1987 World Snooker Championship

The championship was held from 18 April and 4 May 1987 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 11th consecutive time that the tournament was held at the venue.[13] It was the last ranking event of the 1986–87 snooker season on the World Snooker Tour.[13] There were a total of 120 entrants from the tour, and the competition's main draw had 32 participants.[13] A four-round knockout qualifying competition was held at Preston Guild Hall from 26 March to 4 April, and produced the 16 qualifying players who progressed into the main draw to play the top 16 seeds.[13][14]

The top 16 players in the latest world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw as seeded players.[lower-alpha 2] As defending champion, Joe Johnson was seeded first for the event; the remaining 15 seeds were allocated based on the payers' world ranking positions.[16] Matches in the first round of the main draw were played as best-of-19-frames. The number of frames needed to win a match increased to 13 in the second round and quarter-finals, and 16 in the semi-finals; the final match was played as best-of-35-frames.[13][17]

The event featured a prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:[14][18]

The Preston Guild Hall hosted qualifying for the event

The qualifying rounds were played at the Preston Guild Hall from 26 March to 4 April 1987.[23][24] There were four rounds of qualifying, with higher ranked players seeded into the later rounds. There were 104 entrants to qualifying, although four subsequently withdrew from the first round. 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.[13]

There were scheduled to be 24 matches in the first qualifying round, but Frank Jonik, Eddie McLaughlin, Sakchai Sim Ngam and Omprakesh Agrawal all withdrew, meaning that their opponents received walkovers.[13] The 11-time pool world champion Jim Rempe,[25] made a break of 104 in beating Martin Smith 10–9.[26] Veteran professional Bernard Bennett suffered the only whitewash of the first round, failing to win a frame against Billy Kelly.[13]

In the second round, there were 32 matches. The youngest player in the competition, Stephen Hendry, made a break of 108, the new highest in that year's qualifying, during a 10–7 defeat of Mike Darrington.[27] Eight-times champion Fred Davis lost 5–10 to Ken Owers. Another former champion, John Spencer, who had won the title three times, beat Roger Bales 10–3.[28][29] 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.[30]

The third round consisted of 16 matches between winners from the second round.[13] Hendry led 8–1 at the end of their first session, with Rempe winning three consecutive frames in their second session before Hendry won the match at 10–4. Gino Rigitano conceded the 11th frame of his match against Steve Newbury when there were still enough balls on the table for him to win, and when 4–9 down decided not to play the next frame, thereby losing 4–10.[31] There were two 10–0 whitewashes: by Jon Wright over Mark Wildman and by Tony Jones over van Rensberg.[13]

The fourth round also featured 16 matches, with players seeded into the round each meeting one of the third round winners.[13] For the first time since turning professional, John Spencer failed to qualify for the event. He was beaten 5–10 by Barry West.[28] Bill Werbeniuk and Eddie Charlton both also failed to qualify for the competition for the first time, both being knocked out in the fourth round. Werbeniuk lost 8–10 to Mark Bennett and Charlton was defeated 4–10 by Warren King. The only match to go to a deciding frame in round four was John Virgo's 10–9 win over Tony Jones.[13][32]

Dene O'Kane scored five century breaks across his three matches, a new record, including the highest break in qualifying of 132.[19] He received £2,000 for the highest break in qualifying.[20]

Stephen Hendry was the youngest player to date to win a match at the event.

The first round was held from 18 to 23 April with matches played as the best-of-19 frames over two sessions.[33] Defending champion Joe Johnson played Eugene Hughes, but was taken to a deciding frame, winning 10–9.[34] Steve Davis was 7–1 ahead of Warren King at the end of their first session. 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 won the next after needing his opponent to make foul shots, and won 10–7.[34]

Stephen Hendry met veteran player Willie Thorne. Hendry 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 then took the 17th frame to achieve a 10–7 win.[35] At age 18 years and 97 days, Stephen Hendry became the youngest-ever player to win a match at the Crucible,[36] Steve Longworth led 5–4 after the first session of his match, and won five successive frames to beat Kirk Stevens 10–5.[35] Terry Griffiths also progressed from a 5–4 interval lead to a 10–4 win, against Jim Wych.[35] Alex Higgins, due to start a six-month ban after the Championship, beat first-year professional Jon Wright 10–6.[35] Murdo MacLeod defeated Rex Williams 10–5, despite Williams making the highest break of the first round, a 112.[37] MacLeod had previously only won one ranking event match in the season.[38] The win made MacLeod the first Scottish player to win a match at the Crucible Theatre.[39]

Jimmy White led Dean Reynolds 5–4 at the end of their first session. Reynolds won the first two frames of the second session both on respotted blacks , before White went on to win 10–8.[40] O'Kane won nine frames in a row going from 1–5 behind second-ranked player Cliff Thorburn to win 10–5.[21] Six-time champion Ray Reardon beat debutant Barry West 10–5.[41] 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.[40]

Silvino Francisco and John Campbell played only eight of their scheduled nine frames in the first session, due to slow play, with Francisco leading 5–3 when they started the following session. Franciso won five consecutive frames at the start of the second session to complete a 10–3 win.[42] Doug Mountjoy led David Taylor 6–3 after their first session, and won 10–6.[42] The 1985 Champion Dennis Taylor led Bennett 8–1 and 9–2 before winning 10–4.[43] Neal Foulds led John Virgo 7–2 after their first session and won 10–4.[42]

The second round was played from 23 to 27 April with matches as the best-of-25 held over three sessions.[44] Joe Johnson led Murdo MacLeod 6–2 and 9–4 after the first two sessions, winning 13–7.[45] Alex Higgins led Terry Griffiths 6–3 after the first session but Griffiths won four frames in a row and were tied at 8–8. Griffiths went on to defeat Higgins 13–10.[37][45] Six-times winner of the event, Ray Reardon led 3–1 but lost 12 of the next 13 to lose 4–13 to Steve Davis.[41][43][46] After the tournament, Reardon dropped out of the top 16 in the end-of-season world rankings, moving down from 15 to 38.[47]

Jimmy White made a break of 114 in his match against John Parrott, the highest in that year's championship to that point, and won 13–11. Five of the frames had been decided on the black, with white winning four of them.[37][48][49] Steve Longworth and Stephen Hendry were level at 4–4 at the end of their first session, Hendry going on to win 13–7.[13][45] O'Kane, ranked 39th, beat another top 16 player with a 13–5 victory over Mountjoy.[50] 1985 champion Taylor lost 10–13 to Foulds,[49] and Hallet beat Francisco 13–9.[13]

Neal Foulds (pictured in 2015) reached the semi-finals for the only time in his career by defeating Mike Hallett 13–9

The quarter-final matches were also played as the best-of-25 frames over three sessions, on 28 and 29 April.[51][52] Joe Johnson led Stephen 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. Johnson took a 48–6 points lead in the final frame with a break of 46, and after Hendry failed in an attempt to pot a red to let Johnson in again, took the match 13–12.[21][51][52] Hallett made two century breaks in the first session of his match against Foulds, who also compiled a century break, with their first session ending at 4–4.[53] Foulds then opened up a lead, leading 10–6 and 12–7 before winning at 13–9.[54]

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 final session.[53][54] Jimmy White won all of the frames in the first session in his match against Dene O'Kane, and led 9–0. White saw out the match to win 13–6.[13][51][55]

The semi-final matches were played as the best-of-31 frames, held over four sessions, from 30 April to 2 May.[56] Joe Johnson met Neal Foulds in the first semi-final.[21] The pair were tied at 3–3, but Foulds missed a pot on the black ball in frame 7; allowing Johnson to take a one-frame lead after the first session.[57] 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.[58] 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. Foulds 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.[57][58][59] Foulds won frame 23, but Johnson won the next two frames to win the match 16–9 to reach his second final.[39]

Davis and White had been level at 4–4 after their first session, with Davis winning the first four of their second session to lead 8–4 and finishing that session 9–6 ahead.[58][59] White compiled a 119 break, the new highest in the competition, overtaking his earlier 114 in the second round, to end the third session 9–13 behind. Davis won the match 16–11.[60]

Steve Davis won his fourth world championship, defeating Joe Johnson 18–14

The final was played as a best-of-35 frames match held over four sessions between Steve Davis and Joe Johnson on 3 and 4 May 1987.[61][62] 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.[63] The last time that two players had met in consecutive finals at the World Championship was when Fred Davis and Walter Donaldson had both reached the final from 1947 to 1951, five years in a row. The next time it would happen was when Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White met in three consecutive finals between 1992 and 1994.[63][64] This is also the only time that the final has been contested by the top two seeds of the tournament.[65] The final was refereed by Len Ganley.[66]

In frame one, Davis compiled a 127 break, the highest of the tournament.[18] Johnson then won three frames in a row, before Davis did the same, leaving Davis 4–3 ahead at the end of the first session.[21] He extended his lead to 6–4 at the start of the second session which finished 9–7.[21][61] On the second day, Johnson won the first frame of the third session to reduce Davis' lead to one frame. Davis then took four consecutive frames to lead 13–8, but missed the last red ball when on a break of 52. Johnson then cleared up to the black, which Davis would have required to level the scores in the frame. However, Davis left the black in a position that it could be potted from, and Johnson won the frame.[61] Davis won the next frame, to lead 14–9 at the end of the third session.[21]

Johnson made a break of 52 in the first frame of the fourth session, but left an easy red for Davis who made a break of 35, but left an easy green for Johnson, who cleared to the pink to win. Johnson made a break of 62 in the next frame, Davis attempted a clearance, but missed the yellow ball. Johnson potted the yellow from distance and cleared to the blue, with Davis then conceding the frame. Johnson led 50–0 in the next frame, and with both players making a number of errors during the frame, Davis left Johnson an easy brown that allowed Johnson in to win his fourth consecutive frame to move to within one frame at 13–14.[21][39] Davis had breaks of 64 and 40 to lead 15–13, a break of 73 to help make it 16–13, and won on the colours to make it 17–13. Johnson won another frame, with a break of 67, before Davis clinched victory with a break of 73 to make it 18–14, achieving his fourth World Championship title.[21][61][62]

It had been reported during the tournament that both Foulds and WPBSA chairman Williams were taking beta blockers. These were banned under International Olympic Committee rules, but not prohibited in snooker.[67] Colin Moynihan, a Member of the British Parliament, called for Williams to resign and any players using beta blockers to withdraw from competing.[68]