NEIL ROBERTSON is swapping his cue for a putter – thanks to tips from John Terry.
Australia’s world snooker champion has found a newfound love for golf during a year in which his fortunes have dipped on the baize.
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Robbo, 42, dropped out of the world’s top 16 and failed to qualify for this year’s World Championship in Sheffield for the first time in 20 years.
The Chelsea fan is good pals with Blues legendary captain Terry, 43, and has been getting advice on his new pastime.
Robertson said: “I go to the snooker club and practice. Then I go to the range and hit some balls or get some lessons.
“I was talking to John Terry about it and he always felt it was a great thing to do to ensure you don’t take your work home.
“He was saying, just put your AirPods in and practice putting for half an hour.
“It’s a nice way to chill out and wind down from the stresses of the game before you go home.
“My son Alexander has shown a huge interest in it as well, so I’ve got him a set of clubs and we play together. We’re learning the game together. It’s really exciting.”
Robertson faces Matthew Stevens on Thursday evening in the final round of qualifying for the UK Championship, an event he won in December 2020 when it was held behind closed doors due to Covid.
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The draw for the last 32 – which involves all the seeds – takes place on Thursday and should Robbo qualify, he could face someone like Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump or Kyren Wilson.
The Aussie recently beat world No.1 Trump 6-4 in their group final at the Champion of Champions last week.
But went onto lose 6-2 to eventual champion Mark Williams in the semi-finals.
Away from the baize, he wants to copy snooker pro Shaun Murphy who made a reasonable transition to the fairways.
Murphy, who claims he hit a hole-in-one, had a go at qualifying for The Open Championship in 2019 but fell quite a long way short.
Robertson, the 2010 Crucible King, said: “I haven’t been able to play 18 holes yet and put in an actual handicap.
“What I do a lot of the time is go to the range, work on all things of my game.
“But I’m taking it really seriously. My coach and I are structuring things so that it isn’t going to be a hindrance or affect my snooker.
“I think I’ll get down to single figures in absolutely no time. I wouldn’t be a million miles off it currently now really.
“I have just taken to it. We do video analysis and my coach says: ‘When people see you play, they will not believe you have only just started playing.’
“All sports that I play I take to them very quickly. Natural hand-eye coordination I suppose.
“I’m addicted to all the YouTube golf shows. Previously, unless Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods were in contention for a major. I wouldn’t switch golf on the TV.
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“Now if it’s on, I’ll be watching all the majors. I have friends who would always plug themselves in from the Thursday to the Sunday.
“I’d think: ‘Oh god, how can you do that?’ Well, I can see why now. I have completely ditched the video games for golf.
“Surprisingly my wife Mille has given it the go-ahead. She’s in full support of my golf addiction.”
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
