RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has withdrawn from the Welsh Open in Llandudno hours before he was scheduled to play his first-round match against Jamie Clarke.

O’Sullivan has not played on the tour since he withdrew midway through his Championship League group in January, snapping his cue after losing four of his five matches.

He subsequently pulled out of the Masters at Alexandra Palace, forfeiting his first-round match against John Higgins, and the German Masters in Berlin.

World Snooker Tour confirmed in a short statement: “Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the Welsh Open.

“O’Sullivan was due to face Jamie Clarke at 1pm on Tuesday afternoon. Clarke will now receive a bye to the last 32.”

The seven-time world champion has now withdrawn from six ranking tournaments this season. He is next set to compete in the World Open in Yushan at the end of this month.

O’Sullivan cited exhaustion as his reason for missing the Masters last month after engaging in a gruelling series of exhibition events abroad.

He told Eurosport: “It was a nightmare decision really to make.

“I’ve obviously been on this three-week trip, away playing, and I think I just exhausted myself.

“[There was] a lot of pressure while I was away and the build-up of all that kind of got too much. I lost the plot on Thursday and snapped my cue so that’s unplayable, so I just knew at that moment in time, the right decision was not to play.”