Snooker rival believes Ronnie O'Sullivan would rough it out at Crucible qualifiers if push came to shove

The qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Snooker Championship are taking place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. From the 128 entrants, only 16 will leave with golden tickets for the main draw stages at the Crucible where they will be pitched at random against the seeded players in round one proper.

The top 16 players in the world rankings all go straight through to the televised phases at the Crucible which start on Saturday 18th April.

Despite being in their fifties, all three members of the revered triumvirate comfortably made the seeding grade. John Higgins is the number five seed, last year’s runner-up Mark Williams is number six, and Ronnie O’Sullivan is twelfth.

Should Higgins and O’Sullivan navigate their opening round matches against a qualifier, they would meet in a blockbuster last 16 clash.

Reigning Welsh Open champion Hawkins is another player who wasn’t required to attend this year’s preliminaries at the EIOS, but the 46-year-old does have recent experience of playing at the world qualifiers.

In 2023, Hawkins had to qualify for the first time in 11 years, and he missed out on the Crucible for the first time since 2005 when he lost to Jak Jones at the final hurdle.

Since then, though, ‘The Hawk’ got himself back into the elite top 16 and has been a seed for the next three editions, although his last match victory at the Crucible came in 2021.

Hawkins says the Class of 92 “just love playing”

Speaking to 247Bet, Hawkins was asked whether the ‘Class of 92’ - who have 14 world crowns between them - would put themselves through the qualifying gauntlet if they slipped down the rankings in the future.

“It’s hard to go through the qualifiers, especially now. At this stage of their careers, I’m not so sure if they’d still be up for it” said Hawkins.

“I remember a few years ago, Mark Williams dropped right down the rankings, and he put himself through it. So, he’s someone who has already put himself through it before.

“But the setup for World Championship qualifying is really good. It feels like a big event in itself. It’s not like you’re playing in front of nobody, because they do get good crowds, and the atmosphere is still pretty decent.

“If push came to shove, I think they probably would go through it, because they just love playing. I think that their love for the game is enough for them to take the challenge on.”

Hawkins: Ronnie O’Sullivan is a “funny one”

Out of the three, O’Sullivan’s competitive playing schedule these days is lighter than that of Higgins or Williams.

During his rookie professional season, O’Sullivan - who was only 16-years-old at the time - won ten consecutive world championship qualifying round matches to reach the Crucible stages held several months’ later.

O’Sullivan needed to qualify for the following edition, which he successfully did, but every year since he has been a top 16 seed in Sheffield.

Specifically asked whether O’Sullivan would go to the qualifiers again, five-time ranking event winner Hawkins said: “Ronnie’s a funny one. Sometimes he plays in the most random events because he just wants to play and fancies a game. So it wouldn’t surprise me if he turned up and played in World Championship qualifying, because sometimes he just loves playing.

“It’s not always about the event as such with Ronnie. It’s just because he wants to play at that time. So there’s no rhyme or reason with Ronnie, really.

“So yeah, I can’t see why Ronnie [O’Sullivan], Mark [Williams], and John [Higgins] wouldn’t have a go at it just to get back to the Crucible. Although it won’t be for a few years yet.

“They wouldn’t put themselves through it year upon year, but they would give qualifying one or two goes, and then if nothing was happening after that, then that would probably be it for them, I think.”

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