1981 World Snooker Championship

Although Steve Davis was priced as the 7/2 favourite for the 1981 World Snooker Championship, his path to title glory would be littered with obstacles. After facing a future star of the sport in the first round, three world champions then lay in wait. Securing a first world title was going to be earned the hard way.

With seedings at the Crucible based on the last three World Championships, Davis was seeded 13th for the event that started on Tuesday April 7. Yet the 23-year-old was clearly the man to beat after winning the Coral UK Championship, the Wilson's Classic, the Yamaha Organs Trophy, and the John Courage English Professional Championship in the 1980/81 season.

"This is the big one to win," Davis revealed. "I know I'm capable of winning it - whether I do or not is another matter. I'd part with blood to win this one." Without a break off the tournament and exhibition circuit in 62 days, some experts felt fatigue could be an issue with Davis as he attempted to wade his way through the tough top half of the draw.

"I'm looking forward to spending a fortnight in one place for a change, but I won't want to get bored," Davis said. Playing Space Invaders and computer chess to entertain himself at his hotel, Davis would often be compared to the robots he was taking on in his spare time. Facing the daunting task of getting through the champions in his half of the draw, any malfunction from Davis at Sheffield would be costly.

A 24-man tournament, the top eight seeds received a bye to the second round, with the players seeded 9-16 handed a first round date against a qualifier. For Davis, this would lead to a difficult clash with the 18-year-old World Amateur Champion Jimmy White, a player who had turned professional in November.

The hype and excitement surrounding the tournament was evidence of the popularity of snooker. "Here it comes again: the most mesmeric of all the telly-snooker events," the listings in the Guardian explained. Sponsored by Embassy, the showpiece event would be enjoyed by the millions watching the live coverage on the BBC.

At first it appeared as if Davis would stroll into the second round. Hitting the first century of the tournament and another to move 8-4 ahead of White, Davis looked on in horror as his opponent started to reel him back. Twice White reduced the deficit to a single frame, before a composed break of 71 got Davis over the line.

"I am glad, in a way, to have been scared a little at this stage of the championship," Davis admitted after his 10-8 win. With Alex Higgins waiting in the second round - the player who had defeated Davis in the quarter final a year before - the White match proved ideal preparation for Davis.

The match would follow the same pattern. Leading 6-2 after the first day, Davis saw his lead cut back to 9-7, and looked on as Higgins made a break of 47 in the opening frame of the next day. But a 45 break helped Davis take the crucial first frame. "It was the most important break I've made for months," Davis revealed. "It was the key to the match."

The 13-8 win set up a quarter final date with Terry Griffiths. Davis had defeated the reigning champion in the 1980 World Championship second round, and had also hammered the Welshman 9-0 in the semi-final of the Coral UK Championship. He would prevail again. But it would take a great deal of time and patience to secure a semi-final spot.

From 4-4 overnight, Davis moved into a 9-5 lead. Yet with two frames taking 57 and 53 minutes, the second session was cut short; the queuing crowds outside had to be let into the Crucible for the evening session. Eventually Davis won 13-9, to book a semi-final against 1980 world champion Cliff Thorburn.

The Canadian had seen off Graham Miles and David Taylor comfortably before his lengthy and at times tetchy meeting with Davis. Thorburn took the opening frame - the first time Davis had trailed in the tournament - and despite going 6-4 down, Thorburn won four frames in a row to lead 8-6. Crucially Davis would win six of the next eight frames to lead 12-10 overnight, but there would be a touch of controversy as the play drew to a close.

With just pink and black remaining, Davis led 80-23 as he reached to shake Thorburn's hand in the early hours of Saturday morning. Even though he needed eight snookers, Thorburn seemed appalled by this, pointing to the remaining balls on the table. Addressing the cue ball, the Canadian then stepped away to mimic Davis and his habit of taking slow slips of water. Returning to play his next shot, Thorburn then conceded.

It was a peculiar act, one that Thorburn later apologised for. Clive Everton, writing in the Guardian, noted how Thorburn had called Davis "an arrogant bastard" backstage, adding that he would be coming for Davis on the next day. Unruffled, Davis won the next four frames, before proclaiming, "It was the hardest match I have ever played."

After defeating three world champions, Davis now faced 14th seed Doug Mountjoy. The Welshman had beaten Willie Thorne, Eddie Charlton, Dennis Taylor and compatriot Ray Reardon to reach his first World Championship final, firing a tournament record break of 145 in his semi-final win.

 

 

When Davis surged into a 6-0 lead, it looked as if his pre-match odds of 1/3 were fully justified. Mountjoy won the next, before taking a bizarre eighth frame. With just three colours left on the table and Davis leading by a point, referee John Williams ordered a re-rack, as the black ball hung over a pocket in close proximity to the blue. A total of 37 safety shots in nearly 15 minutes led to the decision.

Mountjoy fought hard to regain the ground after Davis' efficient start, a break of 129 in the 14th frame part of a comeback that saw him trail by just 10-8 as day one ended. Staying in touch during the early exchanges of the final day, a vital point arrived in frame 25.

Looking to narrow the gap to just one frame, Mountjoy missed an easy blue, with Davis stepping in to take advantage and move 14-11 ahead. The Welshman responded bravely by taking the next frame, but it would be his last of the tournament. Davis won four frames in a row, including a break of 119 in the 28th frame, to win his first World Snooker Championship.

As the final pink was sunk, Davis closed his eyes and took a step back before shaking the hand of Mountjoy. The second youngest man to win the World Championship - behind Higgins at the time - was then nearly wiped out in a moment of celebration with his manager Barry Hearn. And then came the tears.

"Had I lost I don't know if I could have gone through with all this again," Davis said after his 18-12 win. "It was that hard to win the title." Pocketing £20,000, Davis had responded to the pressure, defeated three world champions on the way, and was now set to dominate the sport for the rest of the decade.

Mountjoy, like many others, knew this. "I'd say that Steve is now a black better than all of us. Now that he has won the title he's going to be very hard to beat in anything." The defeated finalist at least had the consolation of £16,200 in winnings; £10,000 for the runner-up prize, £5,000 for the highest break ever at the Crucible, and £1,200 for the highest break in the tournament.

"In his dedication, temperate habits, appetite for his chosen game, temperament and, in match play, his ability to reduce avoidable mistakes to a minimum, Davis resembles Bjorn Borg," Everton noted after Davis' first world title. Not bad company to be bracketed with. 

Borg's time at the top of his sport may have been coming to an end, but this was just the beginning for Davis. Snooker was about to rule the world in the 1980s, and the sport had found its king.