Century break

In snooker, a century break (sometimes referred to as a ton) is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table without missing a shot and requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls. The ability to score century breaks is regarded as a mark of the highest skill in snooker, while the first career century has been described by Ronnie O'Sullivan as the "ultimate milestone for any snooker player".[1]

Ronnie O'Sullivan has scored the most century breaks in professional snooker tournaments.

Over 20,000 century breaks have been recorded by snooker players throughout professional tournaments.[2] In 2014, Neil Robertson became the first person to have scored over 100 century frames through a single season, a number that only some 60 other players have surpassed throughout their entire careers. Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record for the most career centuries with more than 1,000 century breaks; his 1,000th century break was achieved in the final frame of the 2019 Players Championship in Preston.

Rules
Snooker table with balls placed in their starting positions

A century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table, without missing a shot.[3] The player does this by potting red balls and coloured balls alternately, where the coloured balls are repositioned on their starting locations. After repositioning the coloured ball paired to the last red on the table, the six coloured balls are potted in order of their increasing value. Because a break is defined as series of consecutive pots by a player during a single frame,[4] scoring 100 points over the course of a whole frame does not necessarily constitute a century break, as it must be done on a single turn at the table. Points for a foul shot by the opponent do not count in a player's break.

Under normal circumstances, the highest possible century in snooker is 147 (a "maximum break"), composed of 15 reds (one point each), 15 blacks (seven points each) and the six remaining colours; yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black potted consecutively (two through seven points each for a total of 27). If for example only the least-valued colour (yellow, two points) would be used instead of the black ball, the break value would only be 72 points. This means that only a single century break is possible in a frame of snooker under a limited number of combinations, but it requires the potting of at least 25 consecutive balls (10 x (1 + 7) + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 100).[1] To score one, there must be at least ten reds on the table when the player comes to play since if there are only nine reds left, only 99 (= 9 × (1 + 7) + 27) points may be scored. An exception exists if the opponent fouls and leaves the incoming player snookered on all the remaining reds. In such a situation, the player can nominate one of the other colours as a red, known as a "free ball", which carries the same value as a red for just that shot, and therefore, a century break is still possible with only nine reds left.

Breaks above 147 are possible (up to 155) when an opponent fouls and leaves a free ball with all fifteen reds still remaining on the table, creating a situation identical to as if there were 16 red balls on the table. This has happened only once in professional competition, when Jamie Burnett made a 148 at the qualifying stage of the 2004 UK Championship.[5]

List of players with 100 confirmed century breaks in professional competition


A "century of centuries" refers to a total of 100 breaks of at least 100 points each.[1] By December 2001, only 15 players had reached this milestone in professional snooker tournaments.[6] With the increased occurrence of centuries compiled in professional competition in the past decades,[1] another 27 players had achieved a "century of centuries" by October 2011, bringing the total to 42.[7] By the end of the 2013–14 season, the total number of players reaching the 100 centuries threshold had increased to 52.[8] Only Neil Robertson has achieved one hundred centuries[9] in a single season, during 2013–14. By the end of the English Open in October 2018, there were 66 players that had reached the 100 century breaks marker.[10]

The following players are reported to have passed 100 breaks and at least the given threshold above this.

Threshold Player Ref
1000 Ronnie O'Sullivan[11]
750 John Higgins[12]
Stephen Hendry (775)†[13]
700 Neil Robertson[14]
Judd Trump[15]
600 Mark Selby[16]
500 Ding Junhui[17]
450 Marco Fu[17]
Shaun Murphy[18]
Mark Williams[18]
400 Mark Allen[19]
350 Peter Ebdon (377)†[20]
Steve Davis (355)†[21]
300 Ken Doherty[1][22]
Barry Hawkins[17]
250 Matthew Stevens[23]
200 Alan McManus[17]
100 Willie Thorne (126)†[24]
Paul Hunter (114)†[25]
Ian McCulloch (105)†[26]
Nigel Bond[27]
Mark King[28]
Key
Exact tally for a retired player


Secondary list of players with 100 century breaks in professional competition


Threshold Player Ref
1000 Ronnie O'Sullivan[11]
750 Stephen Hendry (775)†[13]
John Higgins[12]
700 Neil Robertson[14]
Judd Trump[15]
600 Mark Selby[16]
500 Ding Junhui[17]
450 Marco Fu[17]
Shaun Murphy[18]
Mark Williams[18]
400 Mark Allen[19]
350 Peter Ebdon (377)†[20]
Steve Davis (355)†[21]
Stephen Maguire[1][29]
Stuart Bingham[30]
Ryan Day[31]
300 Ken Doherty[1][22]
Jimmy White[1][32]
Barry Hawkins[17]
Threshold Player Ref
250 Matthew Stevens[23]
Anthony Hamilton[10]
Joe Perry[10]
Ali Carter[10]
Ricky Walden[10]
200 John Parrott (221)†[10]
Mark Davis[10]
Liang Wenbo[10]
Alan McManus[17]
Fergal O'Brien[10]
Dominic Dale[10]
David Gilbert[33]
Graeme Dott[10]
150
Stephen Lee (184)†[10]
James Wattana[10]
Robin Hull[10]
Jamie Cope[10]
Martin Gould[10]
Tom Ford[34]
Michael Holt[35]
Kurt Maflin[36]
Threshold Player Ref
100 Dave Harold (143)†[10]
Jamie Burnett (136)†[10]
Willie Thorne (126)†[24]
Paul Hunter (114)†[25]
Darren Morgan (111)†[10]
Ian McCulloch (105)†[26]
Andy Hicks[10]
Tony Drago[10]
Barry Pinches[10]
Nigel Bond[27]
Mark King[28]
Robert Milkins[10]
Michael White[10]
Andrew Higginson[10]
Joe Swail[10]
Kyren Wilson[10]
Anthony McGill[10]
Xiao Guodong[10]
Alfie Burden[10]
Jimmy Robertson[10]
Jack Lisowski[10]
Ben Woollaston[10]
Rod Lawler[10]
Gerard Greene[10]
Tian Pengfei[10]
Matthew Selt[10]
Key
Exact tally for a retired player


Records

Career
  • Joe Davis compiled the first televised century break in 1962.[1]
  • The record for most century breaks scored in official tournament play has been held by Ronnie O'Sullivan since January 2015,[37] with over 1,000 centuries.[38] The record was previously held by Stephen Hendry who compiled 775 centuries over the course of his career.[37]
  • The first player to record 1,000 centuries in public performance is Horace Lindrum.[39] The first player—and so far only—to record 1,000 centuries in professional competition is Ronnie O'Sullivan, a feat he achieved at the 2019 Players Championship on 10 March 2019.[18]
  • Stacey Hillyard became the first female to record a competitive century in January 1985.[40]
  • The quickest recorded century break in tournament play was by Tony Drago at 1996 UK Championship, taking 3 minutes 31 seconds (211 seconds) to score a hundred points.[41]
  • The youngest player to record a century break is Michael White at the age of nine in March 2001.[31]

Season
  • The first player to reach 50 centuries in a season was Hendry, with 53 century breaks from the 1994/1995 season.[42][43]
    • Hendry achieved another 51 centuries during the 1995/1996 season, while O'Sullivan came close with 48 in the 2006/2007 season,[44] but it was not until the 2010/2011 season when the record was finally broken by Mark Selby with 54 centuries,[42][41][45][46] and again by Selby with 55 century breaks in the 2011/2012 season.[47][48] Judd Trump took the record with 61 centuries in the 2012/2013 season and the record was broken for the fourth successive season in 2013/2014 when Neil Robertson overtook Trump's tally.[49]
  • The first (and so far, only) player to reach the 'century of centuries' (100 century breaks) mark during a single season is Neil Robertson in the 2013/2014 season on 30 April 2014 during his quarter final match against Judd Trump at the 2014 World Championship.[50] In total, Robertson compiled 103 century breaks throughout the season.[51][52]

Event
  • The most centuries made by a player in a single match during a professional tournament is seven and the record is shared by Stephen Hendry, Ding Junhui and Judd Trump.
    • Hendry set the record during the final of the 1994 UK Championship.[41] During this match, Hendry compiled six centuries in a span of eight frames.[53]
    • Ding tied the record in his semi-final match at the 2016 World Championship. This is also a record for a match at the Crucible Theatre,[54] beating the previous record of six shared by Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan.[55]
    • Trump tied the record in the final at the 2019 World Championship.[56] This equalled Ding's record at the Crucible Theatre and Hendry's record for a final. It also set a new record for a World Championship final at the Crucible, surpassing O'Sullivan's tally of six centuries during the final of the 2013 World Championship.[57]
    • Selby's six-century haul in a second round match at the 2011 World Championship set the record for a best-of-25 match.[58]
    • O'Sullivan holds the record for making the most centuries in a best-of-9 match compiling five centuries (including a 147) to beat Ali Carter 5–2 at the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy.[41]
    • Fergal O'Brien holds the record for most centuries in a best-of-11 match, compiling five centuries to beat Barry Hawkins 6–5 at the 2016 UK Championship.[59]
  • The record for combined number of century breaks in a single game by both players is eleven, achieved by Judd Trump (seven) and John Higgins (four) in the final of the 2019 World Championship.[56] This broke the previous record of ten, achieved by Ding Junhui (seven) and Alan McManus (three) in their semi-final tie at the 2016 World Championship.[54]
  • The most century breaks in a ranking event is eighteen centuries by Ding during the 2016 World Championship, compiling three during qualifying and a further fifteen at the Crucible Theatre during the main event.[60][61] Hendry previously set a record of sixteen at the 2002 World Championship, which remains a televised, Crucible and venue record.[41]
  • O'Sullivan has compiled more century breaks than any other player in the World Championship competition at the Crucible Theatre. He broke Hendry's record of 127 at the 2013 Championship,[55][62] extending his total to 162 up to and including the 2017 Championship. John Higgins is the only other player besides Hendry and O'Sullivan to compile more than 100 centuries at the world championship in the Crucible era.[63][64][65]
  • An aggregate Crucible record of 100 centuries was set at the 2019 World Championship, breaking the previous record of 86 held by the 2015 and 2016 World Championships.[66]

Consecutive

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