19 February 2023 , 12:48
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Shaun Murphy lived up to his "Magician" moniker as he left snooker fans stunned with an outrageous trick shot during the Welsh Open semi-final.
The resurgent Murphy reached his first ranking event final since the 2021 World Championship as he defeated Chinese star Pang Junxu 6-3 in Llandudno on Saturday.
And while Murphy was far from at his best throughout a scrappy encounter, his audacious shot in the opening frame will live long in the memory.
The flamboyant world no.11 was left needing snookers after Pang put himself in control of the frame, but was snookered himself and looked stumped tight in behind the black.
The final red was hanging over the right middle pocket and there was no simply no way Murphy could make contact with the ball via a cushion.
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So instead, the bold former world champion decided his best option to get the white down the table and towards the reds was by wobbling the cue ball in the jaws of the bottom corner right-pocket.
He executed the shot to perfection, watching the cue ball check off the top cushion as the imparted right-hand side took effect, and the red dropped to the amazement of the Llandudno crowd.
Entertainer Murphy was even impressive by his own brilliance as he shared a joke with the crowd, saying: “that was pretty good, wasn’t it?!”.
Murphy did not get the snookers required to salvage the frame, but could look back at one of the shots of the season fondly as he sealed his spot against Robert Milkins in Sunday's showpiece final.
And fans on social media labelled Murphy a "genius" for pulling off the near-impossible exhibition shot. "Best shot ever...," one fan wrote. "A nonsense shot," another baffled fan added.
Some snooker cynics, however, suggested Murphy's moment of magic was actually partly a fluke as there was no chance he was actually aiming to pot the red. But Murphy quickly dismissed that notion as he assured fans it was deliberate in his post match interview.
"It was absolutely purposeful," he insisted. "I had an idea the cue ball could rattle, it could only shoot the cue ball up that way and I knew if it went up to the top cushion it would have that spin on it and it might check back up and come back for the red. It looked outrageous but I did play it... and I got it!"