1984 World Snooker Championship

The total prize fund for the event was the largest for any snooker tournament to that date, at £200,000 with the winner receiving £44,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:[1][7]

Qualifying for the event was held at at Redwood Lodge in Bristol between 78 players,[8][9] from 1 April to 13 April 1984.[10][11] The players were divided into 16 groups, with matches played on a knockout basis to produce 16 qualifiers. All qualifying matches were the best-of-19-frames. John Parrott progressed after winning three rounds, beating Dennis Hughes 10–3, Clive Everton 10–2 and the 1978 World Snooker Championship runner-up Perrie Mans 10–0.[3] Neal Foulds, aged 20,[12] also won three matches to make his Crucible debut,[13] defeating Doug French 10–5, Les Dodd 10–4 and Jim Meadowcroft 10–2.[3]

Eight-time former world champion Fred Davis won his match against Jim Donnelly 10–5 to become the oldest player in the main competition, at the age of 70.[3][14] One player, Canadian Jim Bear, was scheduled to play but did not, and Roy Andrewartha received a walkover for the match.[3] Losers in the qualifying rounds received £450.[8] Andrewartha, Foulds, Parrott, Marcel Gauvreau, Joe Johnson, Warren King, Paul Mifsud, Mario Morra, and Eddie Sinclair made their World Championship debuts.[15]

Matches in the first round took place from 21 to 26 April.[16] The matches were played between the seeded players, and qualifiers with each match played over two sessions as best-of-19 frames.[1] David Taylor, who was trailing 3–5 to Marcel Gauvreau after their first session, won seven frames in a row to win 10–5 and gain his first ranking points of the season.[17] Roy Andrewartha, a time and motion analyst who played snooker part-time, lost 4–10 to Eddie Charlton.[18] Neal Foulds took the last three frames of their first session to lead former world champion Alex Higgins 5–3, and having the more consistent long potting in the match, won 10–9 after the scores had been level at 7–7.[18]

Silvino Francisco defeated Tony Meo, who to that point had been the fourth-highest earner on the snooker circuit that season, 10–5.[19] Willie Thorne defeated John Virgo for the second consecutive world championship.[20] Virgo's defeat came at the end of a season in which he failed to win any ranking points, and he dropped out of the top 16, to 18th.[21] Eight-time champion Fred Davis made his last appearance at the World Championships, losing 4–10 to Bill Werbeniuk in the first round. Davis had first played in the World Championship in 1937. Aged 70 years and 253 days, he became the tournament's oldest-ever player.[22][23]

Many of the matches had emphatic scorelines. Dennis Taylor and Kirk Stevens both won 10–1; Terry Griffiths won 10–2; Steve Davis, John Spencer and Cliff Thorburn won 10–3; and Bill Werbeniuk, Doug Mountjoy and Eddie Charlton won 10–4.[24] Four of the top 16 seeded players lost in the first round: Tony Knowles (4th seed), Alex Higgins (5), John Virgo (14) and Tony Meo (15).[24]

Knowles, who had been the only player to beat Steve Davis in the World Championship in the previous three years, with a 10–1 surprise win over Davis in the first round in 1982, lost 7–10 to John Parrott. Knowles had recently featured in a three-part series in tabloid newspaper The Sun, where he boasted of his sexual adventures and was dismissive of most other competitors in the tournament.[25] The articles led to Knowles being fined £5,000, imposed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association for bringing the sport into disrepute.[3]

In the other matches, second seed Ray Reardon beat Jim Wych 10–7, and Jimmy White beat Rex Williams 10–6. Williams made the first century break of the tournament in the 12th frame, a total clearance of 138, the highest break of the tournament.[26] In the first round, 233 frames were played out of a possible 304, with an average frame time of 22.5 minutes. The longest frame, between Cliff Thorburn and Mario Morra, took 51 minutes, whilst the shortest was 9 minutes, in the Jimmy White and Rex Williams match.[27]

Matches in the second round (last 16) were best-of-25 frames, and scheduled to each be played over three sessions taking place from 26 to 30 April.[19] Steve Davis compiled breaks of 100, 95, and 92 against John Spencer, winning 13–5 after leading 6–4.[28] Jimmy White trailed 3–5 against Eddie Charlton at the end of the first session. White made breaks of 80, 79, 44, 61, 34, and 82 to lead 10–6 and went on to win 13–7. Terry Griffiths beat Bill Werbeniuk 13–5.[29]

Dennis Taylor led John Parrott 11–7, then Parrott won four frames in a row to level at 11–11. Taylor, who was the more consistent potter during the match, took the next two to win 13–11. Cliff Thorburn and Willie Thorne contested a tight match that Thorburn won 13–11.[30] From 9–9 against David Taylor, Kirk Stevens scored three breaks in the fifties to win the match 13–10. Neal Foulds led Doug Mountjoy 3–1 but ended up losing 6–13.[31]

Ray Reardon, having his least successful season in 17 years as a snooker professional, made a 109 break in the eighth frame to lead 5–3 at the end of the first session against Silvino Francisco. The score was tied at 8–8 after the second session. In the last session, Francisco was ahead, but under-hit when trying to pot the blue. This left Reardon needing one snooker rather than three; Francisco fouled, giving Reardon the additional points required. Reardon went on to win the frame on a re-spotted black after Francisco failed the pot and left the black ball over the jaws of a pocket. From 9–8, Reardon won four frames in a row to win the match 13–8.[32]

The quarter-finals were scheduled to each be played over three sessions, on 1 and 2 May, as best-of-25-frames matches.[19] Steve Davis won the first three frames of his match against Terry Griffiths, but found himself 3–5 down at the end of the first session. Griffiths then won the first frame of the second session to lead 6–3. Davis pulled back to level the match at 6–6, and the second session ended at 8–8.[33] Davis won 13–10 in a highly technical and safety oriented match.[34] Kirk Stevens beat Ray Reardon convincingly, 13–2, to set up a semi-final with Jimmy White, who beat Cliff Thorburn 13–8. Dennis Taylor defeated Doug Mountjoy 13–8, to move into the other semi-final, against Davis.[34]

The semi-finals were scheduled to each be played over four sessions, on 3, 4 and 5 May, as best-of-31-frames matches.[19] Steve Davis led Dennis Taylor 4–3 at the end of their first session, whilst in the other match, Jimmy White took a 5–3 lead over Kirk Stevens despite being unwell. White attributed his illness to some sandwiches he had eaten, and had to leave the playing area during a break of 85 in the fifth frame.[35] Stevens, meanwhile, was suffering from a throat infection.[36] Davis opened up a 9–5 lead over Taylor at the end of their second session, and increased his advantage to 13–8 at the end of the third, whilst Stevens led White by just one frame, 8–7 after their second session.[36] Davis won three frames to Taylor's one in their last session to win 16–9, and White beat Stevens 16–14 to become the youngest player to reach a professional snooker World Championship final.[37][38]

Steve Davis (pictured in 2012) defeated Jimmy White 18–16 in the final, retaining the title and winning his third world championship.

The final was played over four sessions, on 6 and 7 May, as a best-of-35-frames match between Steve Davis and Jimmy White.[19] English referee Jim Thorpe presided over the match,[39] taking charge of his third Triple Crown final, after two prior UK Championship finals in 1980 and 1984.[40]

Davis dominated the first session to lead 6–1, and extended his lead to 12–4 at the end of the second session.[37] On the second day, White fought back to 11–13 by winning seven of the eight frames in the third session, the first by making a break of 119 that turned out to be the second-highest of the tournament. Davis started the final session by winning three of the first four frames to lead 16–12. White then won the next three to put himself just one behind at 15–16. Davis won a close frame by clearing the colours to lead 17–15, then White took the next with a break of 65 to reduce his deficit to 16–17. Davis took the last frame 77–40 to become the first player to retain the championship.[41][42][43]

The victory was Davis' third world championship, having previously won in 1981 and 1983. White's loss was the first of six world championship final defeats.[44] He was the youngest player to compete in a world championship final;[38] however, by losing the match he missed his chance to supersede Alex Higgins as the youngest-ever winner.[45] Davis received £44,000 for winning the tournament, taking his prize money for the 1993–84 season to £159,511, more than double that of the second-highest earner, White, who made £78,725.[5] When the world rankings were updated following the tournament, Davis was in first place; White was seventh, earning eight of his seventeen ranking points from being the championship runner-up.[46]