1987 World Snooker Championship

Snooker tournament, held 1987

The 1987 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1987 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purpose of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May 1987 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1986–87 snooker season. The championship was the 1987 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927, and had 32 participants. The highest ranked 16 players were awarded a place in the first round draw, whilst a pre tournament qualification event for 104 professionals was held between 26 March and 4 April at the Preston Guild Hall for the remaining places. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy and had a prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000. Since his 1986 victory, Joe Johnson had experienced a disappointing season leading up to the 1987 Championship, and bookmakers considered it unlikely that he would retain the title. Johnson did reach the final, a rematch of the previous year's final against Steve Davis. Davis won his fourth championship by defeating Johnson 18 to 14. A total of 18 century breaks were made during the tournament, the highest of which was 127 made by Davis in first frame of the final. Stephen Hendry, aged 18, became the youngest player to win a match in the tournament's history since it moved to the Crucible in 1977, whilst it was the last time that six times champion Ray Reardon appeared.

The World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India, the sport was popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand. The 1987 championship featured 32 professional players competing in one on one snooker matches in a single elimination format, each played over several The 32 competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the world snooker rankings and a pre tournament qualification stage. The tournament was promoted by WPBSA Promotions, a subsidiary of professional snooker governing body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, the final match being held in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England. Since 1977, the event has been held in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

The championship was held from 18 April to 4 May 1987 at the Crucible, the 11th time that the tournament was held at the venue. It was the last ranking event of the 1986–87 snooker season on the World Snooker Tour. There were a total of 120 entrants from the tour, and the competition's main draw had 32 participants. As defending champion, Joe Johnson was seeded first for the event; the remaining 15 seeds were allocated based on the players' world ranking positions.

The defending champion, Joe Johnson, had failed to reach as far as the quarter finals of a major tournament in the 1986–87 snooker season after winning the 1986 World Championship. This record was described by The Sydney Morning Herald Les Wheeler as "disappointing" and by Clive Everton as a "poor" season. Sydney Friskin of The Times reported that Johnson prepared for the Championship by practising diligently, and that the cyst on his back that previously troubled him had been removed. Johnson started the event as a bookmakers' outsider, priced at 66–1 against winning the tournament. Leading up to the event, Neal Foulds had been the most successful player of the season, having gained the most ranking points during the season, ahead of Steve Davis.

There were four rounds of qualifying, with higher ranked players seeded into the later rounds, and 104 entrants which took place at the Preston Guild Hall between 25 March and 4 April 1987. The 16 winners in the fourth round progressed to play the tournament's top 16 seeds at the Crucible. All qualifying matches were best of 19 frames held over two The 11 time pool world champion, Jim Rempe, made a of 104 in defeating Martin Smith 10–9. Veteran professional Bernard Bennett suffered the only whitewash of the first round, failing to win a frame against Billy Kelly. Eight times champion Fred Davis lost 5–10 to Ken Owers. Another former champion, John Spencer, who had won the title three times, eliminated Roger Bales 10–3. Trailing after the first session of his qualifying match 3–5, Jimmy van Rensberg was taken to hospital with a suspected heart attack. However, he was later discharged and went on to win 10–6. The third round consisted of 16 matches between winners from the second round. There were two 10–0 whitewashes: by Jon Wright over Mark Wildman and by Tony Jones over van Rensberg. Dene O'Kane scored five century breaks across his three matches, a new record, including a 132. Defending champion Joe Johnson played Eugene Hughes, with the match going to a deciding frame and Johnson winning 10–9. Steve Davis was 7–1 ahead of Warren King at the end of their first session, but King then won six of the next seven frames to reduce Davis's lead to one frame at 8–7. Davis narrowly won frame 16 with a break of 63, then completed a 10–7 victory in frame 17, where he successfully gained enough points from King, despite The win made MacLeod the first Scottish player to secure a victory at the Crucible Theatre. Stephen Hendry met veteran player Willie Thorne, led 5–4 at the end of their first session, and then took the first four frames in the second, before Thorne won three in a row. Hendry took the 17th frame to achieve a 10–7 win. At age 18 years and 97 days, Hendry became the youngest ever player to win a World Championship match at the Crucible. Steve Longworth led 5–4 after the first session of his match, and won five successive frames to defeat Kirk Stevens 10–5. From 7–8, White made breaks of 70, 75 and 59 to win the three frames he needed to progress. Six time champion Ray Reardon defeated debutant Barry West 10–5. Fourth seed Tony Knowles lost 6–10 to Mike Hallett, having led 6–5, and 11th seed Tony Meo lost 8–10 to John Parrott. Doug Mountjoy led David Taylor 6–3 after their first session, and won 10–6. Neal Foulds led John Virgo 7–2 after their first session and won 10–4. Johnson led MacLeod 6–2 and 10–6 after the first two sessions, winning 13–7. Hendry and Longworth were level at 4–4 after their first session, with Hendry then opening up a 7–4 lead with breaks of 96, 54 and 89, and finishing the second session 10–6 ahead after winning the 16th frame on a re spotted black. Foulds led Taylor 5–3 after their first session, and won the match 13–10. Mountjoy led 3–0, but O'Kane then won the next six frames, and won 13–5. Higgins led Griffiths 6–3 after the first session but Griffiths won four frames in a row and the match was tied at 8–8. Griffiths went on to defeat Higgins 13–10. After the tournament, Reardon dropped out of the top 16 in the end of season world rankings, moving down from 15 to 38.

The quarter final matches were played over three sessions, in best of 25 frames, on 28 and 29 April. Johnson led Hendry 8–1 and 12–8, before Hendry won four frames in a row to take the match to a deciding frame at 12–12. In the final frame, after Hendry failed to pot a , Johnson made a break of 46 to take the frame and match 13–12. Foulds then opened up a lead, leading 10–6 and 12–7 before winning at 13–9. Davis was 4–3 ahead of Griffiths after their first session, and 10–5 ahead by the end of the second. He wrapped up a 13–5 win and with breaks of 62, 86 and 51 in three frames in the final session.

The semi final matches were played as the best of 31 frames, held over four sessions, from 30 April to 2 May. Johnson met Foulds in the first semi final. In frame eight, Foulds made a break of 48 to win the frame, and won frame nine, despite requiring foul shots. Johnson made breaks of 47 in each of the next two frames to lead 6–5. Foulds took the next before Johnson, with his fourth break of 47 in four frames, took the lead again. Foulds won the last frame of the session with a break of 45 to leave them all square at 7–7 after two sessions, and made a break of 114 in the 15th frame to go one ahead before Johnson won seven frames in a row to lead 14–8. After this, Foulds won frame 23, but Johnson won the next two frames to win the match 16–9 to reach his second final. However, White later compiled a 119 break, the new highest in the competition, overtaking his earlier 114 in the second round, and ended the third session 9–13 behind. White took the first frame of the fourth session, but lost three of the following four frame as Davis won the match 16–11, concluding with a 74 break in the 27th frame. It was the first time that the same two players had met in the final at the Crucible for the second year in a row. The last time that two players had met in consecutive finals at the World Championship was when Fred Davis and John Pulman had both reached the final in 1955 and 1956, played at the Tower Circus, Blackpool. This was also the first time that the final had been contested by the top two seeds of the tournament. The final was refereed by Len Ganley, the second time he had taken charge of the World Championship final. In frame one, Davis compiled a 127 break, which remained the highest break of that year's tournament.

During the tournament, there were reports that Foulds and WPBSA chairman Williams were taking beta blockers. These were banned under International Olympic Committee rules, but not prohibited in snooker. Colin Moynihan, a Member of the British Parliament, called for Williams to resign and any players using beta blockers to withdraw from competing. In November 1987, the WPBSA was suspended from using the Sports Council's drug testing facilities until the use of beta blockers was banned from the sport. Moynihan wrote to Williams supporting the ban that had been proposed by the Sports Council's Drug Advisory Group. Williams resigned as WPBSA chairman in November 1987, having received criticism over the drug testing issue as well as over his personal business connections with promoters Barry Hearn and Frank Warren. The WPBSA voted to ban the use of beta blockers, other than cardioselective types, in January 1988, with the ban to come into effect from the start of the 1988–89 snooker season.

Shown below are the results for the tournament. The numbers in brackets denote players seedings, whilst players in bold are match winners.

The qualifying stages took place at the Preston Guild Hall between 25 March and 4 April 1987. Results from the qualification event are shown below. Players shown in bold denote match winners.