Shaun Murphy hit an impressive 147 in a Paddy Power challenge “nine darter vs 147 vs hole-in-one”, but it was his darts performance that caught the attention of social media…
On Wednesday, Paddy Power looked to answer one of the most debated questions in the UK – What is harder, a nine darter in darts, a 147 in snooker or a hole in one in golf?
All are considered perfection in their respective sports but due to the difficulty and nuances of each, they are HOTLY contested with few people being able to agree on which is the most difficult.
As it happens, snooker player and one of the contestants in the challenge, Shaun Murphy, is someone that has publicly claimed to have done all three!
That is a big claim for anyone to make as hitting perfection in your own sport is considered challenging enough.
Shaun Murphy is known for his maximum breaks though after hitting a back to back 147 as well as the first ever Shoot Out 147 which was a race against the clock maximum break.
On Wednesday, he would once again show his snooker ability and self-confidence.
On more than one occasion, he told presenter Emma Paton that there was a “100% certainty” that he’d hit a 147 during the challenge.
The challenge, by the way, was a two hour livestream where Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen would throw back to back to try and hit a nine-darter.
Shaun Murphy and Mark Williams would go break for break to hit a 147.
Ross FIsher and Matt Wallace (along with Peter Crouch and Tony Bellew randomly) would attempt the hold in one.
On the day, Murphy would in fact be the only player to achieve a maximum in their sport.
He missed a glorious opportunity earlier after missing the brown just four balls short of completing the maximum.
It seemed no-one was destined to do it after that point, but somehow Murphy got another opportunity and made it happen, just like he said he would!
He was true to his word on the maximum but the world – and Michael van Gerwen in particular – were still dubious about the other two. MVG eventually got Murphy up to the oche and it’s fair to say it did not reflect well on “The Magician”.
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Shaun Murphy Goes Viral After Missing the Dartboard
MVG gave Murphy his darts after ‘harassing’ him to see him throw.
We’re saying harassing in jest, MVG was constantly trying to get Murphy on the oche to see his throw and assess his claim for himself.
Murphy would proceed to throw a single 4, miss the board with his second dart and then we don’t even know what happened to his third dart.
SHAUN MURPHY MISSES THE BOARD & TYRE!! Up steps MvG…
— InTheMudSports 🎯 (@InTheMudSports) December 4, 2024
‘Was it 301 or 101’ 💀💀💀💀💀🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/aIobve07Nj
After seeing his first few darts, you can hear MVG in the background say “yeahhhh”, in a drawn out voice, clearly unimpressed with what he was seeing!
Murphy had a few more throws which weren’t too bad but certainly didn’t look like ‘nine-darter’ accuracy and by then the damage was done. His throw went viral with fans quick to say his claim is basically nonsense.
Just a day later and speaking at the snooker Shoot Out, Murphy was quick to address the viral throw saying he was ‘ambushed’ and hadn’t thrown a dart in 15 years.
"I was ambushed!" 😅
— Eurosport (@eurosport) December 5, 2024
Shaun Murphy reflects on his viral darts disaster! 🎯😨#9ClubShootOut pic.twitter.com/pVYEzMELpU
He clearly wasn’t happy being forced to throw, especially as it overshadowed what was an impressive 147 during the challenge but from what we’ve seen on X and Facebook, no fan will believe his claim to have done all three now 👀
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