1974 World Snooker Championship

The 1974 World Snooker Championship (also known as 1974 Park Drive World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 to 25 April 1974 at the Belle Vue in Manchester, England. It was the 1974 edition of the World Snooker Championship, established in 1927. The 1974 tournament was promoted by Snooker Promotions, and sponsored by tobacco brand Park Drive. The event attracted 31 entrants and carried a prize fund of £10,000. Seven qualifying matches were held; the seven winners of these joined the other 17 players in the main tournament. Ray Reardon won the title by defeating Graham Miles 22–12 in the final. It was Reardon's third World Championship win, after his first in 1970; he was the defending champion from 1973 World Snooker Championship. He went on to win a further three titles, the last of them in 1978. There were five century breaks during the competition, the highest of which was 131 by Miles. A plate competition was held, for losers in the first and second rounds of the main tournament. John Spencer defeated John Pulman 15–5 in the plate competition final, and recorded six century breaks during his four matches.

The World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. The sport was developed in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India. Professional English billiards player and billiard hall manager Joe Davis noticed the increasing popularity of snooker compared to billiards in the 1920s, and with Birmingham based billiards equipment manager Bill Camkin, persuaded the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC) to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season. In 1927, the final of the first professional snooker championship was held at Camkin's Hall; Davis won the tournament. The annual competition was not titled the World Championship until 1935, but the 1927 tournament is now referred to as the first World Snooker Championship. In 1952, the, following a dispute between the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the BACC about the distribution of income from the world championship, the PBPA members established an alternative competition known as the World Professional Match play Championship, the editions of which are now recognised as world championships, whilst only two players entered for the BACC's 1952 World Snooker Championship. The World Professional Match play Championship continued until 1957, after which there were no world championship matches until professional Rex Williams gained agreement from the BACC that the world championship would be staged on a challenge basis, with defending champion Pulman featuring in the first match. Pulman retained the title in several challenges from 1964 to 1968. From 1972, the championship was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), which was the renamed PBPA. The defending champion was Ray Reardon, who defeated Eddie Charlton 38–32 in the 1973 final.

A qualifying round was held on 11 April, with seven matches played as the best of 15 frames; a seven frame session followed by an eight frame session. Dennis Taylor won the first frame against Marcus Owen on a , but this was the only frame he won in the first session of seven frames.

The first round matches were played as the best of 15 frames on 16 April across two sessions seven frames in the afternoon session and eight frames in the evening. Cliff Thorburn led 3–1 against Paddy Morgan, but lost 4–8. Pulman followed his whitewash of Karnehm in qualifying with another win without losing a frame, against Sidney Lee. After completing a 15–3 victory,
Marcus Owen led his older brother Gary Owen 9–5, after finishing the first session 4–3 ahead, Davis won the match 15–5. Charlton established a 5–2 lead against Dunning, but during the second session Dunning won six consecutive frames and was 8–6 up at the end of the session, despite Charlton making the tournament's first century break, 100. Spencer, affected by influenza, was two frames behind Mans, 6–8, after two sessions. The quality of Mans's potting compensated for his inaccurate positional play as he ran out a 15–13 winner. Miles defeated Morgan 15–7, and Williams defeated Pulman 15–12. Owen took the first two frames of the third session to draw level at 8–8, but toward the end of the match Reardon took four of the last five frames to win 15–11. Miles constructed a 4–0 lead against Dunning, and made a 110 break in the third frame of the third session, to put him 11–6 up. Dunning then won five frames in succession to equalise, and, with both players making a number of errors, Miles went on to take the match 15–13. Reardon won the first four frames of the third session to secure a place in the final. Miles compiled a break of 131 to draw level at 3–3 with Williams, but was 3–4 behind at the conclusion of the first session. Williams, despite avoiding attacking play, made a series of errors,

Reardon and Miles faced each other in the final, which took place from 23 to 25 April, as a best of 43 frames contest across six sessions. The first two days both featured two seven frame sessions. The sixth session was not required as the match was completed during the fifth session. Reardon led 4–3 after the first session and 9–5 after the second. Reardon lost three of four frames in the fourth session, leaving him 17–11 ahead. Reardon secured victory at 22–12. It was Reardon's third world snooker championship win, after his first in 1970. He went on to win a further three titles, the last of them in 1978.

Results for the tournament are shown below. Winning players are denoted in bold.

A plate competition was held, for losers in the first and second rounds of the main tournament. Spencer won the plate by defeating Pulman 15–5 in the final, and recorded six century breaks during his four matches. He received £300 prize money for winning the plate.