If both snooker legends were playing at their peak, Stephen Hendry would get the better of Ronnie O’Sullivan, believes former pro Ian McCulloch.
After Steve Davis dominated the 1980s and became the greatest player the game had seen, Hendry conquered the 90s and took the mantle from the Nugget.
Debates on a sport’s GOAT are obviously matters of opinion, but in most people’s eyes O’Sullivan has now surpassed Hendry and is widely considered the greatest snooker player ever.
A former World Championship semi-finalist, McCulloch played them both plenty of times during his stint on the professional circuit from 1992-2012.
Having taken on the Rocket seven times professionally and Hendry on six occasions, the Preston Potter felt the Scot’s best is better than O’Sullivan’s.
Asked who had the highest peak of Davis, Hendry and O’Sullivan, McCulloch told BestBettingSites: ‘I’ve been asked this a thousand times. I love the man to bits, I’m very good friends with him and he doesn’t mind me saying this… I think Steve was good in an era when there wasn’t a lot of good players.
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‘His game would have progressed, because the better players would have dragged him on, but would he have scored as heavy as Hendry? I don’t know.
‘Now I’ve had a bit of stick for this in the past, O’Sullivan is an absolute animal, but, for me, Hendry was a bigger animal. The difference was, for me, you could get O’Sullivan at it a little bit.
‘I found that you just couldn’t buckle Hendry. For me, I couldn’t anyway. He just used to keep taking balls on and he wouldn’t chuck his toys out the pram like Ronnie’s done many, many times.’
McCulloch, who reached two ranking finals, beat O’Sullivan and Hendry once each and remembers a particularly heavy defeat to the Rocket despite feeling that he played well.
‘He flattened me, he beat me 9-3 in the UK [Championship] once,’ said the 55-year-old. ‘And I played really well. I was 7-1 down and I got it back to 7-3 and I thought, you never give up, if you give up you’ve got no chance of winning.
‘I thought, just nick the next couple and you might have a chance. I was in on about 50 and missed. He cleared up with 70 to win the match like it was nothing. O’Sullivan’s done that to everybody, but Hendry did that to everybody.
‘It would have been great to watch. Hendry at his best and O’Sullivan at his best. Going head to head ,it would have been an absolute epic match to watch because they were both just complete animals. It’s probably a bit of nostalgia for me, but I’m going to say Hendry.’
Of course Hendry and O’Sullivan did play a lot of times on the professional circuit, with Cuetracker putting their head to head record at O’Sullivan 30-21 Hendry, with five draws.
They met five times at the World Championship, with Hendry winning the first three meetings in 1995, ’99 and 2002 and the Rocket the last two in 2004 and ’08.
Their peaks did not overlap, with Hendry in his pomp during the 90s and O’Sullivan not at his most effective until the 21st century.
The two men declared each other the greatest after playing at the John Virgo Trophy last summer.
‘Stephen for me is the greatest player I’ve ever seen, ever played,’ O’Sullivan said on Channel 5. ‘To be on the same table as him is a privilege.’
Hendry replied: ‘You can’t get higher praise from a better player. Ronnie is obviously the GOAT.
‘In terms of break-building and cue ball control, he’s taken the game to a level that I thought we might never see.
‘He’s an artist with the cue ball. That’s the beauty of snooker in controlling the cue ball and nobody has done it better than Ronnie.
‘For me, it is fabulous to be involved in this event with these three great players.’