Ronnie O’Sullivan Refuses To Play Snooker Shootout Despite £50,000 Prize On Offer – Snooker Freaks

Ronnie O’Sullivan has refused to play in this month’s Snooker Shootout despite an impressive £50,000 prize on offer to the tournament winner.

The shootout will be played at a new venue in 2022 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester between January 20-23.

Despite this, some of the sport’s biggest stars have chosen to sit out of the event, including arguably snooker’s greatest ever player O’Sullivan.

This might not come as a surprise to many Ronnie fans though, as the Englishman had previously revealed in 2020 that he may never play the tournament again.

Speaking after his 2020 exit to then world No.111 Billy Joe Castle he said: “I will never play in the Shootout again. I love it as an event, but as a player there is no value.

“I played it this year, the first time in five years, because everyone said they were enjoying it and I thought ‘I have got to see what it’s all about’.”

The shootout offers a format like no other on the World Snooker Tour, with frames lasting a maximum of 10 minutes, and all players on a shot-clock of 15 seconds – which is then reduced to 10 seconds for the final five minutes of the frame.

Whilst O’Sullivan isn’t a fan of playing in the event himself, he can see why snooker spectators enjoy watching the fast-paced games.

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Speaking after his 2020 exit he continued: “As a player it’s not the best because there are so many variables. But as a spectator I’d rather watch it than the World Championship.

“There is so much going on it keeps you interested, it’s like an exciting film – a real cliff-hanger.

“As a player I don’t like playing in it, but I can step back and see as a spectator – which is the most important thing at the end of the day – it is enjoyable to watch.”

He even went on to admit that he would welcome more quick-fire tournaments like the shootout onto the Tour calendar.

“I do think they should play some more of them on the tour though, because it is exciting for the spectators and that is what you want in sport,” O’Sullivan added.

“It is exciting stuff and if they could incorporate more of them it would be great, like the Twenty20 cricket games.”

As well as O’Sullivan, recently crowned Masters champion Neil Robertson will also skip the tournament, as well as Judd Trump and John Higgins.

There however still some big names who will be entertaining the Leicester crowd, including last year’s runner up Mark Selby, as well as Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, Kyren Wilson, and Mark Allen.