Ronnie O'Sullivan's record 15 maximum 147 breaks in his snooker career (2024)

There have been 202 maximum breaks made in professional tournament snooker, with Steve Davis managing the first way back in 1982 and Ronnie O'Sullivan scoring the most with 15.

His maiden effort at the 1997 World Championship - in just five minutes and eight seconds - was undoubtedly the greatest of all time and nobody is expecting that record to ever be rivalled, let alone broken.

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However, just a week before his 47th birthday at the recent Scottish Open, the Rocket remarkably compiled the second fastest century break in history at three minutes and 34 seconds; some 13 seconds quicker than it took him to bring up three figures against Mick Price at the Crucible. So maybe it is possible.

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As for remaining top of the table for most maximums ever scored, unless he adds to his tally again then surely his position will be one day threatened by Judd Trump, who recently made his eighth to consolidate his position at fifth behind John Higgins (12), Stephen Hendry (11) and Stuart Bingham (9).

Surprisingly, O'Sullivan hasn't made a maximum since his 15th at the 2018 English Open although he recently admitted the lack of a prize for such a feat is one of the primary reasons why he doesn't really feel motivated to make one when the opportunity arises.

1997 World Championship

• April 21, 1st round v Mick Price (5 mins, 8 seconds)

Ronnie O'Sullivan soared to superstar status in five minutes and eight seconds of breathtaking snooker from the gods at a time when he'd won just two of his record 19 Triple Crown titles. The Rocket, who was just 21 and four years away from his first of five Crucible crowns, compiled his break during a 10-6 first-round victory over Mick Price and it won him a whopping £147,000. It was clocked at five minutes 20 seconds at the time but in recent years it's been correctly altered to 5:08, which averages out at roughly 8.5 seconds per shot. To put that into perspective, that's over a minute quicker than the next fastest by O'Sullivan in 2003.

1999 Welsh Open

• January 29, v James Wattana (6 mins, 53 seconds)

1999 Grand Prix

• October 13, v Graeme Dott (8 mins, 14 seconds)

2000 Scottish Open

• April 5, v Quinten Hann (6 minutes, 40 seconds)

2001 LG Cup

• October 17, v Drew Henry (6 minutes, 31 seconds)

2003 World Championship

• April 22, 1st round v Marco Fu (6 mins, 25 seconds)

Ronnie O'Sullivan came relatively close to breaking his record of the fastest ever 147 when clearing the table in six minutes and 30 seconds, which is easily the second quickest of all time. It came during the first session of his first-round match to Marco Fu, when trailing 4-2, but it couldn't prevent him suffering a 10-4 defeat the following day.

2007 Northern Ireland Trophy

• November 7, v Ali Carter (8 minutes, 2 seconds)

2007 UK Championship

December 15, v Mark Selby (7 minutes, 56 seconds)

2008 World Championship

• April 28, second round v Mark Williams (8mins, 47 seconds)

Ronnie O'Sullivan became the first person to record a third Crucible maximum in 2008 although at that time nobody else had managed more than one! It was the second time a maximum had completed a Crucible victory - with his opponent Mark Williams being the first to do so three years earlier of course - and also the second time a 147 has been scored by a player who goes on to win that same World Championship.

2010 World Open

• September 20, v Mark King (8 minutes, 10 seconds)

2011 Paul Hunter Classic

• August 26, v Adam Duffy (7 minutes, 29 seconds)

2014 Welsh Open

• March 2, final v Ding Junhui

2014 UK Championship

• December 4, v Matthew Selt (8 minutes, 20 seconds)

2018 China Open

• April 3, v Elliot Slessor (7 minutes, 23 seconds)

2018 English Open

• October 17, v Allan Taylor (7 minutes, 13 seconds)

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