1991 World Snooker Championship

1991 World Snooker Championship
The 1991 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1991 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 1991 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
Stephen Hendry was the defending champion, but he lost in the quarter-finals to Steve James and thus fell to the Crucible curse, becoming another champion who was unable to defend his first world title.
John Parrott won his only World Championship title by defeating Jimmy White 18–11 in the final. It was the third time that White had lost in the final after 1984 and 1990. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
The highest break of the tournament was 140, made by Jimmy White.
Tournament summary
Future champion Ken Doherty made his Crucible debut, losing to Steve Davis 8–10; former champion Joe Johnson qualified for the last time, losing to Dennis Taylor 6–10. Both of these were first-round matches.
Future three-time semi-finalist Alan McManus also made his debut this year. He came through five rounds of qualifying and reached the second round at the Crucible, where he narrowly lost 12–13 to Terry Griffiths.
Ray Reardon the six time world champion announced his retirement from the game after losing his second round qualifying match 10–5 to Jason Prince. Reardon was a professional since 1967.
Cliff Thorburn failed to qualify for the first time, after playing in every championship since 1973.
In the 4th frame of his first round match against Doug Mountjoy, Gary Wilkinson potted 15 reds and 15 blacks to make a break of 120. With all 6 colours on their spots, Wilkinson had a golden chance of clinching a 147 maximum break and a £100,000 prize, but Wilkinson then missed the yellow, which wobbled in the jaws of the pocket.
The 14th frame of the second round match between Steve Davis and Tony Meo took 70 minutes, including a 33-minute spell on just the final yellow and green. Meo won the frame by the bizarre score of 87–72, which included many foul points. Undeterred, Davis then won the next five frames to win 13–6.
One of the matches of the tournament was the second round match between Jimmy White and Neal Foulds. White took early leads of 3–0 and 4–2, but then fell 4–6 behind. In the 13th frame, when 5–7 behind, White made the highest break of the tournament, a 140. Foulds kept a one or two frame lead until he pulled three frames clear at 11–8. White then responded by winning five of the last six frames, including the final two frames, to win 13–12. White's quarter final against the in form Gary Wilkinson was expected to be a close affair, but White won 13–3.
Defending champion Stephen Hendry lost to Steve James 11–13 in the quarter-finals, despite Hendry having led 11–9. Hendry would not suffer another defeat at the Crucible until the 1997 final against Ken Doherty.
Steve Davis made his ninth semi-final in a row, a record that still stands, but lost 10–16 against John Parrott. In the other semi final between Jimmy White and Steve James, the first day of which was played on their 29th and 30th birthdays respectively, White won 16–9.
John Parrott took a 7–0 lead against Jimmy White in the final with near flawless snooker in the first session, and although White reduced his arrears to 8–12 at one stage, Parrott eventually won 18–11, again with a seven frame advantage.
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Winner: £135,000
Runner-up: £80,000
Semi-final: £42,000
Quarter-final: £20,000
Last 16: £11,000
Last 32: £6,500
Highest break: £12,000
Maximum break: £100,000
Total: £750,000
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).
Qualifying rounds
1st qualifying round
Rod Lawler 5–0 Derek Mienie
Bill Werbeniuk w/o–w/d Clive Everton
Vladimir Potaznyk w/o–w/d Jim Meadowcroft
Jonathan Birch 10–4 Pascal Burke
Chris Cookson 10–5 Derek Heaton
Paul Thornley 10–7 Paddy Morgan
Franky Chan 10–1 Ian Black
Jason Ferguson 10–1 David Greaves
Alan McManus 10–1 Billy Kelly
Gary Natale 10–3 Bert Demarco
Jason Whittaker 10–2 Bernard Bennett
Jason Prince 10–4 Fred Davis
Ken Doherty w/o–w/d Patsy Fagan
2nd qualifying round
Rod Lawler 10–5 Anthony Harris
Jack Fitzmaurice 10–9 Marcel Gauvreau
Mick Price 10–1 Bill Werbeniuk
Vladimir Potaznyk 10–4 Graham Cripsey
Jonathan Birch 10–4 Kirk Stevens
Mario Morra 10–5 Vic Harris
Tony Wilson 10–2 Dennis Hughes
Jon Wright 10–0 Mike Watterson
Ian Brumby 10–4 Terry Whitthread
Chris Cookson 10–1 Roger Bales
John Rea 10–9 Robby Foldvari
Jason Smith 10–9 Jim Bear
Paul Medati 10–7 Ian Williamson
Ray Edmonds 10–3 Paul Thornley
Eddie Sinclair 10–4 Malcolm Bradley
Nick Terry 10–8 Franky Chan
Steve Campbell 10–4 Tony Kearney
Dave Gilbert 10–3 Dessie Sheehan
Bob Harris 10–5 Mike Darrington
Joe Grech 10–1 John Dunning
Jason Ferguson 10–4 Pat Houlihan
Alan McManus 10–6 Tommy Murphy
Steve Meakin 10–6 Graham Miles
Barry Pinches 10–3 Jim Donnelly
Andrew Cairns 10–2 Gary Natale
Paul Gibson w/o–w/d Paul Watchorn
Jason Whittaker 10–8 Stephen Murphy
Bill Oliver 10–7 Duncan Campbell
George Scott 10–7 Mick Fisher
Jason Prince 10–5 Ray Reardon
Ken Doherty 10–9 Martin Smith
Ken Owers 10–2 Matt Gibson
3rd qualifying round
Rod Lawler 10–4 Brian Rowswell
Warren King 10–3 Jack Fitzmaurice
Mick Price 10–4 Jack McLaughlin
Les Dodd 10–3 Vladimir Potaznyk
Ian Graham 10–7 Jonathan Birch
Mario Morra 10–8 David Taylor
Robert Marshall 10–9 Tony Wilson
Mark Johnston-Allen 10–0 Jon Wright
Brian Morgan 10–3 Ian Brumby
Chris Cookson 10–4 Murdo MacLeod
Mark Bennett 10–5 John Rea
Jason Smith 10–8 Jim Chambers
Darren Morgan 10–5 Paul Medati
Ray Edmonds 10–4 John Spencer
Nick Dyson 10–8 Eddie Sinclair
Mark Rowing 10–6 Nick Terry
Nigel Gilbert 10–8 Steve Campbell
John Campbell 10–8 Dave Gilbert
Bob Harris 10–9 Steve Longworth
Jim Wych 10–1 Joe Grech
Jason Ferguson 10–9 Tony Chappel
Alan McManus 10–6 David Roe
Steve Meakin w/o–w/d Joe O'Boye
Barry Pinches 10–6 Brady Gollan
Tony Jones 10–6 Andrew Cairns
Steve Duggan 10–7 Paul Gibson
Eugene Hughes 10–6 Jason Whittaker
Nigel Bond 10–2 Bill Oliver
Craig Edwards 10–3 George Scott
Jason Prince 10–9 Colin Roscoe
Ken Doherty 10–4 Rex Williams
Paddy Browne 10–6 Ken Owers
4th qualifying round
Warren King 10–7 Rod Lawler
Les Dodd 10–7 Mick Price
Ian Graham 10–7 Mario Morra
Robert Marshall 10–9 Mark Johnston-Allen
Chris Cookson 10–4 Brian Morgan
Mark Bennett 10–6 Jason Smith
Ray Edmonds 10–7 Darren Morgan
Nick Dyson 10–3 Mark Rowing
Nigel Gilbert 10–9 John Campbell
Jim Wych 10–7 Bob Harris
Alan McManus 10–6 Jason Ferguson
Barry Pinches 10–8 Steve Meakin
Tony Jones 10–5 Steve Duggan
Nigel Bond 10–5 Eugene Hughes
Craig Edwards 10–6 Jason Prince
Ken Doherty 10–6 Paddy Browne
5th qualifying round
Warren King 10–2 Barry West
Steve Newbury 10–1 Les Dodd
Ian Graham 10–7 Dene O'Kane
Robert Marshall 10–9 Peter Francisco
Gary Wilkinson 10–2 Chris Cookson
Mark Bennett 10–8 Wayne Jones
Eddie Charlton 10–2 Ray Edmonds
Nick Dyson 10–5 Cliff Thorburn
Nigel Gilbert 10–8 Bob Chaperon
Tony Knowles 10–2 Jim Wych
Alan McManus 10–8 Tony Drago
Barry Pinches 10–5 Danny Fowler
Tony Jones 10–6 Silvino Francisco
Joe Johnson 10–8 Nigel Bond
Craig Edwards 10–8 James Wattana
Ken Doherty 10–5 Cliff Wilson
Century breaks
There were 31 century breaks in the championship. The highest break of the tournament was 140 made by Jimmy White.
140, 138, 136, 117, 115 Jimmy White
138, 137, 131, 122, 117, 112, 112, 101 John Parrott
137 Alan McManus
135, 126, 106, 102 Steve James
135, 122, 116, 105, 102, 100 Stephen Hendry
123, 114 Tony Meo
120, 112 Gary Wilkinson
106 Dean Reynolds
103 Martin Clark
102 Tony Jones
References
1991
World Championship
World Snooker Championship
Sports competitions in Sheffield
World Snooker Championship
World Snooker Championship