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Cliff Thorburn

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Cliff Thorburn
Born (1948-01-16) January 16, 1948 (age 76)
Victoria, British Columbia
Sport country Canada
NicknameThe Grinder[1]
Professional1972–1996
Highest ranking1 (1981/82)
Tournament wins
Ranking2
World Champion1980

Clifford Charles Devlin "Cliff" Thorburn CM (born January 16, 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. He won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, the first player outside the United Kingdom to win the title in the sport's modern era. He was also ranked number one that year. In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to compile a maximum break at the World Championship. He is one of two snooker players inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the other being George Chenier.[4] His slow, determined style of play earned him the nickname "The Grinder".

Career

Early career

Thorburn first went to England to play snooker professionally in the early 70s. He had met John Spencer in Canada, who had advised him to go to the UK to improve his game. He was runner up in the world championship in 1977, and was soon considered a contender for tournaments.

1980s

Thorburn's finest moment came in the 1980 World Championship. He met Alex Higgins in the final, a personality that could hardly have been more different from his own. Thorburn won the match 18-16 to take the championship,[5] and rose to number two in the world rankings. The BBC's coverage of the final had been interrupted by the broadcast of live footage of the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy.

The following season Thorburn reached number one in the world rankings.

In 1983, Thorburn was made a Member of the Order of Canada. That same year, he became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Championships. He compiled the break in the fourth frame of his second round match against Terry Griffiths (a match he went on to win 13-12). Whilst completing the break, play stopped on the tournament's second table because Thorburn's friend and fellow Canadian Bill Werbeniuk wanted to watch him complete the break. He subsequently went on to reach the final, but lost to then world number 1 Steve Davis. His wife had a miscarriage during his semi-final and partly explains his eventual heavy defeat by Davis in the final. Thorburn himself refused to blame this for his loss, instead citing that he was fatigued after his three back-to-back final frame victories; 13-12 win over Terry Griffiths in the Second Round, 13-12 win over Kirk Stevens in the quarter finals and a gruelling 16-15 victory (from 13-15 behind) in his semi-final against Tony Knowles, which finished at 2:30am and left him physically exhausted before the final commenced later that same day; Thorburn stated that, following the early morning finish against Knowles, he simply had nothing left for the final less than thirteen hours later against the in-form Steve Davis, who eventually defeated Thorburn 18-6, with a session to spare.

Thorburn was three times the Benson and Hedges Masters Champion, the most prestigious non-ranking event on the snooker calendar for many years. The event was held at the Wembley Conference Centre near London, England, which is where Thorburn lifted the title on three occasions winning in 1983 beating Ray Reardon 9-7 in the final, 1985 beating Doug Mountjoy 9-6 and in 1986 beating Jimmy White 9-5. Thorburn was the first player to retain the Masters title.

During the 1984/85 season Thorburn enjoyed a resurgence in form. He made the final of the Rothmans Grand Prix losing to Dennis Taylor 10-2 in the Final. The highlight of the tournament was Thorburn's 9-7 victory over Steve Davis in the Semi-Final. Thorburn played outstanding snooker to overcome his great rival and the victory came unexpectedly because at that time Davis was in outstanding form.

In January 1985 Thorburn also made the final of the Mercantile Credit Classic and was again in outstanding form. On this occasion he met Willie Thorne in the final who was in equivalent good form and Thorne ran out the winner 13-8. Thorburn was again runner-up in the 1986 Mercantile Credit Classic final, this time losing to Jimmy White in the final frame 13-12.

Thorburn enjoyed success in the 1985 and 1986 Langs Scottish Masters, an invitational event which opened the snooker season. Thorburn defeated Willie Thorne 9-7 in 1985 final and Alex Higgins 9-8 the following year.

Thorburn won the opening ranking event in the 1985-1986 snooker calendar, the Goya Matchroom Trophy. Thorburn beat Jimmy White in the final 12-10 having trailed 0-7 and 4-8 and was runner-up in the same event the following two seasons.

Later years

He last qualified for the World Championship in 1994, where he faced Nigel Bond in the first round. Thorburn led by 9-2 but lost 10-9.

In 2001 Thorburn was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[4] The same year he won the pro-am Canadian Open Championship; he had previously won the tournament in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977.[6][6]

During the 2006 World Championships, Thorburn flew to Sheffield to unveil a lifesize painting of his break, by the artist Michael Myers. It is on display at the Macdonald St. Paul's Hotel in Sheffield.[7] In 2010 Cliff Thorburn returned to the UK to compete on the Snooker Legends Tour where he faced Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and John Parrott.

Along with the highs there were a few lows. His manager Darryl McKerrow was killed in a hunting accident during the mid 80’s and he was fined £10,000 and banned for two ranking tournaments in 1988 after failing a drug test.

He is the father of two boys, Jamie and Andrew. Thorburn won around C$2.5 million in prize money during his 25-year career but also received a considerable income from inter alia billiards equipment endorsements, exhibition games, a snooker instruction book and an autobiography, Playing for Keeps, published in 1987.[8]

World Championship finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 1977 England John Spencer 21–25
Winner 1980 Northern Ireland Alex Higgins 18–16
Runner-up 1983 England Steve Davis 6–18

Tournament wins

Ranking Wins: (2)

Non-Ranking Wins: (21)

References

  1. ^ "Cliff Thorburn". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. ^ http://cuetracker.net/Players/Cliff-Thorburn/Career-Total-Statistics
  3. ^ http://www.cuetracker.net/Players/Cliff-Thorburn/Career-Total-Statistics
  4. ^ a b "Cliff Thorburn". Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  5. ^ http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/23112009/58/cliff-thorburn.html
  6. ^ a b http://www.cbsa.ca/cbsa-champions-list.php
  7. ^ Artist puts a perfect frame on the map
  8. ^ Amazon.co.uk Retrieved 2015-04-30.
  • Cliff Thorburn's Snooker Skills. (With text by Cliff Thorburn, edited by Peter Arnold.) Photography Peter Dazeley London: Hamlyn, 1987. ISBN 0-600-55210-1.
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Achievements
First Maximum break-scorer
in World Championship
23 April 1983 		Succeeded by
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