Achieving perfection in a snooker match wasn't enough to satisfy the sport's most charismatic and mercurial player, according to AP. Three-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was one easy shot away from a maximum break of 147 _ the highest score in snooker _ when he decided to end the frame, much to the puzzlement of the crowd and his opponent. O'Sullivan, an Englishman nicknamed «The Rocket,» was miffed because there was no bonus money on offer for completing a perfect break at the World Open in Glasgow. But after the match referee pleaded with him to «do it for the fans,» O'Sullivan sank the final black ball for the record 10th maximum score of his career. «I wasn't going to pot the black ... because I asked the ref and was told there was no break prize for a 147,» said O'Sullivan, who defeated Mark King in the third round Monday of the new event on the snooker circuit. All the millionaire O'Sullivan will likely earn for the feat is 4,000 pounds ($6,200) awarded for the highest break of the tournament. At a world championship, a player can earn 147,000 pounds ($230,000) for a maximum. «My whole thing was I was going to make 140 and leave the black. What's the point of making a 147 if they're only going to give you 4,000 for it?» he said. Two shots into his 37-shot run, O'Sullivan asked referee Jan Verhaas about the bonus for a 147, causing an unusual break in play for around a minute. «I wanted to make sure because if there was a decent prize then I would definitely have gone for it,» O'Sullivan said. After being informed there was no extra bonus, O'Sullivan resumed his break, calmly sinking balls into pockets with both right- and left-handed shots until he reached the final black. He initially left the table and shook King's hand to signify the end of the match. Verhaas then intervened, urging him to complete the break, and O'Sullivan obliged. «It was about proving a point, not about the money,» he said. «I've had loads of 147s so I don't really get excited by it and thought I needed to give myself something to go for. I just thought, `Why not?»' The incident has split opinion among snooker followers. Some said O'Sullivan had shown once again why he was the most watched, in-demand player on the circuit. Others criticized him for being unsportsmanlike and disrespectful. O'Sullivan has been no stranger to controversy in his 18-year snooker career. «I'm not going to change, I'll never change,» he said. «I was talking to (World Snooker chairman) Barry Hearn yesterday and I told him: 'If you like, that can be my last game of snooker ever. I'm quite happy to walk away' _ and I mean that,» O'Sullivan told radio station talkSPORT. «I'm a bit disappointed that everyone is finding the negative in it because it's about entertainment and expressing yourself, and that's all I was doing. I really wasn't going to pot the black but I can't believe everyone's getting so crazy about it.» O'Sullivan received a two-year suspended ban for assaulting an official at the World Championships in 1996 and tested positive for marijuana two years later after winning the Irish Masters. In 2006, he was fined and docked ranking points for conceding a best-of-17 match against Stephen Hendry when trailing just 4-1. He was handed the same sanctions in 2008 for lewd comments and actions at a news conference at the China Open. Off the snooker table, O'Sullivan's family life has been turbulent. When O'Sullivan was 15, his father was convicted of murder and given a life sentence. A year later, his mother was sent to prison for tax evasion.
