Ronnie O’Sullivan is still bidding to win a fifth Welsh Open title, despite having problems with his cue to the extent that he offered to forfeit his match with Rod Lawler on Wednesday night.
The Rocket has been having issues with his tip, which flew off the end of his cue twice during a second round win over Ross Muir, with the world champion having to go backstage and have it glued back on.
The problem has not been resolved properly and it fell off again during the match with Lawler and O’Sullivan has lost confidence in his cue as a result.
The world number one went on to win the match 4-0 nonetheless, but he admitted afterwards that he offered to concede the game to avoid any more interruptions for him to fix the faulty tip.
“I did say to Rod, you can have the match when I was 2-0 up,’ O’Sullivan told Eurosport. ‘I said to (tournament director) Paul (Collier), there is no point me keep having to come up here and putting the tips on. I am happy to give the match to Rod.
‘I don’t think Rod wanted to play either to be honest. I felt for Rod. He is a good lad.
‘I will send the cue away and get it done. It needs a new ferrule. Hopefully it will be ready for Thailand (Six Reds World Championship) and the other important tournaments for me.
The Welsh Open is played down to just eight players remaining on Thursday, with the four quarter-finals played on Friday in Llandudno.
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