Former professional Ian McCulloch believes Stephen Hendry would get the better of Ronnie O'Sullivan if both snooker legends were playing at their peak. McCulloch, who played on the professional circuit from 1992 to 2012, faced O'Sullivan seven times and Hendry six times professionally.
McCulloch's Verdict on the GOAT Debate
After Steve Davis dominated the 1980s, Hendry conquered the 1990s and took the mantle from the 'Nugget'. While O'Sullivan is widely considered the greatest snooker player ever, McCulloch 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 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.'
'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.'
Hendry's Unyielding Style
McCulloch added: '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 beat O'Sullivan and Hendry once each, recalled a heavy defeat to O'Sullivan in the UK Championship. '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.'
Head-to-Head Record and Mutual Respect
Cuetracker puts the head-to-head record between the two 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 O'Sullivan 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.'
