Was this the costliest miss in snooker history as Mark Williams returns to Saudi Arabia Masters and £500,000 golden shot? - 'It was a red I fancied'

React to this story

The Saudi Arabia Masters - the richest ranking event beyond the World Championship - produced a remarkable finish last year when Mark Williams missed match-ball red in the final frame of an agonising 10-9 defeat to Judd Trump in Riyadh. Leading 62-0, the Welshman was almost over the line, but a clinical 72 clearance from Trump saw him snatch the title and £500,000 first prize on the final black.

‘Relentless winner’ Trump completes amazing clearance to claim Saudi Masters in epic decider

Video credit: TNT Sports

There have been a number of costly and high-profile misses in the storied history of snooker's modern era of professionalism, both in terms of prestige, personal gain and haunting mental pain.

Think of the cutback black to a blind pocket which Steve Davis somehow over-cut in the final frame of his 18-17 defeat to Dennis Taylor in the 1985 World Championship final in Sheffield, a miss made harder to swallow after Davis had squandered an 8-0 lead from the first day.

Davis recalls approaching the shot with his faculties churning inside the Crucible cauldron.

Saudi Arabia Masters

Watch: 'Genius' O'Sullivan makes TWO maximum breaks in Saudi Arabia semi-final win

15/08/2025 at 22:06

"I remember that walk was surreal, an out-of-body experience. My legs had gone. It did not feel as if any part of my anatomy was playing that shot," he said.

There was also Jimmy White's infamous twitched black on the cusp of victory over Stephen Hendry in the 1994 Crucible final that allowed the great Scot to produce a match-winning 58 in an 18-17 final-frame victory.

It was a miss that would ultimately render 'The Whirlwind' a six-time runner-up in the sport's ultimate event.

"I came very close in winning two of the finals against him. In 1992, I was 14-8 up and getting my winning speech ready, but lost the next 10 frames," said White.

"And then in 1994, I twitched a black in the decider at 17-17. But it is what it is, and I might not have been here if I had won the World Championship, the way I was."

In the UK Championship final of 1985, it is difficult not to recall Willie Thorne somehow failing to slot a simple frame-winning blue to left centre when he seemed certain to lead his fellow Englishman 14-8 in Preston's Guild Hall.

Davis slotted blue, pink and black to trail 13-9 as Thorne's confidence appeared to collapse like a cheap waistcoat.

Like Davis earlier in the year, he would eventually lose the final 16-14 amid wincing reflection years later on the match-turning blue.

There was also snooker GOAT Ronnie O'Sullivan's missed pink to left middle when he appeared destined to lead Mark Selby 12-11 in the 2014 Crucible final, a match he would lose 18-14 after constructing a 10-5 advantage.

It remains O'Sullivan's only defeat in a world final.

In the 2000 Masters final at the old Wembley Conference Centre, Ken Doherty, who faces White for the first time in 15 years in the first round of the Saudi Arabia Masters on Friday night, was on the brink of a landmark maximum break 147 in the 15th frame against Matthew Stevens, but missed the black on 140.

The 1997 world champion trailed 9-5 at the old Wembley Conference Centre when he set off on his maximum attempt, but agonisingly failed to slot the final ball off the spot as the prize of an £80,000 sports car disappeared on the stroke of one bad shot.

Steven compounded the misery by capturing the invitational crown 10-8.

"I'm not going to miss this black," joked Doherty when he made a maximum in his home city of Dublin three years ago.

Judd Trump required only two balls for victory in the 2020 UK final, but somehow missed a routine pink with the black there for the potting as Neil Robertson pounced to hole the penultimate ball for glory after a fierce 66-minute final frame.

"It was an epic battle. It's tough to take, and I bottled it really. I was under pressure and ended up messing up," said the 2019 world champion after a 10-9 defeat.

"I would never have missed from there normally, but the whole length of the frame got to me, as well as the pressure, and I was trying too hard.

"It would have made for good viewing, but it's devastating for me."

Anything can be missed by even the greatest when the pressure intensifies.

Costly misses continue to come in all shapes and sizes on the mentally excoriating old green baize, but Mark Williams will probably reflect on the anguish of his own misstep in the final of the maiden Saudi Arabia Masters last season.

It was a shot at a £500,000 golden jackpot that would have earned the Welshman his biggest single payday in his career, beating any of the cheques he earned for winning his three world titles in 2000, 2003 and 2018.

On a break of 62 and apparently the cusp of a 10-9 win, Williams missed a tricky mid-range red to seal victory with position on the black guaranteed.

He never played another shot in the match, as Trump embarked upon a remarkable 72 title-winning clearance to deprive his opponent of the title and the record seven-figure sum.

‘Not to be’ – The missed red that ultimately cost Williams £500,000 prize fund to Trump

Video credit: TNT Sports

"It was a red I fancied on 62, but it wasn't as if I twitched or anything. I thought it was in," Williams told reporters.

"I didn't play really good all week, to be honest, I am a trier, I'll stick in and try my best, I have got to the final 9-9 and 62 in front.

"That's a whisker and I nearly won it.

"I didn't really do anything wrong. Towards the end of that match was probably the best both of us have played."

Williams picked up a consolation £200,000 as runner-up, but joked that half would be going to the tax man and the other half to wife Joanne.

The second staging of the Saudi Arabia Masters begins in Jeddah on Friday, and is live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

White faces Doherty in the first round on Friday night, with the world's top 16 players not due to enter the fray until the last-32 stage on Tuesday as world No. 1 Trump defends the title.

- - -

Watch and stream top snooker action, including the Saudi Arabia Masters, live and on demand on TNT Sports and discovery+

Saudi Arabia Masters

Saudi Arabia Masters recap - O'Sullivan hits TWO historic 147s as on-fire snooker GOAT reaches final

15/08/2025 at 21:25

Saudi Arabia Masters

'You are in a trance' - O'Sullivan moves up in world after hitting 'the zone' in epic Saudi win

15/08/2025 at 11:00