Was Ronnie O'Sullivan world record snooker bid faster than official time? Tony Drago's 26-year century record holds firm

Updated 30/11/2022 at 07:30 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan was only a few seconds off compiling the fastest century in snooker history during the Scottish Open in Edinburgh on Monday night, but it is debatable how many seconds he was slower than record holder Tony Drago. Drago's official time is three minutes and 31 seconds with O'Sullivan recording three minutes and 34 seconds, but both players may have gone faster than official time.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan's remarkable world record century attempt in a 4-0 win against Bai Langning at the Scottish Open on Monday evening has an official time of 3 minutes and 34 seconds, but clock watching does not appear to settle the debate.

Maltese speed merchant Tony Drago continues to hold that particular televised record with an astonishing time lodged as 3 minutes and 31 seconds during the 1996 UK Championship, but when you revisit the footage there is an argument to suggest both men were slightly faster than their official finishes.

The method used to determine the time of a break is self explanatory with the clock starting when a player first strikes the white ball until the balls stop moving after the final shot of the break.

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Drago produced a remarkable break of 103 against John Higgins in the fourth frame of their last-16 match of the UK in Preston 26 years ago, a match he somehow lost 9-8 having led Higgins 6-0 at one point.

"Real exhibition stuff from Tony Drago," comments 1985 world champion Dennis Taylor. "Got the cue ball on a piece of string at the moment."

When you time the break from start to finish, there is every reason to believe Drago hovered around the 3 minutes 27 second mark when he pots the final black and white stops moving in reaching the century – four seconds quicker than the original accredited time.

In that period of time, basic blunders clamped themselves to the timing of such breaks that still seem to prompt widespread debate over a quarter of a century later.

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O'Sullivan's remarkable world-record 147 break set in the 1997 World Championship first round against Mick Price was wrongly timed at five minutes and 20 seconds before being rounded down to five minutes and eight seconds when he first strikes the cue ball.

Similarly, there is debate over O'Sullivan's time when the yellow hits the pocket and white stops moving as the world champion reaches his ton with 3 minutes and 33 seconds a viable possibility even deploying snooker VAR.

It can also be debated how faster that 118 break would have been if he was straighter on yellow and stunned the white for the three figures?

"I don't think I've seen a quicker century break in the history of the game than this," said former world No. 3 Neal Foulds in the Eurosport commentary box.

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There was mayhem in Edinburgh's Meadowbank Centre last night when the time was first given as three minutes and 24 seconds before officials added 10 seconds after revisiting the time of the break, preserving Drago's record by three seconds.

What is not in doubt is Tony Drago's right to continue to hold the record, but he may have gone at least six seconds faster rather than the official three-second gap between them.

What is also not up for debate is the brilliance of both breakneck speed breaks that are likely to stand the test of time.