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Century break

Achievement in snooker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Century break
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In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a break of 100 points or more, compiled in one visit to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a mark of the highest skill in snooker. Ronnie O'Sullivan has described a player's first century break as the "ultimate milestone for any snooker player".[1] Joe Davis made the first televised century break in 1962.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan (pictured) has scored the most century breaks in professional snooker tournaments at more than 1,200.

O'Sullivan holds the record for the most career centuries in professional competition, with over 1,200. Three players have reached the milestone of 1,000 career century breaks: O'Sullivan attained it at the 2019 Players Championship, followed by John Higgins at the 2024 English Open and Judd Trump at the 2024 British Open. Overall, 15 players have surpassed 500 career centuries in professional competition. Trump holds the record for the most century breaks in a single season, having made 107 in the 2024–25 season.[2][3] He and Neil Robertson, who made 103 centuries in the 2013–14 season, are the only players to have achieved 100 or more century breaks in one season; Trump is the only player to have accomplished the feat twice, having previously achieved it in the 2019–20 season, when he made 102 centuries. The most centuries by a player in a professional match is seven, a record held jointly by Stephen Hendry, Ding Junhui, and Trump. Tony Drago made the fastest recorded century in tournament play at the 1996 UK Championship, when he took 3 minutes and 31 seconds to score 100 points.

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Rules

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Snooker table with balls placed in their starting positions

A century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit to the table.[4] 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,[5] 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.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8] By the end of the 2013–14 season, the total number of players reaching the 100 centuries threshold had increased to 52.[9] In October 2018, there were 66 players that had reached the 100 century breaks marker.[10] As of January 2025, there are 86 players with 100 or more career centuries.[11]

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Players with 500 or more

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The following 15 players are reported to have made 500 or more confirmed century breaks in professional competition, and at least the given threshold above this.

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Records

Career

  • Joe Davis compiled the first televised century break in 1962.[1]
  • The record for the most century breaks scored in official tournament play has been held by Ronnie O'Sullivan since January 2015, when he broke the record of 775 career centuries previously held by Stephen Hendry.[28]
  • The first player to have recorded 1,000 centuries in public performance is Horace Lindrum, who reached this number in March 1970 in Sydney.[29][30] Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, and Judd Trump are the only players to have compiled more than 1,000 century breaks in professional competition. O'Sullivan was the first to do so, having achieved his 1,000th century at the 2019 Players Championship on 10 March 2019.[31]
  • Stacey Hillyard became the first female player to record a competitive century in January 1985.[32]
  • The fastest recorded century break in tournament play was by Tony Drago at the 1996 UK Championship – he took 3 minutes 31 seconds (211 seconds) to score one hundred points.[33] During the 2022 Scottish Open, Ronnie O'Sullivan came three seconds shy of Drago's record with a century break in 3 minutes 34 seconds (214 seconds).[34][35]
  • The youngest player to record a witnessed century break is Michael White, who scored his first century in March 2001 at the age of nine.[36][37]

Season

Event

Consecutive

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References

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