NEIL ROBERTSON has landed a £150,000 windfall – without even having to pick up his snooker cue.
The Australian bagged the cash after Mark Selby beat Luca Brecel on his way to the Welsh Open crown.
Selby saw off the Belgian Bullet before overcoming Stephen Maguire 9-6 in the final.
The player with the highest earnings in the Home Nations Series bags a £150k bonus.
Earnings are added up between winnings in the England Open, Northern Irish Open, Welsh Open and Scottish Open.
Robertson, 43, led the standings going into last week’s tournament in Llandudno.
He was knocked out in the second round by Tom Ford – and therefore needed a favour from Selby.
Brecel was the only man who could reel in Robertson in the race for the cash.
But defeat in the semi-final for the 2023 world champion meant the Aussie walked away with the jackpot.
Taking to X, Robertson showed his appreciation for Selby’s efforts.
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He penned a short tweet putting Selby’s name alongside a love heart emoji.
Ex-pro Neal Foulds declared Robertson had been lucky to walk away with the bonus.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Snooker star Neil Robertson says ‘no chance’ and walks away after attempting the impossible at UK Championship ” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6365242486112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]Speaking to Eurosport, he said: “He’s kind of won it by default in a way.
“I mean, he’s obviously picked up more money than anyone else, but the amount of people that were queueing up to take it off him, and none of them did.
“It’s happened like that a couple of times now. So congratulations to him. He’s the rightful winner.”
Brecel’s defeat to Selby means he misses out on the Grand Prix in Hong Kong.
He needed a triumph in Llandudno to move into the top 32 of the one-year rankings.
Brecel said: “I’m a bit disappointed. Obviously, I wanted to go to Hong Kong for the Grand Prix.
” But maybe it’s a bit of karma for not entering all the tournaments this year. I think I maybe skipped five or six tournaments.
“It is what it is. I had my chances I guess; I didn’t take them well. It’s all about building up the game for the World Championship, I guess, this season. It’s the only one I’ve got left.
“So for me, that’s the big one and I’m happy to be going there with a bit of confidence and some results.”