1987 World Cup (snooker)

The 1987 Snooker World Cup was a professional team snooker tournament played at the Bournemouth International Centre, England, between 18–21 March 1987. The event was the eighth iteration of the World Cup snooker tournament, first played in 1979. A total prize fund of £100,000 was awarded for the event, with the winning team receiving a share of £32,000. The event featured 8 participating teams, including two from Ireland, the champions of the previous year's event. Danish brewer Tuborg were the sponsors for this year's tournament.

1987 Tuborg World Cup

Event programme
Tournament information
Dates	18–21 March 1987
Venue	Bournemouth International Centre
City	Bournemouth
Country	England
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£100,000
Winner's share	£32,000
Final
Champion	Ireland "A" Dennis Taylor Alex Higgins Eugene Hughes
Runner-up	Canada Cliff Thorburn Kirk Stevens Bill Werbeniuk
Score	9–2
← 1986 1988 →

The defending champions, the Ireland "A" side of Dennis Taylor, Alex Higgins and Eugene Hughes met the Canadian team of Cliff Thorburn, Kirk Stevens and Bill Werbeniuk in the final for the second year in a row. The Irish team won the final 9–2 and their third straight championship, having also won the event in 1985 and 1986.

Tournament format

The 1987 World Cup was a professional snooker non-ranking tournament held between 19 – March 1987. The event was hosted at the Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth, England, and featured eight national teams comprising three players.

Matches in the first round and semi-finals were the best-of-9 frames. One player from each team played two frames against each other. Then two different players played two frames, and then the third players from each team played two frames (one if a team won 5–0). After this, a selected player from each team would play a further one or two frames. If this resulted in a tie at 4–4, a single tie-break frame would be played. The nominations for players were made by team captains.[1]

For the final, the first six frames were contested with one player from each team playing two frames against each other, and then a nominated player from each team playing a further two frames, for total of eight frames contested in the first (afternoon) session. In the evening session, the same applied, but with any team reaching a total of nine frames being declared the winner. If, following 16 frames, the score was 8–8, a nominated player from each team would have played in a tie-break frame. As champions in the previous year, Ireland were entitled to enter two teams.[1][2]

The first round matches were played on 18 and 19 March, semi-finals the 20 March, and the final was held on 21 March.[1]

Teams

Nations were seeded depending on World ranking. As defending champions, Ireland were seeded first, and were allowed to enter two teams.[1][2] Below are the teams that competed:[1]

Country	Seed	Player 1 (Captain)	Player 2	Player 3
Ireland "A"	1	Dennis Taylor	Alex Higgins	Eugene Hughes
England	2	Steve Davis	Joe Johnson	Tony Meo
Canada	3	Cliff Thorburn	Kirk Stevens	Bill Werbeniuk
Wales	4	Terry Griffiths	Doug Mountjoy	Ray Reardon
Australia	5	John Campbell	Eddie Charlton	Warren King
Rest of the World	6	Silvino Francisco	Tony Drago	Dene O'Kane
Scotland	7	Murdo MacLeod	Stephen Hendry	Matt Gibson
Ireland "B"	8	Patsy Fagan	Tommy Murphy	Paddy Browne

Tournament summary

First round

The first round was held on 18 and 19 March as best-of-9-frames. In the first match, Australia against Wales, Eddie Charlton won the first frame against Ray Reardon, but Reardon won the second, and then Doug Mountjoy beat Warren King 2–0, and Terry Griffiths beat John Campbell 2–0 to give Wales a 5–1 win.[3] As champions in the previous year, Ireland were entitled to enter two teams.[4] The two teams played each other in the first round, with Ireland A taking a 4–0 lead as Eugene Hughes beat Paddy Browne and Alex Higgins beat Patsy Fagan, both 2–0. Tommy Murphy of Ireland B then won a frame against Dennis Taylor before Taylor won the last to seal a 5–1 victory for Ireland A.[3]

In Canada's match against the "Rest of World Team", Kirk Stevens beat Silvino Francisco 2–0, Cliff Thorburn drew 1–1 with Tony Drago, and then Bill Werbeniuk lost 0–2 to Dene O'Kane to tie the scores at 3–3. Stevens then drew 1–1 with Drago to make it 4–4, and Thorburn beat Fransciso in the tie-break frame so that Canada won 5–4.[5] Steve Davis and Tony Meo arrived at the venue only about 15 minutes before the start of England's match against Scotland, having travelled from Cheltenham Racecourse that day, with part of the journey by helicopter.[5] Joe Johnson and Stephen Hendry shared the first two frames 1–1, then Davis and Meo recorded 2–0 victories over Matt Gibson and Murdo MacLeod respectively to finish the match at 5–1 to England.[5]

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were both played on 20 March as best-of-9-frames. Griffiths scored breaks of 113 and 92 in beating Taylor and giving Wales a 2–0 lead over Ireland A. Hughes beat Reardon 2–0 to level the match at 2–2. Higgins beat Mountjoy 2–0, then Griffiths 1–0, to give Ireland the win at 5–2. Canada won 5–4 against England. Stevens and Johnson drew 1–1, Thorburn beat Davis 2–0, Werbeniuk and Meo drew 1–1, and Stevens lost 0–2 to Davis, making the match level at 4–4. In the deciding frame, Thorburn beat Johnson 69–24.[6]

Final

The final was played on 21 March as a best-of-17-frames match over two sessions. Ireland A won 9–2, having beaten Canada 9–7 in the final the previous year. Hughes shared the first two frames with Stevens, then there were 2–0 victories for Higgins over Thorburn and Taylor over Werbeniuk. Following this, Taylor beat Stevens 2–0 to give Ireland A a lead of 7–1 at the end of the afternoon session. In the evening session, Hughes and Stevens played to another 1–1 result. Taylor then beat Thorburn 76–29 to leave Ireland A the winners at 9 frames to 2.[1][7] The Irish team's victory was their third consecutive triumph in the tournament, having won it in each of the previous two years. One of Taylor's frames against Stevens was won after Taylor obtained the two snookers he required. Higgins finished the tournament with a record of 26 frames won out of 30 played over three editions of the competition.[8]

Main draw

	First Round Best of 9 Frames					Semi-finals Best of 9 Frames					Final Best of 17 Frames
	1	Ireland A	5
	8	Ireland B	1
						1	Ireland A	5
						4	Wales	2
	5	Australia	1
	4	Wales	5
											1	Ireland A	9
											3	Canada	2
	3	Canada	5
	6	Rest of the World	4
						3	Canada	5
						2	England	4
	7	Scotland	1
	2	England	5

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referees: John Williams and John Street Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth, England. 21 March 1987.
Ireland "A" Dennis Taylor Alex Higgins Eugene Hughes	9–2	Canada Cliff Thorburn Kirk Stevens Bill Werbeniuk
Hughes v Stevens: 1–1 (61–36, 45–90) Higgins v Thorburn: 2–0 (64–48, 58–49) Taylor v Werbeniuk: 2–0 (66–42, 65–10) Taylor v Stevens: 2–0 (61–5, 74–73) Hughes v Stevens: 1–1 (71–43, 42–70) Taylor v Thorburn: 1–0 (76–29)
	Highest break
	Century breaks
	50+ breaks

References

1. Promotional leaflet: Advance Booking Information World Cup 87. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 1987.
2. Friskin, Sydney (18 March 1987). "Ireland confident of third world title". The Times (London, England). p. 31 – via The times Digital Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
3. "Ireland's A team are in fine form". The Times (London, England). 19 March 1987. p. 37 – via The times Digital Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
4. Friskin, Sydney (18 March 1987). "Ireland confident of third world title". The Times (London, England). p. 31 – via The times Digital Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
5. Friskin, Sydney (20 March 1987). "Davis has Gibson in a whirl". The Times (London, England). p. 40 – via The times Digital Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
6. Friskin, Sydney (21 March 1987). "Ireland move one step closer to final victory". The Times (London, England). p. 36 – via The times Digital Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
7. Friskin, Sydney (22 March 1987). "Irish team rock the Canadians". The Times (London, England). p. 38 – via The times Digital Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
8. Everton, Clive (23 Mar 1987). "Sport in Brief". The Guardian. p. 30 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 11 November 2019.