SHAUN MURPHY hit the most “underwhelming” 147 break of his life – following the most overwhelming travel chaos experience.
The Magician celebrated a maximum break in the final frame of his 5-0 victory over China’s Zhou Jinhao in the first round of the World Open.
The Magician makes a 𝗠𝗔𝗫𝗜𝗠𝗨𝗠! ✨
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) February 24, 2025
Shaun Murphy makes his 10th career 147 and his second of the year to conclude a whitewash victory against Zhou Jinhao at the #World Open 🤩 pic.twitter.com/xShZ7n3a16
It is the tenth perfect break of his career – only Ronnie O’Sullivan (15), John Higgins (13) and Stephen Hendry (11) have made more.
Yet the 214th official maximum in snooker history – and 12th of the season – was not seen by many people in Yushan.
Murphy, in line for the £5,000 high-break prize, said: “I did a show in Ormskirk a couple of weeks ago.
“When I got there, the promoter was keen to tell me that the last player they’d had there made a 147 in the first frame.
“So, I did one there as well! Listen, I don’t know, maybe there’s something in the water but I’m delighted. Absolutely delighted.
“I must say it was an early session, an early start, there weren’t many fans in the arena this morning.
“It’s probably the most underwhelming 147 of all time. But they are all special.
“I’ve made snooker look very difficult at times – when it goes well, I’m really pleased.
“You just get used to patterns. It was very, very similar to the 147 I made in the Shoot Out, where the blue moved off the break.
“I just thought that the black was available and ‘let’s see how far I can get’. So, I was trying to get it from the first shot. I didn’t think I would actually do it. I can’t believe it. I’m blown away.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Shaun Murphy swipes at snooker gamesmanship tactic that is ‘blight on our sport’ ” 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=”6368299337112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]Murphy – who fired in a 147 on his run to winning the Masters at Ally Pally in January – also notched in scores of 127 and 119 as Jinhao potted only 53 points across five frames.
His next assignment will be Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the last 32 as he chases the £175,000 top pot.
But the world No8 almost never made it on time after flight problems en route to the Far East.
Murphy explained: “It was amazing. We taxied to the runway at Heathrow. The pilot came over and said: ‘I’m really sorry, we have got a problem, no power in the engines.’
“We were like: ‘Right, that sounds like a problem.’ Of course, there was a three-hour delay. By the time I got to Dubai I’d missed my connection to Shanghai.
“That meant a night in Shanghai. I then got an early bullet train.
“What should have taken a day took four days to get here. A bit of a mission. Seems like it has been worthwhile so far.”