1984 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	21 April–7 May 1984
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£200,000
Winner's share	£44,000
Highest break	Rex Williams (138)
Final
Champion	Steve Davis
Runner-up	Jimmy White
Score	18–16
← 1983 1985 →

The 1984 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1984 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purpose of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 21 April and 7 May 1984 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.^[1]

Steve Davis won his third world title by defeating Jimmy White 18–16 in the final. Davis became the first player to retain the title at the Crucible.^[2] The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• Joe Johnson, John Parrott, Neal Foulds, Warren King, Roy Andrewartha, Marcel Gauvreau, Paul Mifsud, Mario Morra and Eddie Sinclair made their World Championship debut. All the debutants except Johnson, Foulds, Parrott and King played at the Crucible for the first and only time and only Foulds and Parrott won their first round matches.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}
• Jimmy White played in his first final where he lost to Steve Davis 16–18. It would be the first of six World Championship final defeats.^[12] In the match, he was 4–12 behind at the end of the first day. On the second day, White fought back and trailed only 11–13 behind, before Davis again extended his lead to 16–12. White than won the next three frames in row to reduce the gap to 15–16, before Davis cleared the colours to be just one frame away to win the title. And although White would win the next frame with a 65 clearance, Davis won the 34th frame and sealed victory 18–16.^[13] With this Davis became the first player to retain the title at the Crucible.^[12]
• Eight-time winner Fred Davis made his final World Championship appearance, losing 4–10 to Bill Werbeniuk. Davis had first played in the World Championship in 1937. Aged 70 years and 253 days, he became the tournament's oldest ever player.^[14][15]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[1][16]

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).^[1][17][18]

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 31 frames

21 April

Steve Davis (1)

10

26 & 27 April

Warren King

3

Steve Davis (1)

13

21 & 22 April

John Spencer (16)

5

John Spencer (16)

10

1 & 2 May

Graham Miles

3

Steve Davis (1)

13

22 & 23 April

Terry Griffiths (9)

10

Terry Griffiths (9)

10

27 & 28 April

Paul Mifsud

2

Terry Griffiths (9)

13

22 & 23 April

Bill Werbeniuk (8)

5

Bill Werbeniuk (8)

10

3, 4 & 5 May

Fred Davis

4

Steve Davis (1)

16

23 & 24 April

Dennis Taylor (13)

9

Alex Higgins (5)

9

28, 29 & 30 April

Neal Foulds

10

Neal Foulds

6

24 & 25 April

Doug Mountjoy (12)

13

Doug Mountjoy (12)

10

1 & 2 May

Mike Hallett

4

Doug Mountjoy (12)

8

24 & 25 April

Dennis Taylor (13)

13

Dennis Taylor (13)

10

29 & 30 April

Joe Johnson

1

Dennis Taylor (13)

13

25 & 26 April

John Parrott

11

Tony Knowles (4)

7

John Parrott

10

25 & 26 April

Cliff Thorburn (3)

10

29 & 30 April

Mario Morra

3

Cliff Thorburn (3)

13

25 April

Willie Thorne

11

John Virgo (14)

9

1 & 2 May

Willie Thorne

10

Cliff Thorburn (3)

8

24 April

Jimmy White (11)

13

Jimmy White (11)

10

28, 29 & 30 April

Rex Williams

6

Jimmy White (11)

13

23 & 24 April

Eddie Charlton (6)

7

Eddie Charlton (6)

10

3, 4 & 5 May

Roy Andrewartha

4

Jimmy White (11)

16

22 & 23 April

Kirk Stevens (7)

14

Kirk Stevens (7)

10

27 & 28 April

Eddie Sinclair

1

Kirk Stevens (7)

13

22 & 23 April

David Taylor (10)

10

David Taylor (10)

10

1 & 2 May

Marcel Gauvreau

5

Kirk Stevens (7)

13

21 & 22 April

Ray Reardon (2)

2

Tony Meo (15)

5

26, 27 & 28 April

Silvino Francisco

10

Silvino Francisco

8

21 April

Ray Reardon (2)

13

Ray Reardon (2)

10

Jim Wych

7

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 6 & 7 May 1984. Referee: Jim Thorpe[19]
Steve Davis (1)  England	18–16	Jimmy White (11)  England
73–14, 84–24, 70–65, 51–73, 69–39, 110–15, 77–38, 68–25, 81–0, 0–137, 57–40, 8–104, 120–0, 43–67, 65–61, 73–22, 6–127, 29–62, 1–76, 68–56, 42–65, 29–68, 4–80, 43–67, 64–15, 82–43, 19–91, 73–40, 6–84, 22–72, 40–74, 59–55, 60–65, 77–40	Century breaks: 1 (White 1) Highest break by Davis: 84 Highest break by White: 119	73–14, 84–24, 70–65, 51–73, 69–39, 110–15, 77–38, 68–25, 81–0, 0–137, 57–40, 8–104, 120–0, 43–67, 65–61, 73–22, 6–127, 29–62, 1–76, 68–56, 42–65, 29–68, 4–80, 43–67, 64–15, 82–43, 19–91, 73–40, 6–84, 22–72, 40–74, 59–55, 60–65, 77–40
Steve Davis wins the 1984 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were eight centuries in the championship, which were the fewest since 1978. The highest break of the televised stages was 138 made by Rex Williams,^[20][21][22] and the pre-televised stages was 112 made by Jim Donnelly.^[1]

• 138 Rex Williams
• 119, 100 Jimmy White
• 115, 101 Kirk Stevens
• 109 Ray Reardon
• 102 Dennis Taylor
• 100 Steve Davis

References