The Rocket’s withdrawal was announced by World Snooker Tour on the morning of the event in Edinburgh, citing medical reasons for not playing in the ranking tournament, where he was due to play Graham on Monday afternoon.
The world number one said during the UK Championship earlier this month that he was unlikely to play in the Scottish Open, but only confirmed the decision late in the day.
Graham, a 19-year-old rookie in his first season as a professional, was looking forward to taking on the seven-time world champion and is left disappointed not only for himself but his friends and family who came to watch the match.
Instead of a game, the Scottish teenager gets a bye to the next round so those who came to see him play will have to come back the following day to see him take on Belgian youngster Ben Mertens.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Graham said: ‘It’s disrespectful what he’s done, it’s not right. A lot of people took time off work to come and watch today and it’s disappointing.
‘At the end of the day I want to play the best players in the world and I was really looking forward to it. I had a lot of people coming to watch and it’s really disappointing for them.
‘It’s not surprising given the things he does. I found out when I got to the venue this morning. I didn’t have much prior warning, I think he pulled out very late.
‘I would have stayed at home and all the people who have travelled to watch me would have come another day as well.’
The 48-year-old has withdrawn from events on a regular basis this season, pulling out of the Championship League, European Masters, British Open, Northern Ireland Open and Champion of Champions.
O’Sullivan did hint that he was likely to skip the trip to Scotland during his run to the UK Championship title, saying: ‘I’m looking forward to a break. I think I have to monitor my schedule a lot, and I just think prevention is better than cure and I don’t want to get to the point where I hit a bad spot.
‘So, I think for me, it’ll be try to enjoy this tournament, then probably miss Scotland and then go to Macau for Christmas for a big event. I’m looking forward to that. I want to be ready for that, it’s an important event.’
MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan withdraws from Scottish Open ‘due to medical reasons’
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