1987 Masters (snooker) explained

Tournament Name:1987 Benson & Hedges Masters
Venue:Wembley Conference Centre
Location:London
Country:England
Organisation:WPBSA
Format:Non-ranking event
Total Prize Fund:£200,000
Winners Share:£51,000
Highest Break: (136)
Score:9–8
Previous:1986
Next:1988

The 1987 Masters (officially the 1987 Benson & Hedges Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 25 January and 1 February 1987 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England.

Alex Higgins dominated the tournament. He defeated Terry Griffiths in the first round 5–4, after being 2–4 down, and won the match before his fans invaded the Wembley Conference Centre to greet him similar to his 1985 match with Steve Davis in the same round. He then cruised past World Champion Joe Johnson and Tony Meo before facing fellow Irishman Dennis Taylor in the final, which turned out to be a late night finish. Higgins led 8–5 by the evening session, but Taylor won the last 4 frames to win his only Masters title and his first major title since beating Steve Davis in the 1985 World Championship.

This was the first, and to date only, major final to feature 2 players from Northern Ireland. It also stood as the last time a player from Northern Ireland had won a Triple Crown title for over 30 years until Mark Allen's victory in the 2018 Masters.

Also in the 1987 Masters, Ray Reardon made his last appearance in the competition, when he played Joe Johnson. Cliff Thorburn failed to make it three Masters titles in row, when he lost 5–6 to Dennis Taylor in the semi-final. The highest break of the tournament was 136 made by Jimmy White.

Field

Defending champion Cliff Thorburn was the number 1 seed with World Champion Joe Johnson seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings. Neal Foulds was making his debut in the Masters.

Main draw

[1] [2]

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: John Smyth
Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 1 February 1987.
Dennis Taylor
9–8Alex Higgins
First session: 63–37, 16–89 (56), 49–69, 89–41, 69–33 (65), 48–74, 73–11, 60–40 (60), 22–66, 53–30, 0–113 (98), 63–77, 25–92 (88), 61–50, 118–9 (74), 50–40, 82–0
74Highest break98
0Century breaks0
350+ breaks3

Century breaks

Total: 7[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1987 Masters Results. Snooker Database. 5 May 2011. 7 October 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20111007103429/http://www.snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=85. dead.
  2. Web site: The Masters. https://web.archive.org/web/20130124071627/http://www.snookerscene.co.uk/page.php?id=60. 24 January 2013. Snooker Scene. 8 August 2012.
  3. Web site: 1987 Masters. CueTracker - Snooker Results and Statistics Database. 19 January 2015.