1987 Benson & Hedges Masters

Tournament information
Dates	25 January – 1 February 1987 (1987-01-25 – 1987-02-01)
Venue	Wembley Conference Centre
City	London
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£200,000
Winner's share	£51,000
Highest break	Jimmy White (ENG) (136)
Final
Champion	Dennis Taylor (NIR)
Runner-up	Alex Higgins (NIR)
Score	9–8
← 1986 1988 →

The 1987 Masters (officially the 1987 Benson & Hedges Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 25 January and 1 February 1987 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England.

Alex Higgins dominated the tournament. He defeated Terry Griffiths in the first round 5–4, after being 2–4 down, and won the match before his fans invaded the Wembley Conference Centre to greet him similar to his 1985 match with Steve Davis in the same round. He then cruised past World Champion Joe Johnson and Tony Meo before facing fellow Irishman Dennis Taylor in the final, which turned out to be a late night finish. Higgins led 8–5 by the evening session, but Taylor won the last 4 frames to win his only Masters title and his first major title since beating Steve Davis in the 1985 World Championship.

This was the first, and to date only, major final to feature 2 players from Northern Ireland. It also stood as the last time a player from Northern Ireland had won a Triple Crown title for over 30 years until Mark Allen's victory in the 2018 Masters.

Also in the 1987 Masters, Ray Reardon made his last appearance in the competition, when he played Joe Johnson. Cliff Thorburn failed to make it three Masters titles in row, when he lost 5–6 to Dennis Taylor in the semi-final. The highest break of the tournament was 136 made by Jimmy White.

Field

Defending champion Cliff Thorburn was the number 1 seed with World Champion Joe Johnson seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings. Neal Foulds was making his debut in the Masters.

Main draw

^[1][2]

	Last 16 Best of 9 frames					Quarter-finals Best of 9 frames					Semi-finals Best of 11 frames					Final Best of 17 frames
	1	Cliff Thorburn (CAN)	5
	16	Rex Williams (ENG)	1
						1	Cliff Thorburn	5
						8	Willie Thorne	3
	8	Willie Thorne (ENG)	5
	9	Kirk Stevens (CAN)	3
											1	Cliff Thorburn	5
											4	Dennis Taylor	6
	5	Tony Knowles (ENG)	2
	12	Silvino Francisco (RSA)	5
						12	Silvino Francisco	3
						4	Dennis Taylor	5
	4	Dennis Taylor (NIR)	5
	13	Neal Foulds (ENG)	2
																4	Dennis Taylor	9
																7	Alex Higgins	8
	3	Steve Davis (ENG)	2
	14	Doug Mountjoy (WAL)	5
						14	Doug Mountjoy	4
						11	Tony Meo	5
	6	Jimmy White (ENG)	4
	11	Tony Meo (ENG)	5
											11	Tony Meo	2
											7	Alex Higgins	6
	7	Alex Higgins (NIR)	5
	10	Terry Griffiths (WAL)	4
						7	Alex Higgins	5
						2	Joe Johnson	1
	2	Joe Johnson (ENG)	5
	15	Ray Reardon (WAL)	2

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: John Smyth Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 1 February 1987.
Dennis Taylor  Northern Ireland	9–8	Alex Higgins  Northern Ireland
First session: 63–37, 16–89 (56), 49–69, 89–41, 69–33 (65), 48–74, 73–11, 60–40 (60), 22–66, 53–30, 0–113 (98), 63–77, 25–92 (88), 61–50, 118–9 (74), 50–40, 82–0
74	Highest break	98
0	Century breaks	0
3	50+ breaks	3

Century breaks

Total: 7^[3]

• 136 – Jimmy White
• 111, 106, 105, 101 – Dennis Taylor
• 108 – Alex Higgins
• 101 – Tony Meo

References