He was runner-up in two other world championships, losing 2125 to John Spencer in the 1977 final and 618 to Steve Davis in the 1983 final, and was ranked world number one during the 198182 season, becoming the first non-British player to top the world rankings. Can Everton ever be great again? In the 1980s, Thorburn experienced tremendous success. [6][25][26] Joe Davis compiled the first official 147 against Willie Smith in an exhibition match on 22 January 1955 at Leicester Square Hall, London. Stephen Hendry's second Crucible maximum helped him surge into a 5-2 lead over Shaun Murphy during the first session of their quarter-finals but he was unable to go on and keep alive his quest for a first world title of the Millennium, losing 13-11. It was witnessed by 133 people. Thorburn's entry for the 1972 World Snooker Championship arrived too late for him to be included in the main draw. One of snookers founding fathers, Davis was already a ground-breaking individual in the history of the sport. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Sure enough it went straight in. Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Snooker Hall of Fame in 2014, he competed in Snooker Legends events and on the World Seniors Tour, winning the 2018 Seniors Masters at the Crucible Theatre at age 70. Thorburn recalled: I had a dream a couple of weeks beforehand where I potted the first black, the reds split open and I cleared up. [44][45] John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the only players to record maximum breaks in consecutive ranking events. This, of course, was 12 months after that agonising 18-17 defeat and the fourth time he'd lost to the Scotsman in his six Crucible finals. He whitewashed Chris Ross 110 in qualifying, then recorded a 136 win over Williams. [45] He also reached the final of the Classic in January 1985, where he met Thorne, the latter winning five frames in a row to win 138 after the pair had been tied at 88. [15], At least seven players have missed the final black on a score of 140: Robin Hull, Ken Doherty, Barry Pinches, Mark Selby,[16] Michael White,[17] Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (twice in the 201516 season),[18][19] and Liang Wenbo in a qualifying match at the 2018 World Championship, after he had already made a maximum earlier in the same match. Here's every 147 in Crucible history, and you'll notice only three of them came in defeat, including the most recent by Higgins against Kurt Maflin in 2020. [77] The prize would be split among all players who had made at least one qualifying break, with each player receiving an equal share for every break made. Still, Higgins' composure was the difference after Maflin himself had missed out on a similar chance in round one, and the 14th red, to middle, was a delight. Peter Ebdon compiled two maximum breaks during an 11-frame exhibition match at Eastbourne Police Club on 15 April 1996. The "Rest of the World" team was Thorburn, World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, Billiards Association and Control Council, 1952 World Professional Match-play Championship, "Snooker: Three players fail drug tests but remain anonymous", "Artist puts a perfect frame on the map ", "Assetereum World Seniors Masters 2018 Cliff Thorburn is your Champion! There is a 500 prize in the Players Tour Championship events from the last 128 onwards. Years later, Ronnie O'Sullivan did it in only five minutes and twenty seconds. By this point, having never lost a World Championship match, Davis had stopped playing in snookers biggest event so not to risk damaging his reputation with any potential defeats. Video Unavailable. Not content with becoming the first world champion outside the United Kingdom in the modern era, the Crucible king of 1980 brought the crowd to their feet - not to mention the millions glued to their TV sets - with another history-making feat in the fourth frame of a match he was leading 2-1. Video, 00:00:58'Massive performance' from Man Utd - Ten Hag, No regrets starting Kane on bench - Stellini. It may have been the polar opposite to how Ronnie O'Sullivan managed it 15 years later - and started with a huge slice of luck as you'll see from the video below - but as Cliff Thorburn ground his way to perfection against Terry Griffiths, play on the other table was halted, allowing fellow Canadian Bill Werbeniuk to peep his head round the screen during the closing stages. [31], He won the Canadian Open for a third successive year in 1980, defeating Griffiths 1710 in the final,[32] and was part of the Canada Team that reached the final of the 1980 World Challenge Cup, where they lost 58 to Wales. This score has not been officially achieved to date. In the last session, Thorburn again narrowed the gap to one frame, but then Spencer won three in a row to achieve victory at 2521. '- press officer interrupts Guardiola, How 'listener' Howe has improved Newcastle. Stephen Hendry 147! [2] The Billiards Association and Control Council initially refused to accept the break since the match was not played under their rules. [23] Higgins led 63 at the end of the first session, extending this to 95 before Thorburn levelled the match at 99. Only Hendry, John Higgins, Stuart Bingham, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson and Judd Trump have made maximums in finals of tournaments. The break came during his second round match against Terry Griffiths in . The secondreason the mistake arises isdue to the rise in public interest in snooker via the means of television. Not many people have made a 147 at the Crucible and the prize money at that time was so high that there was a lot of pressure, Williams recalls. [8][27] Rex Williams made the first maximum break in a competitive match against Manuel Francisco, Professionals v. Amateurs, on 23 December 1965 in Cape Town. Ronnie O'Sullivan soared to superstar status in five minutes and eight seconds of breathtaking snooker from the gods at a time when he'd won just two of his record 19 Triple Crown titles. Video, 00:07:26Can Everton ever be great again? Video, 00:01:24Klopp uses driving analogy to explain confidence, 'Can I finish? Simon Thomson The Association's disciplinary committee had decided that Thorburn had brought the sport into disrepute, as a drug test that he took at the 1988 British Open showed that he had "minute traces of cocaine in his urine sample". First 147 at the Crucible - Cliff Thorburn - YouTube World Snooker Official brings you interviews, highlights, exclusive footage and much more from the World of Snooker!Subscribe here to. This did not count as an official maximum, however, as the break was made on a non-templated table used during the event. [74] A maximum break is worth 5,000 in the televised stages and 500 in qualifying stages of major ranking events. The Captain achieved the feat just a day after Ronnie O'Sullivan's effort against Mark Williams while his opponent Peter Ebdon had incredibly come agonisingly close in the previous frame by missing the 15th black! The highest break recorded, of which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records, was a score of 149 by Tony Drago in 1998. Neil Robertson fired the 12th 147 break in World Snooker Championship history in the 19th frame of his second round match against Jack Lisowski. , WHAT A MOMENT! Video, 00:01:00No regrets starting Kane on bench - Stellini, Whoops! [60] During the 2006 World Championship, he flew to Sheffield to unveil a life-size painting of the maximum break that he made at the tournament in 1983. 2012 Crucible Maximum Break! Obviously not a race but here's how all the Crucible 147s - now including Neil Robertson - looked after 5 minutes and 8 seconds. ", "Cliff Thorburn, 73, retires from competitive snooker after defeat to Kuldesh Johal at UK Seniors Championship", "National Head Coach of Cue Sports: Cliff Thorburn", "Cliff Thorburn Joins WPBSA Coaching Panel", "Dubai Classic, Dubai Masters, Bahrain Snooker Championship", "Professional Players Tournament, Grand Prix, LG Cup", "International Open, Goya Matchroom Trophy", "Thailand Open, Thailand Classic, Thailand Masters", "British Open Including British Gold Cup, Yamaha Organs Trophy and Yamaha International Masters", "Premier/Matchroom League, Matchroom Championship League", "Wilson's Classic, Lada Classic, Mercantile Credit Classic", "Other National Professional Championship", "Historical World Rankings 1975/76 to 1989/90", "Other National Professional Championships Canadian Professional Championship", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cliff_Thorburn&oldid=1142274450, Sportspeople from Victoria, British Columbia, Winners of the professional snooker world championship, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Canadian English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, lost in the early rounds of the tournament. Scroll down to watch the 147 breaks in multiscreen, The First World Championship 147 [1983] | Cliff Thorburn vs Terry Griffiths, Jimmy White's Stunning 147 vs Tony Drago | 1992 World Championship, Stephen Hendry's Maiden Crucible 147 | 1995 World Championship [vs Jimmy White], The Fastest 147 | Ronnie O'Sullivan | 1997 World Championship, Ronnie O'Sullivan's 6th 147 Break vs Marco Fu in 2003 World Snooker Championship, Ronnie's 147 v Williams at the 2008 World Championship, Stephen Hendry's 147 at the 2009 World Championship. Video, 00:00:19, '22m followers doesn't make it a 50-50 fight' Video, 00:00:57, '22m followers doesn't make it a 50-50 fight', Burn hopes to end Newcastle trophy drought. [13], The 1977 World Snooker Championship was the first to be held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Video, 00:09:56Archive: O'Sullivan's 'best' maximum, Archive: White's wonderful 147. Could the EFL Cup final change Karius' career? [37] Similarly, at the 2017 German Masters, Ali Carter and Ross Muir both compiled one each during qualifying and Tom Ford during the televised stages. '- press officer interrupts Guardiola, How 'listener' Howe has improved Newcastle. [11], At the 1973 World Snooker Championship, his first major tournament on the professional snooker circuit, Thorburn defeated Dennis Taylor 98 in the first round then lost 1516 to Williams in the second round. Thorburn last qualified for the World Championship in 1994, where he faced Nigel Bond in the first round. [a][29][3] After the match, Higgins said of Thorburn "he's a grinder",[30] and the nickname "The Grinder" was subsequently associated with Thorburn, seen as apt for his slow, determined style of play. Could the EFL Cup final change Karius' career? The Rocket, who was just 21 and four years away from his first of five Crucible crowns, compiled his break during a 10-6 first-round victory over Mick Price and it won him a whopping 147,000. Legendary Joe Davis made his first 147 in 1955. Steve Davis effort 40 years ago, in 1982, was the first to fit the criteria. In November 2010 Sam Harvey made a 151 break in a practice match against, This page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at 23:58. Video, 00:07:26Can Everton ever be great again? [48] Thorburn experienced success in the Scottish Masters, an invitational event which opened the snooker season, in 1985 and 1986. He was placed in the plate competition. He defeated Thorne 97 in the 1985 final, and Alex Higgins 98 the following year. In the 34th frame, leading 459 in points, he laid a snooker for Higgins, and made a 51 break after that to win the title. Im a much more confident player now and take my time a bit more. So in your opinion what was the best snooker break of all time? [60] An investigation undertaken by Deadspin in 2017, however, revealed that the time recorded by Guinness is incorrect because the timer was started too early on the BBC footage. Thorburn built a 1311 lead during the fourth session, and extended it to 1511 before Spencer won four consecutive frames to make it 1515; the next session again saw them share the frames, finishing at 1818. Thank you. Watch more: Fighting Talk goes Snooker Loopy, Archive: The first Crucible 147. So, due to the extensive BBC TV coverage it is widely thought that Cliff Thorburn made either the first ever 147 or indeed the first televised 147. Ali Carter's first competitive 147 break was also the first time there had been two maximum breaks in a single tournament, let alone at the same World Championship. In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break in a World Championship match, achieving the feat in his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths. Steve Davis - 1982 Lada Classic 2. [65][66] Judd Trump is known to have made a 147 at the Potters Under-16 Tournament in 2004 at the age of 14 years and 206 days; however, this break is not recognised by Guinness World Records. The first 147 to be made in a professional competitiveranking tournament came several decades later in 1979 by John Spencer. Cliff Thorburn 147 - First ever 147 at the Crucible - 1983 WSC - YouTube 0:00 / 18:50 Cliff Thorburn 147 - First ever 147 at the Crucible - 1983 WSC Johnny S 381 subscribers. In the evening, he played cards and drank alcohol with friends until 5:00am, resuming the match the next day by winning the first five frames in succession. Thorburn led by 9-2 but eventually lost 9-10. In the 1974 World Snooker Championship he defeated Alex McDonald 83 in qualifying then lost 48 to Paddy Morgan in the first round. [68][69], The youngest player to have made an officially recognised maximum break in professional competition is Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon, who compiled a 147 at the 2010 RheinMain Masters when he was aged 16 years and 312 days. Unfortunately for the Scot, he missed out on the maximum break prize which is only awarded for a 147, or if a free ball is used, a 155. Could the EFL Cup final change Karius' career? Can Everton ever be great again? For example, if a match is scheduled to have a maximum of seven frames, a player wins the game when winning a fourth frame, regardless of how many frames the other player has. Thorburn failed to hit the pink, which gave White the penalty points he needed, and White then potted the pink and black to win the title. The first was by Wally West, who was reported to have made a 151 break in the final of a club competition in Hounslow in 1976. 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