1979 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	16–28 April 1979
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£35,000
Winner's share	£10,000
Highest break	Bill Werbeniuk (142)
Final
Champion	Terry Griffiths
Runner-up	Dennis Taylor
Score	24–16
← 1978 1980 →

The 1979 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1979 Embassy World Snooker Championship for sponsorship purposes) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 16 and 28 April 1979 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Terry Griffiths won in the final 24–16 against Dennis Taylor. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• Griffiths began the tournament by defeating Bernard Bennett and Jim Meadowcroft in the qualifying rounds. At the Crucible, he defeated Perrie Mans in the first round, followed by a 13–12 victory over Alex Higgins in the quarter-final.^[1] In the semi-final he trailed Eddie Charlton by 16–17 before winning 19–17 at 1.40am, the latest finish of any match at the time.^[2] Griffiths then beat future champion Dennis Taylor 24–16 in the final, to win the world title at his first attempt.^[2][3] He became the first qualifier to win the title at the Crucible.^[4]
• Kirk Stevens and future six-time champion Steve Davis made their Championship debuts, but they lost in the last-16 round: 8–13 to Fred Davis and 11–13 to Dennis Taylor, respectively.^[5][6]
• Aged 65 years and 247 days, Fred Davis became the oldest ever player to win a match at the Crucible. Three days later he also became the oldest player to reach the quarter-finals.^[7]
• John Williams refereed the final.^[8]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[1][9]

• Winner: £10,000
• Runner-up: £5,000
• Third place: £3,000
• Fourth place: £2,000
• Quarter-final: £1,250
• Last 16: £1,000
• Highest break: £500
• Maximum break: £10,000
• Total: £35,500

Main draw

Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings.

Sources:^{[1][10][11][12]}

Last 16 Best of 25 frames

Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames

Semi-finals Best of 37 frames

Final Best of 47 frames

17, 18 & 19 April

Ray Reardon (1)

13

20 & 21 April

Graham Miles

8

Ray Reardon (1)

8

18 & 19 April

Dennis Taylor (8)

13

Dennis Taylor (8)

13

22, 23, 24 & 25 April

Steve Davis

11

Dennis Taylor (8)

19

19 & 20 April

John Virgo

12

Cliff Thorburn (5)

10

20 & 21 April

John Virgo

13

John Virgo

13

17 & 18 April

Bill Werbeniuk

9

John Spencer (4)

11

26, 27 & 28 April

Bill Werbeniuk

13

Dennis Taylor (8)

16

16 & 17 April

Terry Griffiths

24

Eddie Charlton (3)

13

19, 20 & 21 April

Doug Mountjoy

6

Eddie Charlton (3)

13

16, 17 & 18 April

Fred Davis (6)

4

Fred Davis (6)

13

22, 23, 24 & 25 April

Kirk Stevens

8

Eddie Charlton (3)

17

16, 17 & 18 April

Terry Griffiths

19

Third place Best of 13 frames

Alex Higgins (7)

13

19, 20 & 21 April

26 & 27 April

David Taylor

5

Alex Higgins (7)

12

John Virgo

3

16 & 17 April

Terry Griffiths

13

Eddie Charlton (3)

7

Perrie Mans (2)

8

Terry Griffiths

13

Qualifying

Source:^[1]

Century breaks

There were 13 century breaks at the championship, the highest being 142 by Bill Werbeniuk.^[13][14] There was also a £5,000 bonus for compiling a higher break than the championship record of 142.^[9]

• 142 Bill Werbeniuk
• 125 Cliff Thorburn
• 121, 120, 107, 101 Terry Griffiths
• 112, 105 Alex Higgins
• 112 John Spencer
• 110, 109 Fred Davis
• 106 Eddie Charlton
• 106 Dennis Taylor

References