1977 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	18–30 April 1977
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£17,000[1]
Winner's share	£6,000[1]
Highest break	John Spencer (135)
Final
Champion	John Spencer
Runner-up	Cliff Thorburn
Score	25–21
← 1976 1978 →

The 1977 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1977 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 and 30 April 1977 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

John Spencer won in the final 25–21 against Cliff Thorburn.^[2] The event was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• This was the first time that the World Championship was held at the Crucible Theatre. It was staged there by promoter Mike Watterson, who chose the venue after his wife saw a play there.^[2][3]
• This was also the first world championship to be played since the world rankings were introduced.^[2]
• Spencer won his third World title by defeating Thorburn 25–21 in the final.^[2] He was the first player to win the title with a two-piece cue, after his previous cue was smashed in a car accident.^[4][5]
• Patsy Fagan, John Virgo, Doug Mountjoy and Willie Thorne made their World Championship debut.^[6][7][8][9]
• The final was refereed by John Smyth.^[10]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[11]

• Winner: £6,000
• Runner-up: £2,000
• Semi-final: £1,200
• Quarter-final: £750
• Last 16: £350
• Highest break: £500
• Total: £17,000

Main draw

Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings.

Sources:^{[1][12][13][14][15]}

Last 16 Best of 25 frames

Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames

Semi-finals Best of 35 frames

Final Best of 49 frames

18 & 19 April

Ray Reardon (1)

13

22 & 23 April

Patsy Fagan

7

Ray Reardon (1)

6

18 & 19 April

John Spencer (8)

13

John Spencer (8)

13

24, 25, 26 & 27 April

John Virgo

9

John Spencer (8)

18

18 & 19 April

John Pulman

16

Graham Miles (5)

13

22 & 23 April

Willie Thorne

4

Graham Miles (5)

10

18 & 19 April

John Pulman

13

Fred Davis (4)

12

28, 29, & 30 April

John Pulman

13

John Spencer (8)

25

20 & 21 April

Cliff Thorburn

21

Eddie Charlton (3)

13

22 & 23 April

David Taylor

5

Eddie Charlton (3)

12

20 & 21 April

Cliff Thorburn

13

Rex Williams (6)

6

24, 25, 26 & 27 April

Cliff Thorburn

13

Cliff Thorburn

18

20 & 21 April

Dennis Taylor

16

Perrie Mans (7)

11

22 & 23 April

Dennis Taylor

13

Dennis Taylor

13

20 & 21 April

Doug Mountjoy

11

Alex Higgins (2)

12

Doug Mountjoy

13

Qualifying

Source:^[1][15]

Round 1 (Best of 21 frames)
John Virgo	11–1	Roy Andrewartha
Round 2 (Best of 21 frames)
Patsy Fagan	11–9	Jim Meadowcroft
John Virgo	11–6	John Dunning
Willie Thorne	11–4	Bernard Bennett
John Pulman	w/o–w/d	Maurice Parkin
David Taylor	11–0	David Greaves
Cliff Thorburn	11–0	Chris Ross
Dennis Taylor	11–0	Jack Karnehm
Doug Mountjoy	11–9	Jackie Rea

Century breaks

There were six century breaks at the championship. The highest break of the tournament was 135 made by John Spencer.^[16][17][18]

• 135, 105 John Spencer
• 111, 100 Cliff Thorburn
• 105 Eddie Charlton
• 102 Doug Mountjoy

References

1. "World Championship 1977". Global Snooker. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
2. Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
3. "World Snooker Championship Trivia". Embassy Snooker. Archived from the original on 4 December 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
4. "Then and Now: John Spencer". Eurosport UK. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
5. Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update): Sammelsurium von World Championship Highlights" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
6. "Patsy Fagan at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
7. "John Virgo at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
8. "Doug Mountjoy at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
9. "Willie Thorne at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
10. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
11. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
12. "1977 World Championships Results Grid". Snooker Database. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
13. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
14. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 4–5.
15. Eric, Hayton (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History. London: Rose Villa Publications. p. 146. ISBN 0-9548549-0-X.
16. Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update): Crucible Records – bis 2011" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
17. "2004 Embassy World Championship Information". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 8 December 2004. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
18. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 146.