Jack Lisowski
Non-Ranking, Snooker Headlines

Jack Lisowski AND Joe O’Connor miss final black in 147 attempts

Jack Lisowski has missed the final black for a 147 break – coming just a day after Joe O’Connor did the exact same thing at Championship League Snooker in Leicester.

The pair of Englishmen join an exclusive club of players who have been denied the maximum achievement on the last ball.

O’Connor was on course to make his second career maximum break during his round-robin fixture with Tom Ford in Group 6 of CLS on Wednesday.

The former Scottish Open runner-up successfully potted all 15 reds with blacks and continued to look strong as he proceeded to down the initial colours.

But the 29 year-old didn’t land perfectly on the pink ball, which was next to the bottom cushion near the yellow pocket.

O’Connor dispatched the pink but overscrewed the cue ball, leaving himself a tricky cut back on the final black that he knocked against the jaws before sighing heavily in utter disappointment.

Incredibly, Jack Lisowski has – a day later – added his name to the list of players who have messed up a 147 break attempt right at the very end.

The 33 year-old began to run slightly out of position on the green but proceeded to pot the remaining colours until he found himself on the wrong side of the pink.

Forced to go in and out of baulk, Lisowski potted the pink but crashed the cue ball against the middle jaw and was left with a nightmare thin snick the length of the table on the black.

The bizarre situation drew laughs from opponent Jak Jones and referee Rob Spencer, but Lisowski unfortunately couldn’t pull off a miracle pot.

Joe O'Connor
Joe O’Connor and Jack Lisowski have both compiled one 147 break each in their careers. Photo credit: CLS

O’Connor had made the 200th professional 147 break in last year’s edition of Championship League Snooker, where he ended up as the runner-up to Mark Selby.

Selby, incidentally, is one of the other few notable players who have botched the final black while attempting to complete a maximum break.

The four-time world champion suffered the heartache during his victory over Mark King at the 2013 China Open.

Ken Doherty is the player who a lot of people think of when the topic of missed blacks for a maximum arises.

The Irishman cost himself a sports car worth £80,000 when he sent a routine black off the spot wide of the target in the final of the 2000 Masters at the Wembley Conference Centre.

Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is arguably the most famous proponent of missed blacks during 147 attempts, however.

Un-Nooh has incredibly produced the moment three times in his career on the World Snooker Tour.

The former Shoot Out champion missed the final ball at the 2015 UK Championship, costing him £44,000 in prize money.

Un-Nooh then repeated the mistake in qualifying matches for the following year’s World Championship and again at this season’s International Championship.

Liang Wenbo, Barry Pinches, Michael White, and Robin Hull are also known to have missed the final blacks on 147 break attempts in the past.

Featured photo credit: WST

3 Comments

  1. snookersaurus

    I was in the audience for Liang Wenbo’s failed 147 – I think it came only three frames after a successful one! It was a World Championship qualifying match but I can’t remember the year.

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