Jimmy White in 1982 against Alex Higgins, leading 15-14 in the Worlds and looking good for 16-14. It's not as 'massive' as some of the other misses, but in the context of the match, it was enormous.

Ironic, that arguably the best rest player in the history of the game missed a red with the rest, and of course, Alex went on to make that phenomenal clearance and eventually go on to win the match.
Last edited by Cheshire Cat on 30 Oct 2016, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby Dan-cat

Cheshire Cat wrote:
sas6789 wrote:What are some of the biggest misses in the history of the Game? Obviously there's:

1. Steve Davis's missed black in the 1985 world final

2. Stephen Hendry's missed black in the 1998 Master's final

3. Ronnie O'Sullivan's missed pink in the 2014 world final

4. Ken Doherty's missed black for a 147 in the Masters 2000

Any others?


Oddly enough, I always think this one was blown a little out of proportion. It was a pretty lacklustre final, so it just stands out as being one of the 'oh!' moments. It was a shot he never should have missed, but in the context of the match, the writing was on the wall well before that missed pink. Selby was completely in the ascendency from the start of the 3rd session onwards.

The other 3 are certainly iconic though, no denying those, especially the first 2. Those aren't just pivotal moments in their respective matches, they're 'classic' moments in the history of the entire game.


Yeah, people bang on about that pink, but Ronnie always says it was the missed black when he was about to lead 11-5 that was more significant.

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby SnookerFan

Dan-cat wrote:Yeah, people bang on about that pink, but Ronnie always says it was the missed black when he was about to lead 11-5 that was more significant.


I've only really seen that as mentioned on here.

Other shots seem more famous. Obviously the BBC love to harp on about the 1985 final to a boring degree. But the Ken Doherty 147-miss is quite infamous, and Ken has spoken about it publicly since. That Hendry match has got replayed in the classic match lists.

Nobody much seems to care about Ronnie's missed pink, apart from fans who have been sulking about it since.

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby PLtheRef

Dan-cat wrote:
Cheshire Cat wrote:
sas6789 wrote:What are some of the biggest misses in the history of the Game? Obviously there's:

1. Steve Davis's missed black in the 1985 world final

2. Stephen Hendry's missed black in the 1998 Master's final

3. Ronnie O'Sullivan's missed pink in the 2014 world final

4. Ken Doherty's missed black for a 147 in the Masters 2000

Any others?


Oddly enough, I always think this one was blown a little out of proportion. It was a pretty lacklustre final, so it just stands out as being one of the 'oh!' moments. It was a shot he never should have missed, but in the context of the match, the writing was on the wall well before that missed pink. Selby was completely in the ascendency from the start of the 3rd session onwards.

The other 3 are certainly iconic though, no denying those, especially the first 2. Those aren't just pivotal moments in their respective matches, they're 'classic' moments in the history of the entire game.


Yeah, people bang on about that pink, but Ronnie always says it was the missed black when he was about to lead 11-5 that was more significant.


It's an interesting one. Both are significant in their own ways because both of them produced significant shifts in the momentum towards Selby. Had O'Sullivan moved 11-5 in front then what was a commanding lead, was quickly heading towards impregnable lead territory (only three Crucible finals have been won from a six frame deficit, and only two from such a deficit on Monday) moreso, no-one had ever lost a final. The miss allowed Selby to close to 10-6 and ultimately end Sunday with the mental lead despite trailing 10-7.

The miss at the end of the Monday afternoon session is probably noted more because it happened at a closer stage in the match, and much closer to the finale. Would O'Sullivan missing a simple pink have been scrutinised as much had it been a pink to go 5-3 up at the end of the first session? It's also interesting to consider how the 2014 World Final would have gone had that pink gone in and O'Sullivan taken a 12-11 lead going into Monday evening having kept the lead and had a chance to regroup before the final session. It may (and probably will sound obvious with Selby already having been on the charge) - but the missed pink was the first real significant sign that that final was slipping away - hence why it's probably recalled more.

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby SnookerFan

Ronnie79 wrote:That pink was not that important Ronnie made a century break to draw it level at 12 all. Selby won the next 3 that won the final


The pink is slightly blown out of proportion by a few people on internet forums who wanted Ronnie to win that match.

Though the BBC have spent 30 years over egging the Dennis Taylor black ball finish, that was a big moment at the time. Not just for the 18.5 million people watching, but because the seemingly invincible Steve Davis missing the black on several occasions to give the title to an outsider.

The Ken Doherty 147 miss would've been heartbreaking for him, and was significant. He'd never scored a 147, and it was quite late in his career when he finally did it. Many years after that miss.

Not sure Ronnie's pink really holds up as some iconic or significant moment in the sport. Not sure I've ever heard it mentioned outside of this forum.

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby vodkadiet

sas6789 wrote:
TheRocket wrote:Another standout and imo most painful miss is Jimmys missed black off the spot in the decider of the 1994 World Championship final against Hendry.

Balls perfectly spread, everything set up for his championship clearance but then this bucking black off the spot and he missed it by a mile and gifted Hendry the title.

Yeah i missed that, that's another one. another one maybe Willie Thornes missed blue against Davis in the 1985 UK final at 14-7 up.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raqJmNr3zaI

Re: Biggest Misses In Snooker History

Postby mick745

How about Tony Knowles' pink in the 1983 SF v Cliff Thorburn when he missed the penultimate ball when clearing up to win 16-13 and get in the final. Thorburn came back to win 16-15 at something like 1.05am. Knowles himself said later that he felt he should have won the world title that year (notwithstanding he would still have had to play Steve Davis in the final).