Ronnie O’Sullivan is now snooker’s oldest UK champion as well as the youngest after winning his eighth title on Sunday night.
Here is a look at his record in the event.
Decades of dominance
O’Sullivan won his first UK title in 1993 aged 17, breaking opponent Stephen Hendry’s record as the event’s youngest winner.
His 10-7 win over Ding Junhui three decades on – and two days shy of his 48th birthday – sees him also push Doug Mountjoy out of the record books as the oldest champion.
O’Sullivan was also victorious in 1997, 2001, 2007, 2014 and back-to-back in 2017 and 2018, the first man to successfully defend the UK crown since 1996 when Hendry won his third-straight title.
He has extended his own record to eight UK titles, with Steve Davis winning six and Hendry five.
Triple crown record
O’Sullivan also already held the record for the most titles in snooker’s ‘triple crown’ events – the World and UK Championships and the Masters.
Sunday’s was his 22nd win – and his 40th ranking title, in both cases four clear of Hendry for the record. The Masters, as an invitational event, is not classed as a ranking title.
O’Sullivan has won the World Championship and the Masters seven times each – a Masters record, with one more title than Hendry and is level with the Scot for the modern-era record in the World Championship.
Eleven players have completed a career triple crown, with O’Sullivan, Hendry and Davis joined by John Higgins, Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Neil Robertson, Alex Higgins, Judd Trump, Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy.
Hendry – twice – Davis and Williams are the only players to win all three events in the same season. Should O’Sullivan manage to claim next month’s Masters title at Alexandra Palace, he can dream of adding his name to that illustrious list.
