NEIL ROBERTSON has landed a £150,000 windfall – without even having to pick up his snooker cue.
The Australian bagged the cash after Mark Selby beat Luca Brecel on his way to the Welsh Open crown.
Selby saw off the Belgian Bullet before overcoming Stephen Maguire 9-6 in the final.
The player with the highest earnings in the Home Nations Series bags a £150k bonus.
Robertson, 43, led the standings going into last week’s tournament in Llandudno.
He was knocked out in the second round by Tom Ford – and therefore needed a favour from Selby.
Brecel was the only man who could reel in Robertson in the race for the cash.
But defeat in the semi-final for the 2023 world champion meant the Aussie walked away with the jackpot.
Taking to X, Robertson showed his appreciation for Selby’s efforts.
He penned a short tweet putting Selby’s name alongside a love heart emoji.
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Ex-pro Neal Foulds declared Robertson had been lucky to walk away with the bonus.
Speaking to Eurosport, he said: “He’s kind of won it by default in a way.
“I mean, he’s obviously picked up more money than anyone else, but the amount of people that were queueing up to take it off him, and none of them did.
“It’s happened like that a couple of times now. So congratulations to him. He’s the rightful winner.”
Brecel’s defeat to Selby means he misses out on the Grand Prix in Hong Kong.
He needed a triumph in Llandudno to move into the top 32 of the one-year rankings.
List of all-time Snooker World Champions
BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year.
The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport.
The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport.
Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period.
Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each.
- 1969 – John Spencer
- 1970 – Ray Reardon
- 1971 – John Spencer
- 1972 – Alex Higgins
- 1973 – Ray Reardon (2)
- 1974 – Ray Reardon (3)
- 1975 – Ray Reardon (4)
- 1976 – Ray Reardon (5)
- 1977 – John Spencer (2)
- 1978 – Ray Reardon (6)
- 1979 – Terry Griffiths
- 1980 – Cliff Thorburn
- 1981 – Steve Davis
- 1982 – Alex Higgins (2)
- 1983 – Steve Davis (2)
- 1984 – Steve Davis (3)
- 1985 – Dennis Taylor
- 1986 – Joe Johnson
- 1987 – Steve Davis (4)
- 1988 – Steve Davis (5)
- 1989 – Steve Davis (6)
- 1990 – Stephen Hendry
- 1991 – John Parrott
- 1992 – Stephen Hendry (2)
- 1993 – Stephen Hendry (3)
- 1994 – Stephen Hendry (4)
- 1995 – Stephen Hendry (5)
- 1996 – Stephen Hendry (6)
- 1997 – Ken Doherty
- 1998 – John Higgins
- 1999 – Stephen Hendry (7)
- 2000 – Mark Williams
- 2001 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 2002 – Peter Ebdon
- 2003 – Mark Williams (2)
- 2004 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
- 2005 – Shaun Murphy
- 2006 – Graeme Dott
- 2007 – John Higgins (2)
- 2008 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (3)
- 2009 – John Higgins (3)
- 2010 – Neil Robertson
- 2011 – John Higgins (4)
- 2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (4)
- 2013 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (5)
- 2014 – Mark Selby
- 2015 – Stuart Bingham
- 2016 – Mark Selby (2)
- 2017 – Mark Selby (3)
- 2018 – Mark Williams (3)
- 2019 – Judd Trump
- 2020 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (6)
- 2021 – Mark Selby (4)
- 2022 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (7)
- 2023 – Luca Brecel
- 2024 – Kyren Wilson
Most World Titles (modern era)
- 7 – Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 6 – Ray Reardon, Steve Davis
- 4 – John Higgins, Mark Selby
- 3 – John Spencer, Mark Williams
- 2 – Alex Higgins
Brecel said: “I’m a bit disappointed. Obviously, I wanted to go to Hong Kong for the Grand Prix.
” But maybe it’s a bit of karma for not entering all the tournaments this year. I think I maybe skipped five or six tournaments.
“It is what it is. I had my chances I guess; I didn’t take them well. It’s all about building up the game for the World Championship, I guess, this season. It’s the only one I’ve got left.
“So for me, that’s the big one and I’m happy to be going there with a bit of confidence and some results.”