Watch Jordan Brown suffer agonising World Championship snooker exit – ‘Good grief, he’s missed it’

Jordan Brown lost 10-7 to Si Jiahui in the final round of World Championship snooker qualifying after twice missing the pink from close range in the fateful 17th frame.

The former Welsh Open champion trailed the 20-year-old Chinese player 55-53 and 9-7 when he came to the table with the pink close to a black hanging over a top pocket at the English Institute of Sport.

Battling to keep alive his hopes of qualifying for the Crucible last-32 draw on Thursday, Brown somehow missed trying to run thin off the pink across the table before doing likewise seconds later attempting to nudge white off pink via the top cushion.

“Good grief, he’s missed it altogether,” said commentator David Hendon with an air of disbelief. “He’s got to hit this time otherwise he’ll need a snooker. And good luck getting a snooker..

“Oh, no..he’s missed it again! He’s needs a snooker. He’s 14 behind. He needs a snooker.”

Suddenly knowing his opponent needed an impossible snooker with black over the bag and the lead increased to 14 points, Si sensibly nudged the pink away from the black before pouncing on an error by a frazzled Brown to finish off the victory.

It means world No. 80 Si will make his debut at the 47th World Championship as ‘Antrim Ferrari’ Brown’s season ends prematurely in bizarre circumstances.

Crucible veterans Barry Hawkins, Stephen Maguire and 2006 world champion Graeme Dott will not be appearing in the final stages this year.

Hawkins lost 10-8 to Jak Jones while Maguire, semi-finalist in 2007 and 2012, suffered a 10-6 defeat to Fan Zhengyi. Dott went down by the same scoreline to Matthew Selt.

It ends Maguire’s run of appearing at the Crucible every year since 2004 with 2013 finalist Hawkins also on the sidelines having never missed the tournament since 2006.

But world No. 32 Noppon Saengkham holed a pressure final black in the final frame of a 10-9 win against Zhang Anda to secure his spot at the main event.

World Championship final qualifying results

• Anthony McGill 10-6 Cao Yupeng
• Noppon Saengkham 10-9 Zhang Anda
• Graeme Dott 6-10 Matthew Selt
• Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 9-10 Ricky Walden
• Si Jiahui 10-7 Jordan Brown
• Chris Wakelin 8-10 Wu Yize
• Fan Zhengyi 10-6 Stephen Maguire
• Jak Jones 10-8 Barry Hawkins

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