Bizarre mix-up proves costly for Neil Robertson as he forfeits another World Open qualifying match

A lot of us get confused which day of the week it is over the festive period, and that was the case for former World Champion Robertson as he got his dates mixed up just before Christmas and ended up missing his qualifying match against Michael Holt at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

With a winner's purse of £175,000, the 128-player 2025 World Open is one of the most lucrative ranking events on the World Snooker Tour this season. The final rounds of the event are set to be played in Yushan, China between February 23 to March 1, although the majority of opening round matches were completed in England between December 20-22.

Several of the world's top ranked players - including Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson and Ronnie O'Sullivan - were spared qualifying, with their first round games held over to the main venue in the Far East.

Australian Robertson was due to play recent UK Championship quarter-finalist Michael Holt during the evening session of Saturday 21st December from 7pm (local time). However, shortly after this time, a 5-0 result in favour of Holt was registered on the World Snooker Tour results page, without explanation of what happened. Now, following an Instagram post a few weeks later, former Snooker Shoot Out champion Holt has revealed all.

On his michaelholtcoaching account on Instagram, Holt explained how he had been bed-ridden with flu before the German Masters-World Open qualifying double header in Sheffield. Having lost 5-2 to amateur player Iulian Boiko in the German Masters, world number 83 Holt considered pulling out of his tie with Robertson later in the week due to still feeling ill.

However, his decision to make the trip to Yorkshire proved to be a fruitful one, but in an unexpected way.

Holt said: "It's ten to seven, I'm in the office waiting to play and Gary Wilkinson's (tournament official) phone rang. He picked his phone up and looked at me and went (Holt put his thumb up).

"Basically, Neil forgot what day it was, he got the wrong date, which is a massive stroke of luck for me which meant I got a bye. So I'm going to China at the end of February. So yeah, that's a massive bit of luck I had."

For 24-time ranking event winner Robertson, it means he will not be in Yushan where he made the semi-finals of this event in 2024.

Time will tell, but the mistake could prove very costly for Robertson who is trying to avoid having to qualify for this year's World Championship at the Crucible Theatre.

On the provisional 'Race to the Crucible' rankings list, 2010 World Champion Robertson is positioned in 17th. The top 16 all go straight through to the sport's grandest stage for the main 32-player draw where they are seeds. Last year, Robertson fell outside of snooker's elite bracket and had to go to the qualifiers where he lost 10-9 to Jamie Jones in the final round to miss out on the Crucible for the first time since 2004.

Earlier this season, 42-year-old Robertson ended a near two-and-a-half year wait for a ranking title when he defeated Wu Yize in the final to win the 2024 English Open and lift The Steve Davis Trophy.

Whilst he is 17th on the projected Crucible list, 'The Thunder from Down Under' is currently well-placed to qualify for all three Players Series events over the coming months; with lots of prize money attached to those tournaments, they could provide the points Robertson needs to get back into the world's top 16.

This is not the first time Robertson has missed a match in the World Open due to unusual circumstances. In 2019, he accidentally programmed the wrong 'Barnsley' into his sat-nav, meaning he was on his way to a village in Gloucestershire instead of the actual venue in Yorkshire.

It was too late by the time he realised his error, meaning opponent Ian Burns received a bye through to the main stages in Yushan.