1985 World Snooker Championship

World Snooker Championship 1985 Embassy World Snooker Championship
Attendees:	32
Venue:	Crucible Theater , Sheffield , England
Opening:	April 12, 1985
Endgame:	April 28, 1985
Winner:	Dennis Taylor
Finalist:	Steve Davis
Highest Break:	143 ( Bill Werbeniuk )
← 1984   1986 →

The 1985 World Snooker Championship took place from April 12 to April 28, 1985 at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield .

World champion was the Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor , who won the title for the first time after being in the final in 1979 . His opponent was the Englishman Steve Davis , who had won the title in the previous two years. The final was decided on the last black ball when the score was 17:17 before the last frame and is thus the tightest final of a snooker world championship ever.

With a number of 18.5 million TV viewers at times, it set several records in Great Britain:

• the highest audience rating for a sporting event at the time
• the highest audience rating for the broadcaster BBC 2
• the highest audience rating for a broadcast after midnight.

Prize money

Prize money 1985	Profit in £
winner	060,000
defeated finalist	035,000
Semi-finalist	020,000
Quarter finalist	010,000
Round of 16	005,250
First round off	002,500
Highest break	006,000
Maximum break	060,000
All in all	£ 250,000

Final round

	Round 1 Best of 19 frames					Round of 16 best of 25 frames					Quarterfinals Best of 25 Frames					Semi-final best of 31 frames					Final Best of 35 frames
	1	Steve Davis	10
		Neal Foulds	8th
						1	Steve Davis	13
						16	David Taylor	4th
	16	David Taylor	10
		Dene O'Kane	4th
											1	Steve Davis	13
											8th	Terry Griffiths	6th
	9	Alex Higgins	10
		Dean Reynolds	4th
						9	Alex Higgins	7th
						8th	Terry Griffiths	13
	8th	Terry Griffiths	10
		Rex Williams	3
																1	Steve Davis	16
																5	Ray Reardon	5
	5	Ray Reardon	10
		Eugene Hughes	9
						5	Ray Reardon	13
							Patsy Fagan	9
	12	Willie Thorne	6th
		Patsy Fagan	10
											5	Ray Reardon	13
												John Parrott	12
	13	John Spencer	3
		John Parrott	10
							John Parrott	13
						4th	Kirk Stevens	6th
	4th	Kirk Stevens	10
		Ray Edmonds	8th
																					1	Steve Davis	17th
																					11	Dennis Taylor	18th
	3	Cliff Thorburn	10
		Mike Hallett	8th
						3	Cliff Thorburn	13
						14th	Bill Werbeniuk	3
	14th	Bill Werbeniuk	10
		Joe Johnson	8th
											3	Cliff Thorburn	5
											11	Dennis Taylor	13
	11	Dennis Taylor	10
		Silvino Francisco	2
						11	Dennis Taylor	13
						6th	Eddie Charlton	6th
	6th	Eddie Charlton	10
		John Campbell	3
																11	Dennis Taylor	16
																2	Tony Knowles	5
	10	Jimmy White	10
		Wayne Jones	4th
						7th	Jimmy White	13
						10	Tony Meo	11
	7th	Tony Meo	10
		John Virgo	6th
											7th	Jimmy White	10
											2	Tony Knowles	13
	15th	Doug Mountjoy	10
		Murdo MacLeod	5
						15th	Doug Mountjoy	6th
						2	Tony Knowles	13
	2	Tony Knowles	10
		Tony Jones	8th

final

Davis got off to a much better start in the final and was leading 7-0 after the first session. In the second session, however, Taylor was able to make up ground and came back to 9: 7. The third session was even (4: 4), so that Davis went into the final session with a 13:11 advantage. There he was able to pull away at 17:15, but Taylor forced the decision frame with breaks of 42 and 57 points.

The decisive frame lasted unusually long at 68 minutes, Taylor finally came to the table when Davis was 62:44 and punched brown, blue and pink. At 62:59 it was clear that the last black ball would decide the frame and match. Taylor initially narrowly failed when trying to cross-double the last black hole, but he didn't leave a simple push for Davis. He therefore decided on a safety , whereupon both Davis and Taylor left out some difficult hole attempts. Ultimately, Davis missed a comparatively good opportunity to punch the black, leaving Taylor with a relatively simple push that Taylor used to win the frame and match.

Finale: Best of 35 Frames Referee: John Williams Crucible Theater ,  Sheffield , England , 27./28. April 1985
Steve Davis	17: 18	Dennis Taylor
87	Highest break	98
-	Century breaks	-
9	50+ breaks	13

Century breaks

14 Century Breaks were achieved by nine different players:

Bill Werbeniuk	143
Tony Knowles	137, 117
Dennis Taylor	128, 117
Tony Meo	123
John Parrott	114
Jimmy White	114, 108
Steve Davis	106, 105, 100
Cliff Thorburn	103
Neal Foulds	101

swell

• Chris Downer: Crucible Almanac (2011 edition). , Bournemouth 2011.
• Global Snooker ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
• Chris Turner's Snooker Archive ( Memento from June 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} bbc.co.uk: 1985: The black ball final
2. ^ ^{A b} independent.co.uk: Great Sporting Moments: Dennis Taylor defeats Steve Davis 18-17 at the Crucible