page_title: 1987 World Snooker Championship
section_title: First round
hierarchical_section_title: 1987 World Snooker Championship / Tournament summary / First round
caption_attribution_description: Stephen Hendry beim Paul Hunter Classic 2011
context_page_description: The 1987 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May 1987 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1986–87 snooker season. The championship was the 1987 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy. The event had a prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000.
  Defending champion Joe Johnson had a disappointing season in terms of results since his 1986 victory, but, as a 66–1 outsider to win, reached the final again. In a rematch of the previous year's final, Johnson played Steve Davis in the final. Davis won his fourth championship by defeating Johnson 18–14. Davis made the highest break of the event, a 127, in the first frame of the final. A total of 18 century breaks were made during the event. Stephen Hendry became the youngest player to win a match at the World Snooker Championship, whilst the event was the last time that six-times champion Ray Reardon appeared at the World Championships.
context_section_description: The first round was held from 18 to 23 April with matches played as the best-of-19 frames over two sessions. Defending champion Joe Johnson played Eugene Hughes, but was taken to a deciding frame, winning 10–9. Steve Davis was 7–1 ahead of Warren King at the end of their first session. King then won six of the next seven frames to reduce Davis's lead to one frame at 8–7. Davis narrowly won frame 16 with a break of 63, then won the next after needing his opponent to make foul shots, and won 10–7.
  Stephen Hendry met veteran player Willie Thorne. Hendry led 5–4 at the end of their first session and then took the first four frames in the second, before Thorne won three in-a-row. Hendry then took the 17th frame to achieve a 10–7 win. At age 18 years and 97 days, Stephen Hendry became the youngest-ever player to win a match at the Crucible, Steve Longworth led 5–4 after the first session of his match, and won five successive frames to beat Kirk Stevens 10–5. Terry Griffiths also progressed from a 5–4 interval lead to a 10–4 win, against Jim Wych. Alex Higgins, due to start a six-month ban after the Championship, beat first-year professional Jon Wright 10–6. Murdo MacLeod defeated Rex Williams 10–5, despite Williams making the highest break of the first round, a 112. MacLeod had previously only won one ranking event match in the season. The win made MacLeod the first Scottish player to win a match at the Crucible Theatre.
  Jimmy White led Dean Reynolds 5–4 at the end of their first session. Reynolds won the first two frames of the second session both on respotted blacks , before White went on to win 10–8. O'Kane won nine frames in a row going from 1–5 behind second-ranked player Cliff Thorburn to win 10–5. Six-time champion Ray Reardon beat debutant Barry West 10–5. Fourth seed Tony Knowles lost 6–10 to Mike Hallett, having led 6–5, and 11th seed Tony Meo lost 8–10 to John Parrott.
  Silvino Francisco and John Campbell played only eight of their scheduled nine frames in the first session, due to slow play, with Francisco leading 5–3 when they started the following session. Franciso won five consecutive frames at the start of the second session to complete a 10–3 win. Doug Mountjoy led David Taylor 6–3 after their first session, and won 10–6. The 1985 Champion Dennis Taylor led Bennett 8–1 and 9–2 before winning 10–4. Neal Foulds led John Virgo 7–2 after their first session and won 10–4.
caption: Stephen Hendry was the youngest player to date to win a match at the event.
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