1987 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	18 April–4 May 1987
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£400,000
Winner's share	£80,000
Highest break	Steve Davis (127)
Final
Champion	Steve Davis
Runner-up	Joe Johnson
Score	18–14
← 1986 1988 →

The 1987 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1987 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 April–4 May 1987 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Joe Johnson made it to the final again, as did Steve Davis, making it a repeat of the 1986 final. However Johnson did not retain his title, as he fell to the Crucible curse and lost 14–18 to Davis. It was Davis' fourth world title. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• The Davis vs. Johnson final was the first time in the Crucible that two players had met at the final two years running. The last time it happened in the championship was in 1951 by Fred Davis and Walter Donaldson. It would happen again when Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White met three times in a row between 1992 and 1994.^[1][2] This is also the only time that the final was contested by top two seeds of the tournament.^[3]
• Ray Reardon made his last appearance at the Crucible when he beat Yorkshire debutant Barry West 10–5. He then met Davis in the second round where he lost 4–13.^[4][5] He dropped out of the top 32 in the rankings at the end of the season from 15 to 38.^[6]
• Aged 18 years and 97 days, Hendry became the youngest ever player to win a match at the Crucible.^[7]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[8][9]

• Winner: £80,000
• Runner-up: £48,000
• Semi-finals: £24,000
• Quarter-finals: £12,000
• Last 16: £6,000
• Last 32: £3,375
• Highest break: £8,000
• Maximum break: £80,000
• Total: £400,000

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).^{[8][10][11][12]}

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 31 frames

18 April

Joe Johnson (1)

10

23 & 24 April

Eugene Hughes

9

Joe Johnson (1)

13

18 & 19 April

Murdo MacLeod

7

Rex Williams (16)

5

28 & 29 April

Murdo MacLeod

10

Joe Johnson (1)

13

19 & 20 April

Stephen Hendry

12

Kirk Stevens (9)

4

24 & 25 April

Steve Longworth

10

Steve Longworth

7

19 & 20 April

Stephen Hendry

13

Willie Thorne (8)

7

30 April, 1 & 2 May

Stephen Hendry

10

Joe Johnson (1)

16

20 & 21 April

Neal Foulds (13)

9

Tony Knowles (5)

6

25, 26 & 27 April

Mike Hallett

10

Mike Hallett

13

21 & 22 April

Silvino Francisco (12)

9

Silvino Francisco (12)

10

28 & 29 April

John Campbell

3

Mike Hallett

9

21 & 22 April

Neal Foulds (13)

13

Neal Foulds (13)

10

26 & 27 April

John Virgo

4

Neal Foulds (13)

13

22 & 23 April

Dennis Taylor (4)

10

Dennis Taylor (4)

10

Mark Bennett

4

22 & 23 April

Cliff Thorburn (3)

5

26 & 27 April

Dene O'Kane

10

Dene O'Kane

13

22 April

Doug Mountjoy (14)

5

Doug Mountjoy (14)

10

28 & 29 April

David Taylor

5

Dene O'Kane

6

21 April

Jimmy White (6)

13

Tony Meo (11)

8

25, 26 & 27 April

John Parrott

10

John Parrott

11

20 & 21 April

Jimmy White (6)

13

Jimmy White (6)

10

30 April, 1 & 2 May

Dean Reynolds

8

Jimmy White (6)

11

19 & 20 April

Steve Davis (2)

16

Alex Higgins (7)

10

24 & 25 April

Jon Wright

6

Alex Higgins (7)

10

19 & 20 April

Terry Griffiths (10)

13

Terry Griffiths (10)

10

28 & 29 April

Jim Wych

4

Terry Griffiths (10)

5

18 & 19 April

Steve Davis (2)

13

Ray Reardon (15)

10

23, 24 & 25 April

Barry West

5

Ray Reardon (15)

4

18 April

Steve Davis (2)

13

Steve Davis (2)

10

Warren King

7

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 3 & 4 May 1987. Referee: Len Ganley[13]
Joe Johnson (1)  England	14–18	Steve Davis (2)  England
0–128, 61–53, 74–69, 71–2, 1–77, 12–83, 66–57, 8–69, 35–82, 5–79, 118–15, 25–77, 0–91, 76–44, 7–88, 70–6, 68–34, 0–69, 0–80, 24–81, 24–68, 66–52, 0–77, 75–22, 70–53, 76–44, 73–59, 0–104, 6–113, 33–91, 77–34, 0–78	Century breaks: 2 (Johnson 1, Davis 1) Highest break by Johnson: 101 Highest break by Davis: 127	0–128, 61–53, 74–69, 71–2, 1–77, 12–83, 66–57, 8–69, 35–82, 5–79, 118–15, 25–77, 0–91, 76–44, 7–88, 70–6, 68–34, 0–69, 0–80, 24–81, 24–68, 66–52, 0–77, 75–22, 70–53, 76–44, 73–59, 0–104, 6–113, 33–91, 77–34, 0–78
Steve Davis wins the 1987 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 18 century breaks at the championship, the highest of the tournament being 127 by Davis.^[8] Davis' 127 is the lowest ever highest break recorded in the Crucible.^[14][15][16] Dene O'Kane's 132 was the highest break of the qualifying stages.^[8]

127 Steve Davis 119, 114 Jimmy White 112 Rex Williams 109, 106, 105, 102 Neal Foulds 108, 102, 101 Joe Johnson 105, 103 Mike Hallett

103 Stephen Hendry 103 Steve Longworth 101 John Virgo 100 Tony Meo 100 Ray Reardon

References

1. 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.
2. "Hall of Fame". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
3. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 121.
4. "Ray Reardon World Championship results". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
5. "Barry West World Championship results". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
6. "Ranking History". snooker.org. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
7. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 132.
8. "World Championship 1987". Global Snooker. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
9. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
10. "1987 World Championships Results Grid". Snooker Database. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
11. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
12. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 24–25.
13. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
14. "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
15. Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
16. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 147.