The unwanted record that has cost snooker star a huge amount of prize money

10/02/2024 05:42 AM

Missing the final black for a 147 is something that no player has done more than once except Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who has fallen at the final hurdle on three separate occasions.

The Thai star is one of the most entertaining players on the World Snooker Tour, with his ‘F1’ nickname illustrative of his rapid pace around the table.

He has made 189 centuries over his career so far and knocked in a maximum break on four occasions, but there could have been more.

The 39-year-old first missed the final black while on a max at the 2015 UK Championship during a 6-2 defeat to Neil Robertson.

After landing nicely on the black it looked like a formality for what would have been the first 147 of his career, but Thepchaiya sent it wide, much to the shock of the crowd in York.

‘I'm so disappointed,’ he said at the time. ‘It's a nightmare. There was a lot of pressure on the black because I had never made a 147 in a tournament before.’

It proved to be a recurring nightmare for the Thai as just a few months later he fluffed his lines on the final black again.

This time it was against Anthony McGill in World Championship qualifying and again it was a shot he would very much expect to pull off.

He did overhit the pink a little, but it was not a difficult black that he rattled in the jaws, which led to him chucking his cue on the table in disgust.

Remarkably, Thepchaiya went on to make a break of 144 in the same match to add to that effort of 140, but lost 10-7 to the Scot.

That mistake in Sheffield already made Thepchaiya the only player to miss the final black in a maximum attempt more than once and he has now extended his own unwanted record.

Back in Sheffield this week for the International Championship qualifiers, Thepchaiya had another attempt at a 147 in the second frame against Lei Peifan but left himself a very tricky cut after landing awkwardly on the black.

It was a fine attempt but the former Shoot Out champion slightly overcut the ball and it hung agonisingly over the pocket.

The misses have been very irritating for Thepchaiya and they have also hit him in the pocket.

At the 2015 UK Championship the 147 prize stood at £40,000 with the high break prize an extra £4,000, so he missed out on that potential windfall, although Robertson actually went on to make a max in the final of that tournament.

The cash on offer in 2016 was actually less as it was in World Championship qualifying rather than the televised stages, but the miss still cost him £9,500.

There is no prize for a 147 at the International Championship this season, but the high break prize stands at £5,000. Seen as Thepchaiya’s effort of 1490 has already been topped, it’s another costly missed black on his record.

It has not been all woe for Thepchaiya when it comes to 147s, though, making maximums at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic, the 2018 English Open, German Masters qualifying in 2021 and at the 2024 WST Classic.

His four 147s mean only 13 players in history have made more than him while he is level with Ryan Day and Mark Allen with their quartet of maximums.

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