Cliff Thorburn


Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Higgins 18–16 in the final to become the first world champion in the sport's modern era from outside the United Kingdom. He remains the only world champion from the Americas.
Thorburn was runner-up in two other World Championships, losing 21–25 to John Spencer in the 1977 final and 6–18 to Steve Davis in the 1983 final. One of his most celebrated moments came during his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths in 1983, when he became the first player to compile a maximum break in a World Championship match. He was the second player to make a 147 break in professional competition.
Thorburn's other notable achievements include holding the number one ranking during the 1981–82 season and winning the prestigious invitational Masters three times, in 1983, 1985, and 1986. This made him the first player to win the Masters more than once and the first to retain the title.
He retired from the professional tour in 1996 and was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. At the age of 70, he won the 2018 Seniors Masters at the Crucible Theatre.

Career

Early life

Thorburn was born on 16 January 1948 in Victoria, British Columbia. He was brought up by his grandparents after his parents separated when he was eighteen months old. He played pool and lacrosse in his youth, and set a one-game scoring record of ten goals in the Greater Victoria Minor Lacrosse Association "midget division" in 1958. He left school at the age of 16, and travelled across Canada playing pool and snooker money matches, taking jobs as a dishwasher and working on a garbage truck to help earn money for his stakes. In 1968 he entered his first tournaments, and won the Toronto City Championship. He spend time with Fred Davis and Rex Williams when they toured Canada in 1970, and afterwards became a resident professional at the House of Champions club in Toronto. In July 1970, he reportedly made a maximum break of 147 against Fred Hardwick. He won the North American championship in 1971, making six century breaks during the tournament, equalling the record for century breaks in a single tournament jointly held by Joe Davis and George Chenier.

Early professional career

Thorburn played John Spencer in a series of three exhibition matches in 1971, and although he lost all three matches, Spencer recommended to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association that Thorburn should be accepted as a professional. Thorburn travelled to England in 1973, and on the day he arrives, the reigning world snooker champion Alex Higgins offered to play him for £5 a frame. Thorburn, receiving 28 points start in each frame, claims to have beaten Higgins in every frame they played, and that Higgins refused to pay up.
At the 1973 World Snooker Championship, his first tournament on the professional snooker circuit, Thorburn defeated Dennis Taylor 9-8 in the first round then lost 15-16 to Rex Williams in the second round. Later that year, he had a 4–0 win over Pat Houlihan at the 1973 Norwich Union Open before losing 2–4 to Higgins in the quarter-final. In the 1974 World Snooker Championship he defeated Alex McDonald 8–3 in qualifying then lost 4–8 to Paddy Morgan in the first round. He started the 1974–75 snooker season with a victory in the 1974 Canadian Open, winning against Willie Thorne and Graham Miles to reach the final, where he won 8–6 against Taylor. He reached the quarter-finals of the 1975 World Snooker Championship with wins over Morgan and Miles, losing the quarter-final 12–19 to Eddie Charlton, and, the following year, lost 14–15 to Higgins in the first round of the 1975 World Snooker Championship.
The 1977 World Snooker Championship was the first to be held at the Crucible Theatre. Thorburn became the first Canadian world snooker championship finalist. He whitewashed Chris Ross 11-0 in qualifying, then recorded a 13–6 win over Williams. In the quarter-final, he won in the deciding frame, 13–12, against Charlton. He overcame Taylor 18–16 in the semi-final, and twelve hours later was facing Spencer in the final. Spencer built a 4–2 lead at the end of the first, but Thorburn won four of the next six frames and they finished the second session level at 6–6. Thorburn took the first two frames of the third session, and it finished with them level again, at 9–9. Thorburn built a 13–11 lead during the fourth session, and extended it to 15–11 before Spencer won four consecutive frames to make it 15–15; the next session again saw them share the frames, finishing at 18–18. Spencer won three frames in a row to lead 21–18, with Thorburn taking the next two, to trail by just a single frame. Spencer took the last frame of the session, leading 22–20. In the last session, Thorburn again narrowed the gap to one frame, but then Spencer won three in a row to achieve victory at 25–21.
Thorburn reached the final of the 1978 1978 Masters with wins over Doug Mountjoy and Spencer, losing 5-7 to Higgins in the final. He was knocked out of the 1978 World Snooker Championship by Charlton, 12–13 in the quarter-finals. In the 1978–79 snooker season he defeated Tony Meo 17–15 in the final to win the 1978 Canadian Open after having trailed 6–10 at the end of the first day of the final, but lost his opening matches in both the Masters and the World Championship. He retained his Canadian Open title in 1979, taking a 10–3 lead over Terry Griffiths before winning the match in the deciding frame, at 17–16.

1980s

Thorburn had defeated Virgo 6–1 in the round robin phase of the 1980 Bombay International, but lost 7–13 to him in the final. He won 5–3 against Virgo in the first round of the 1980 Masters, then lost 3–5 to Griffiths in the Quarter-final. In advance of the 1980 World Championship, he practiced at a club near the Crucible that was owned by a friend, and gave up smoking and drinking alcohol for a week before the tournament. His first match was against Mountjoy, with Thorburn finishing their first session 3–5 behind. In the evening, he played cards and drank alcohol with friends until 5:00 am, resuming the match the next day by winning the first five frames in succession. Thorburn won the match 13–10. In the quarter-final, he beat Jim Wych 13–6, having led 5–3, 9–3 and 10–6. He led David Taylor 5–3 after their first semi-final session, and 11–4 at the end of the second. In the last session of the match, Thorburn extended his lead to 15–7 by the mid-session interval, then won 16–7 with a break of 114 in the 23rd frame.
Thorburn became the first player to reach a second final at the Crucible. His opponent was Higgins, the 1972 champion. Thorburn won the first frame, with Higgins then winning the next five. Thorburn won the seventh to make it 5–2, with Higgins complaining after the frame that Thorburn had been standing in his line of sight, a claim that author and sports statistician Ian Morrison called "unfounded." Higgins led 6–2 at the end of the first session, extending this to 9–5 before Thorburn levelled the match at 9–9. Writing in The Times, Sydney Friskin described the match to this point as a contrast of styles: "the shrewd cumulative processes of Thorburn against the explosive break-building of Higgins." He also noted that each player had accused the other of distracting them during the match. Thorburn won the 19th and 20th frames, with Higgins taking the following to the make it 11–11. Thorburn went ahead at 12–11 and 13–12, with Higgins then levelling the match both times, and winning the next to leave Thorburn one behind at 13–14. In the final session, Higgins won the first frame then Thorburn won the next two, before Higgins squared the match at 15–15. Thorburn led 16–15, and missed an easy that let Higgins in to make it 16–16. With a break of 119, Thorburn moved within a frame of victory at 17–16. In the 34th frame, leading 45–9 in points, he laid a for Higgins, and made a 51 break after than to win the title. The BBC's television coverage of the final had been interrupted by the broadcast of live footage of the Iranian Embassy Siege. The conclusion of the final was watched by 14.5 million television viewers. Thorburn is generally regarded as the first player from outside Britain to win the world championship, with Horace Lindrum's win in the match 1952 World Snooker Championship usually being disregarded. After the match, Higgins said of Thorburn "he's a grinder", and the nickname "The Grinder" was subsequently associated with Thorburn, seen as apt for his slow, determined style of play. Thorburn has aspired to be known by the nickname "Champagne Cliff", but admitted later that it never caught on.
Following his world championship victory, Thorburn bought a house in England with the intention of spending more time in Britain. He won the Canadian Open for a third successive year in 1980, defeating Griffiths 17–10 in the final, and was part of the Canada Team that reached the final of the 1980 World Challenge Cup, where they lost 5–8 to Wales. He led Higgins 5-1 in the semi-final of the 1981 Masters, but lost the match 5-6. At the 1981 World Championship, as defending champion, he reached the semi-final where he lost 10-16 to Steve Davis. Following a 4-10 loss to Jimmy White in the first round of the 1982 World Snooker Championship, Thorburn decided to move back to Canada. Thorburn had been number two in the 1980/1981 world rankings, and reached number one in the 1981/1982 rankings. He won the 1983 Masters, recovering from 2-5 behind against Charlton to win 6-5 in the semi-final, and defeating Ray Reardon 9-7 in the final.
In 1983, he became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Championship. He compiled the break in the fourth frame of his second round match against Terry Griffiths. The break started with Thorburn a. While he was completing the break, play stopped on the tournament's second table because his friend and fellow Canadian Bill Werbeniuk wanted to watch. The match against Griffiths ended at 3:51am, with Thorburn emerging as the winner,13-12. He then defeated Kirk Stevens 13-12 in the quarter-final, and Tony Knowles 16-15 in the semi-final. During the semi-final, which finished at 1:06am, Thorburn had learnt that his wife Barbara had suffered a miscarriage on the day that he made his maximum break. In the final, he played Steve Davis. From 2-2 after the first four frames, Davis won four in a row to leave Thorburn 2-6 behind, extending this to 2-9 at the start of the second session, and 5-12 at the end of the first day. Davis wrapped up victory on the second day, at 18-6, with this being the first final at the Crucible to be completed in only three sssions. Snooker historian Clive Everton commented of Thorburn's performance in the final that the long matches he had played in reaching the final "left him so drained.. that he was able to offer only token resistance."
He won further Masters titles by defeating Doug Mountjoy 9–6 in 1985, and Jimmy White 9–5 in 1986. He became the first player ever to retain the Masters title, and the first to win it three times.
He enjoyed a resurgence in form during the 1984–85 season. He reached the final of the Grand Prix, where he lost to Dennis Taylor 2–10. In the semi-final, Thorburn had unexpectedly beaten tournament favourite Steve Davis 9–7. He also made the final of the Classic in January 1985, where he met Willie Thorne in the final, with Thorne winning 13–8. Thorburn was again runner-up in the 1986 Classic, this time losing to Jimmy White in the final 12–13. Thorburn looked certain to win the title but White got a snooker in the deciding frame on the final pink and potted pink and black to win the title.
Thorburn experienced success in the 1985 and 1986 Scottish Masters, an invitational event which opened the snooker season. He defeated Willie Thorne 9–7 in the 1985 final, and Alex Higgins 9–8 the following year. He won the opening ranking event in the 1985–86 snooker calendar, the Matchroom Trophy, where he beat Jimmy White in the final 12–10, having trailed 0–7 and 4–8. He was then runner-up in the same event the following two seasons.
Thorburn was fined £10,000 and banned for two ranking tournaments in 1988 after failing a drug test for cocaine.

Later years

Thorburn last qualified for the World Championship in 1994, where he faced Nigel Bond in the first round. Thorburn led by 9–2 but eventually lost 9–10. In 2001, he won the pro-am Canadian Amateur Championship ; he had previously won the tournament in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977.
During the 2006 World Championship, Thorburn flew to Sheffield to unveil a life-size painting of the first televised maximum break that he made at the tournament in 1983. Painted by the artist Michael Myers, the work is on display at the Macdonald St. Paul's Hotel in Sheffield. In 2010, Thorburn returned to the UK to compete on the Snooker Legends Tour where he faced Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and John Parrott.
At the age of 70, Thorburn won the 2018 Seniors Masters at the Crucible Theatre, defeating Jonathan Bagley 2-0 in the final.

Personal life

His manager Darryl McKerrow was killed in a hunting accident during the mid-1980s.
In 1984, Thorburn was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2001, he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
He is the father of two children, 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 sources including billiards equipment endorsements, exhibition games, a snooker instruction book and an autobiography, Playing for Keeps, published in 1987.

Performance and rankings timeline


Career finals

Ranking finals: 10 (2 titles, 8 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship
Other

Non-ranking finals: 23 (18 titles, 5 runners-up)

denotes Hayton & Dee
Legend
The Masters
Other

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreRef.
Winner1.1974Canadian Open 8–6
Winner2.1974Canadian Professional Championship Julien St Dennis13–11
Runner-up1.1978The Masters 5–7
Winner3.1978Canadian Open 17–15
Winner4.1979Canadian Open 17–16
Runner-up2.1980Bombay International 7–13
Winner5.1980Canadian Professional Championship 9–6
Winner6.1980Canadian Open 17–10
Winner7.1981Pot Black 2–0
Runner-up3.1981Tolly Cobbold Classic 1–5
Runner-up4.1981Scottish Masters 4–9
Winner8.1983The Masters 9–7
Winner9.1983Australian Masters 7–3
Winner10.1984Canadian Professional Championship Mario Morra9–2
Winner11.1985The Masters 9–6
Winner12.1985Canadian Professional Championship 6–4
Winner13.1985Scottish Masters 9–7
Winner14.1986The Masters 9–5
Winner15.1986Canadian Professional Championship 6–2
Winner16.1986Scottish Masters 9–8
Winner17.1987Canadian Professional Championship Jim Bear8–4
Runner-up5.2000World Seniors Masters Willie Thorne0–1
Winner18.2018The Seniors Masters Johnathan Bagley2–1

Team finals: 8 (2 titles, 6 runners-up)

Amateur finals: 11 (7 titles, 4 runners-up)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreRef.
Winner1.1971North American Championship36–15
Runner-up1.1973North American Championship22–26
Runner-up2.1975North American Championship9–11