Ronnie O’Sullivan is keen to savour every Crucible Theatre moment and he experienced an entirely new one by playing in socks during his World Snooker Championship first-round win.

On the table, things couldn’t have been more comfortable for the five-time world champion as he dispatched over-matched qualifier Craig Steadman 10-3, but off the baize it was a different story.

O’Sullivan’s new shoes were causing him such discomfort during Tuesday’s first session that he removed them at the start of frame six, opting to play in his socks before trying to borrow a pair from the crowd.

Eventually, tournament director Mike Ganley lent ‘the Rocket’ his size-eights and the 39-year-old went on to win the final three frames of the session with consummate ease.

And in his list of career regrets, O’Sullivan claims not breaking in his new footwear ranks pretty highly.

“It was a bad move wearing the new shoes!,” explained O’Sullivan. “When I was buying them I thought they didn’t look right but I’m not a fashion kind of guy.

“If any top shoemakers want to get me a nice pair of shoes that’s great. I’ve got this old battered pair that I’ve had for about ten years on at the moment, so I could do with a nice new pair.

“When I looked at Mike Ganley’s shoes that I borrowed, I thought ‘what the hell’! They had this big insole in them which I had to take out but they were so comfortable, it was like heaven!”

While O’Sullivan’s transformation into a shoeless wonder was one of the more bizarre incidents in World Championship history, the manner of his win was positively routine.

The world No.2 wasn’t quite at his mesmerising best but he didn’t need to be as debutant Steadman, who won three best-of-19 qualifiers to reach the main draw, failed to put him under consistent pressure.

O’Sullivan almost made a maximum 147 break in the opening frame – potting 13 red and 13 blacks before narrowly missing a tricky long pot – and never let up, eventually clinching the match in frame 13 on Wednesday morning.

The Essex cueman will now face either Mark Williams or Matthew Stevens in round two and insists his desire to lift the trophy for a sixth time burns as strongly as ever.

“I’m a hungry person – I’ll never lose that competitive edge and that’s why I have been so successful over the years,” added O’Sullivan.

“I really don’t have a care in the world about who I play or where I play. It’s about enjoying every experience, every moment and every opportunity I get to play at the Crucible because you never know when it’s going to be your last one.

“Whoever I play will be a tough match, so I never look at the draw anymore – you just focus on yourself and what you need to do.”

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