John Higgins admitted he couldn’t feel his feet or arms as he got close to making the 167 break at the World Masters of Snooker, with the enormous prize for potting the gold ball on the line.
The ball is worth 20 points, meaning a 167 is possible and the first person to make the break will win a mammoth prize worth $500,000 (£395,000).
Higgins was on course to be the first as he sunk 15 reds and 15 blacks in his match with Mark Williams on Monday, but in potting a tricky final black, the cue ball ran on and landed right on the yellow.
The Wizard of Wishaw had a go at a really difficult cut but missed and finished his break on 120, with the huge reward just seven pots away.
‘I actually couldn’t feel my feet, my arms and my legs,’ Higgins told Eurosport after winning the match 4-2.
‘I walked past Mark and he said: “Listen, I never get nervous but my hands were sweating watching you trying to do that break!” It’s an incredible feeling, but disappointing.
‘I think in the back of my mind, the pink wasn’t good, so that was in the back of my mind throughout the whole break, but I gave it a go.
‘I was gone! I was just thinking happy thoughts.’
That was the first frame of the match, with the four-time world champion making further breaks of 77 and 64 to set-up a quarter-final clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan on Tuesday after beating Qatar’s Ali Alobaidli in his preliminary round match.
‘Great win, any time with Mark it’s such a tough game, brilliant to win, delighted,’ he said.
‘Delighted now I’m through and in the quarter-finals, that was my aim at the start of the day, I’ve won the two games and got Ronnie tomorrow night so delighted with that.
‘Always [special to play O’Sullivan] and I’m sure tomorrow night will be no different.’
Also booking a quarter-final place on Monday was Ali Carter, who edged out Ding Junhui 4-3 to book a clash with Luca Brecel, despite some worries over his cue.
‘I went around the world to get here and it never made it onto the last flight, my cue,’ said the Captain. ‘So glad it’s here now, it arrived in the nick of time last night. I’ve travelled the world for years, it’s the only time it’s not turned up, it was going to happen some time.’
On the possibility of landing the huge bonus, he said: ‘I didn’t fancy potting a ball tonight, let alone making 167″ I’m just delighted I got it going a bit in the middle, we go again tomorrow.
‘It’s fabulous, it’s a great innovation, gives us something extra to go for, more excitement for the crowd and us boys a bit more incentive.’
It was an interesting first day of the new event in Saudi Arabia, with the gold ball attracting plenty of attention, but actually not being involved much in most frames. As soon as a 147 is not possible the ball is removed from the table and placed on a cushion, waiting to be returned for the next frame.
The event was advertised as a sell out, but there were a lot of empty seats in Riyadh, especially in the afternoon session when there was hardly anyone there.
There was also a lot of shuffling about from the people in the seats behind the baulk end, where the dignitaries were sat, just as Higgins was about to play the difficult final black in his go at the maximum break, which didn’t help his nerves at all.
The quarter-finals are played over two sessions on Tuesday, with Mark Allen taking on Mark Selby, Brecel playing Carter, Judd Trump meeting Shaun Murphy and O’Sullivan facing Higgins.
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