Scottish professional Stephen Maguire believes Ronnie O’Sullivan has so much magic in his hands he could play the game with a broomstick.
The 28-year-old Scot faced O’Sullivan in the semi-finals of last year’s Masters at Wembley and was confident as the Englishman was playing with a new cue.
But Maguire’s confidence proved somewhat displaced as The Rocket O’Sullivan – now the proud owner of a purple cue as part of a sponsorship deal – flew to a 6-1 victory and went on to defeat Mark Selby 10-8 in the final to claim a hat-trick of Wembley titles.
Maguire, who is aiming for his first Masters crown when snooker’s first tournament of 2010 gets under way on Sunday said: “I’ve never won the event although I don’t have a bad record having been in three semi-finals.
“I thought I had a good chance of putting it right last year when I got to the last four and was playing pretty well.
“I was up against O’Sullivan who had a new cue and I was thinking this would be easy, but he absolutely hammered me 6-1. I did not even get a sniff. What did it teach me? That Ronnie could play with a broomstick.
“But I certainly found out you should never fancy your chances against O’Sullivan. He has given me a few wake-up calls during my career and if I have not woken up by now I never will.
“For him to win the tournament with a new cue shows just how good he is. He has about three different games and umpteen levels.
“I was not too disappointed about losing because there is nothing you can do when the other guy is just knocking in break after break and in the semi-final he was brilliant.
“All you can do is sit on your seat, you cannot get up and take the table off him.”
Maguire will have to wait until Monday night for his opening match against the winner of the match between wild cards Jimmy White and Mark King.
He said: “I am really looking forward to it. For me the Masters is the third biggest event of the season behind the world championship and the UK. It’s a big money earner with £150,000 up for grabs for the winner.
“But there’s also the prestige of the Masters because only the best players win it which makes it special.”