Michael Holt conceded 50 foul points on a single ball against Daniel Wells (Image: Getty)
Snooker star Michael Holt racked up a staggering 50 foul points on a single ball against Daniel Wells in Welsh Open qualifying. Fortunately for the world No.86, he managed to bounce back and win the best-of-seven match 4-1.
Holt was on the brink of victory as he led Wells 3-0 and held a 70-40 advantage in the fourth frame. But the 46-year-old made life difficult for himself, failing to come off the cushion to hit green with five colours left on the table.
After Holt’s first foul, Wells potted the blue and laid up another snooker behind the brown. Holt’s first attempt at getting out of it resulted in him missing and potting the white. Having managed to connect in his next effort, Holt then found himself snookered once again and only leading 70-51.
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The increasingly frustrated Holt required four attempts to finally escape, by which point his lead was cut to 70-63. And The Hitman was placed in a difficult situation again when he needed to come off three cushions to hit the green in order to avoid a foul – which he failed as he was made to play the shot six times after missing.
In his sixth attempt, he fouled out once again by hitting the brown, leaving a shot on for Wells, who potted the green into the corner and won the frame 93-70. Despite his continuous string of agonising errors, Holt bounced back to take the next frame and win.
Holt, who turned professional back in 1996, now advances to the main draw. He will face Chris Wakelin in the first match of the Welsh Open on Monday evening, which is available to watch live on Eurosport and discovery+.
A stunned Holt still won the match to qualify for the main draw of the Welsh Open (Image: Getty)
Speaking in a video on his page afterwards, Holt commented: “I felt really good in both matches. I didn’t play as well as I felt, as daft as that sounds.
“But Daniel wasn’t at his best – he sort of let me off a few times. But I’m going to take it, there’s plenty of times where that doesn’t happen.”
Following last week’s qualifying stages, the Welsh Open 2025 runs from Monday, February 10 to Sunday, February 16.