1985 World Snooker Championship

1985 Embassy World Snooker Championship
The programme for the event featuring defending champion Steve Davis
Tournament information
Dates12–28 April 1985
VenueCrucible Theatre
CitySheffield
CountryEngland
OrganisationWPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£250,000
Winner's share£60,000
Highest breakCanada Bill Werbeniuk (143)
Final
ChampionNorthern Ireland Dennis Taylor
Runner-upEngland Steve Davis
Score18–17
1984
1986

The 1985 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament. It took place from 12 to 28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The event was run by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). It was the ninth World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible, the first taking place in 1977. A five-round qualifying event was held at the Preston Guild Hall. The event was shown on TV in the United Kingdom by the BBC. There was £250,000 to be won. It was the highest amount for any snooker tournament to that date; the winner received £60,000.

The defending champion was Steve Davis, who had won the event three times. Davis met Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor in the final which was a best-of-35-frames (first to 18) match. Davis took an early 8–0 lead, but Taylor drew level at 17–17. The final frame was played over the final black ball - the player able to pot the ball winning the event. After both players missed, Taylor potted the black to win.. The match, often called the "black ball final", is the best-known match in the history of the sport..

Canadian Bill Werbeniuk made the event's highest break, a 143, in his first-round match. There were 14 century breaks made, with 10 more in qualifying matches. This was the first professional snooker event to have a ban on drugs. All players in the main stage having to undertake tests. The final between Davis and Taylor holds the record for the most-viewed show in the United Kingdom of a programme shown after midnight. It had a peak of 18.5 million viewers for the match's final frame, breaking the existing records for the most-viewed sporting event and BBC2 programme.

Main draw

The results for each round of the main stage of the championship are shown below. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).[1][2][3][4]

First round Second round Quarter-finals Semi-finals
Best of 19 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 31 frames
                           
12 April            
  Steve Davis (ENG) (1)  10
17 & 18 April
  Neal Foulds (ENG)  8  
 England Steve Davis (1)  13
12 & 13 April
   England David Taylor (16)  4  
  David Taylor (ENG) (16)  10
22 & 23 April
  Dene O'Kane (NZL)  4  
 England Steve Davis (1)  13
13 & 14 April
   Wales Terry Griffiths (8)  6  
  Alex Higgins (NIR) (9)  10
18 & 19 April
  Dean Reynolds (ENG)  4  
 Northern Ireland Alex Higgins (9)  7
13 & 14 April
   Wales Terry Griffiths (8)  13  
  Terry Griffiths (WAL) (8)  10
24 & 25 April
  Rex Williams (ENG)  3  
 England Steve Davis (1)  16
14 & 15 April
   Wales Ray Reardon (5)  5
  Ray Reardon (WAL) (5)  10
19 & 20 April
  Eugene Hughes (IRL)  9  
 Wales Ray Reardon (5)  13
15 & 16 April
   Republic of Ireland Patsy Fagan  9  
  Willie Thorne (ENG) (12)  6
22 & 23 April
  Patsy Fagan (IRL)  10  
 Wales Ray Reardon (5)  13
15 & 16 April
   England John Parrott  12  
  John Spencer (ENG) (13)  3
20 & 21 April
  John Parrott (ENG)  10  
 England John Parrott  13
16 & 17 April
   Canada Kirk Stevens (4)  6  
  Kirk Stevens (CAN) (4)  10
  Ray Edmonds (ENG)  8  
16 & 17 April            
  Cliff Thorburn (CAN) (3)  10
20 & 21 April
  Mike Hallett (ENG)  8  
 Canada Cliff Thorburn (3)  13
16 April
   Canada Bill Werbeniuk (14)  3  
  Bill Werbeniuk (CAN) (14)  10
22 & 23 April
  Joe Johnson (ENG)  8  
 Canada Cliff Thorburn (3)  5
15 April
   Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor (11)  13  
  Dennis Taylor (NIR) (11)  10
19 & 20 April
  Silvino Francisco (RSA)  2  
 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor (11)  13
14 & 15 April
   Australia Eddie Charlton (6)  6  
  Eddie Charlton (AUS) (6)  10
24, 25 & 26 April
  John Campbell (AUS)  3  
 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor (11)  16
13 & 14 April
   England Tony Knowles (2)  5
  Jimmy White (ENG) (7)  10
18 & 19 April
  Wayne Jones (WAL)  4  
 England Jimmy White (7)  13
13 & 14 April
   England Tony Meo (10)  11  
  Tony Meo (ENG) (10)  10
22 & 23 April
  John Virgo (ENG)  6  
 England Jimmy White (7)  10
12 & 13 April
   England Tony Knowles (2)  13  
  Doug Mountjoy (WAL) (15)  10
17, 18 & 19 April
  Murdo MacLeod (SCO)  5  
 Wales Doug Mountjoy (15)  6
12 April
   England Tony Knowles (2)  13  
  Tony Knowles (ENG) (2)  10
  Tony Jones (ENG)  8  
Final: (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 27 & 28 April. Referee: John Williams[5]
Steve Davis (1)
 England
17–18 Dennis Taylor (11)
 Northern Ireland
Players Session 1: 8–0
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Davis 88 93 49 65 95 (55) 85 (66) 83 (58) 121 (64, 57) N/A N/A
Taylor 50 (50) 0 2 38 1 6 20 0 N/A N/A
Players Session 2: 1–8 (9–8)
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Davis 49 76 (57) 48 27 19 1 0 48 25 N/A
Taylor 59 27 63 75 (61) 99 (98) 71 (70) 100 (56) 77 68 (53) N/A
Players Session 3: 5–3 (14–11)
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Davis 72 66 45 2 1 64 58 86 (86) N/A N/A
Taylor 43 58 80 73 (57) 80 (55) 56 46 13 N/A N/A
Players Session 4: 3–7 (17–18)
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Davis 43 78 (66) 29 4 29 66 81 47 24 62
Taylor 82 (61) 17 84 (70) 72 (57) 83 (79) 6 0 75 71 (57) 66
87 Highest break 98
0 Century breaks 0
12 50+ breaks 10
Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor wins the 1985 Embassy World Snooker Championship

† = Winner of frame

Century breaks

There were 14 century breaks in the championship. Bill Werbeniuk's 143 against Joe Johnson in the first round was the joint third-highest break in the championship's history, tied with his break in 1979 and Willie Thorne's in 1982.[6][7] Only Cliff Thorburn's maximum break in 1983 and Doug Mountjoy's 145 in 1981 were higher. Tony Knowles missed the black on a break of 137 that would have scored a 144 in his second-round match with Jimmy White.[8]

Qualifying stages

There were ten century breaks in the qualifying stages; the highest was made by Danny Fowler in his round-of-64 10–0 whitewash of Jim Donnelly.[9][10]

References

  1. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  2. "1985 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  3. "World Championship 1985". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  4. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 20–21.
  5. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
  6. "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  7. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 146.
  8. Everton, Clive (23 April 1985). "Parrott fashions overnight lead". The Guardian. p. 26.
  9. "Sports in Brief". The Times. 6 April 1985. p. 31. Retrieved 6 September 2019 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  10. "Parrott looking for career boost". Aberdeen Evening Express. 5 April 1985. p. 16 – via British Newspaper Archive.