Ronnie O'Sullivan has claimed his 29th ranking title by scooping the Dafabet English Open in Barnsley. It was a formidable display by the Rocket as he bounced his way to a 9 - 2 victory over Kyren Wilson and managed to make a flurry of tons in the tournament - 13 to be exact.

O'Sullivan, 41, won his first ranking title in 1993 at the Uk Championship where he was the youngest player ever at 17 to win a ranking title. He said after his English Open win that he still needed to improve areas of his game but felt he could compete with the young guns such as Anthony McGill, who gave O'Sullivan a test in their semi-final.

He said he knew he needed to play well from the start when facing the Warrior Kyren Wilson, a former Shanghai Master in the final. Wilson, who has reached two finals this season, has only won a total of five frames in his two finals and he joked: "Hopefully, I can get past three," (in the next one).

O'Sullivan has tipped Kyren to be a future World Champion and said he believed Wilson would be around for many years to come. So, here's a look back 24 years ago to what happened on that fateful day when a star of the green baize was born and eventually led him to his path of a snooker icon.

Remember, it was four years before he became known as the Rocket for his fastest 147 in snooker history of 5 mins and 20 seconds.

Also, it was to be at least seven years before he won his first World title.

Snooker Rewind

So O'Sullivan's first encounter in the last 64 of the Royal Liver Assurance UK Championship was with the Scottish player Alan McManus, who Ronnie beat 9 - 5. He then had a tight last 32 round where he narrowly beat Nigel Gilbert, 9 - 8.

Ironically, in the best of 7s, the format now for lots of events leading up to the semi-finals, O'Sullivan faced John Higgins in the English Open and narrowly won the thriller 4 - 3. He, of course, is joint second on the all-time list of ranking titles with John on that magic number 29. And, the class of 92 rivalry will be interesting to see who can make the magical 30 first.

A poll on Twitter so far, suggests the form O'Sullivan is playing at the moment, the Rocket stands to be the first to get that 30th. All the games leading up to the final were a best of 17, and O'Sullivan came through the rounds beating Irishman Ken Doherty, Legend Steve Davis, whose name was on the English Open trophy as the Steve Davis trophy, and Welshman Darren Morgan, a player doing well on the amateur scene of late and still competing, occasionally entering pro tournaments.

O'Sullivan met Hendry in the final of the UK Championship, and it was to be his first of five UK titles in total.

He won 10 - 6.

The Rocket showed he was a big hitter in the tournament compiling 8 tons, but now, to win his 29th ranking title, he compiled 13 tons in total.

His highest was a 122, and in today's tournament, his highest was a 139. The Rocket was to make during his steely career 13 maximums, which could have well been more.

Back in the UK in 1993, David Roe, made the highest break of the event with a 141.

Big Breaks

Obviously, in the English Open, the high break was a 147 made by O'Sullivan's pal Liang Wenbo, which, he pocketed £42,000 for. That was higher than what Kyren Wilson received for the runner-up prize of £30,000.

O'Sullivan's first ranking win banked him £70,000 down in Preston at the Guildhall. And, in Barnsley, he picked up the same prize money. Both Preston and Barnsley have been hotbeds in recent years for snooker and qualifiers.

Ironically, O'Sullivan has only won three events in China.

2 China Opens and a Shanghai Masters, but, in recent years has not travelled to China that much to compete.

The conclusion of the English Open sees the Rocket move onto the International Championship. The Rocket was already guaranteed a place in the Champion of Champions because he had won his seventh record-breaking Masters title back in February.

The International Championship begins on Sunday the 29th October in Daqing, China, and ends on the following Sunday, November the 5th - Bonfire Night.

Will there be more fireworks from the Rocket in Daqing? Of course, tournaments on the pro circuit are like busses now, so it's on to the next. Whereas, in 93, there were just nine ranking events.

Fast forward to 2017, and there's 19.

Incidentally, the next ranking event after O'Sullivan's UK win was in Belgium in Antwerp, and in the final, it was the Rocket and Stephen Hendry again.

This time Hendry exacted revenge 9 - 5.

O'Sullivan won two ranking events in the 93/94 season.