Matt Selt is a pretty big noise among the snooker golfing fraternity, with a handicap of just six from his days as a regular at The Mere club in Cheshire. Snooker’s world No56 regularly crosses swords with seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry on the fairways and the pair also make a mean partnership in the commentators’ challenges.
But Selt was brought back down to earth with a jolt on Tuesday in Sheffield. First he played World Snooker press chief Ivan Hirschowitz and lost three times – a front-nine Stableford, a back-nine matchplay, and a last-hole double or quits.
Then in the evening Selt was hanging out with Hendry and Steve Davis in the Mercure bar – just the 13 world titles between them – and was approached by a couple of fans who asked him to move away and take a picture of them with the baize legends.