If a 147 in snooker is the equivalent of a hole-in-one in golf, John Higgins has essentially just put a shot off the fairway through his own legs.
The Scottish snooker great was taking part in the World Open in China when he produced one of the more rare errors in the game.
Facing Mark Davis and 4-1 up, the Scot looked to clinch the best-of-five face-off but let Davis back in with a shock error.
Lining up a pink with the score in the frame 29-21 in Davis’ favour, Higgins potted the ball, but glanced an errant red with his cue in the same movement.
With 32 years as a professional, the 49-year-old couldn’t believe what he’d just done, and shook his head as he sat back down frustrated.
Commentator Neal Foulds was just as baffled, saying: “Goodness me, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that even.
“The red has moved right across the table, he must have knocked it with his arm or something.
“I haven’t seen a red move across with a foul like that… There’s no contact with the cue ball, it just went across the table.”
Despite the hiccup, Davis let Higgins back into the frame, and he finished it and the match off, with a 5-1 win sending him through to the last 32 in Yushan.
A four-time world champion, the Wishaw native is looking to add another big title before turning 50 in May.
Higgins has been on a trophy drought in recent years despite being one of the game’s best, and explained that he’s not practising enough in conversation with the Metro.
“I’ll be honest. It’s not rocket science,” he said. “I can do it in fits and bursts, but it’s maybe because you don’t put in the same level of practice as you used to do.
“That maybe comes back to haunt you at the critical moments in the big, big events.
“I’d love to be able to practice more, but I just can’t. My mind just can’t take it in. I just don’t have the capabilities to do it.
“I still love playing, I still love competing. I want to be competitive when I come to big events, of course I do, but that’s maybe the deciding factor of it. It can be as simple as that really.”
Despite those statements, he still feels he’s better than the younger version of himself that regularly practiced.
He continued: “I don’t care what anyone says, I think I’m a better player than I was 20 years ago, I think I am.
“But nowadays I’m not winning the big events, but that’s simply because it was easier to win events 20 years ago to win events compared to nowadays. It’s easy to explain.”