World Records

Here are the (unofficial) snooker world records

World Championships

Most Titles

The World Professional Championship (instituted 1927) was won a record 15 times by Joe Davis, on the first 15 occasions it was contested 1927-40 and 1946.

The most wins in the Amateur Championships (instituted 1963) have been two by; Gary Owen in 1963 and 1966; Ray Edmonds 1972 and 1974; and Paul Mifsud (Malta) 1985-86. Allison Fisher (b. 24 Feb 1968) has won seven Women's World Championships, 1985-86, 1988-89, 1991, 1993-94.

Maureen Baynton (née Barrett) won a record eight Women's Amateur Championships between 1954 and 1968, as well as seven at billiards.

Youngest

The youngest man to win a world title is Stephen O'Connor (Ireland) (b. 16 Oct 1972) who was 18 yr 40 days when he won the World Amateur Snooker Championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 25 Nov 1990.

Stephen Hendry (Scotland) (b. 13 Jan 1969) became the youngest World Professional Champion, at 21 yr 106 days on 29 Apr 1990.

Stacey Hillyard (b. 5 Sep 1969) won the Women's World Amateur Championship in October 1984 at the age of 15.

Highest Breaks

Maximum breaks

The first to achieve the maximum break of 147 was E.J. Murt O'Donoghue (New Zealand) (1901-94) at Griffiths, New South Wales, Australia on 26 Sep 1934. The first officially ratified 147 was by Joe Davis against Willie Smith at Leicester Square Hall, London on 22 Jan 1955. The first achieved in a major tournament were by John Spencer (b. 18 Sep 1935) at Slough, Berks on 13 Jan 1979, but the table had oversized pockets, and by Steve Davis (b. 22 Aug 1957) who had a ratified break of 147 against John Spencer in the Lada Classic at Oldham, Greater Manchester on 11 Jan 1982. This was also the first televised maximum.

The youngest to score a competitive maximum was Judd Trump (b. Aug 1989) at 14 yr 206 days days in an under-16 series match against Chris Piech at the Potters Club in Coalville on 13 Mar 2004.

Ronnie O'Sullivan (b. 5 Dec 1975) made a maximum at 15 yr 98 days during the English Amateur Championship (Southern Area) at Aldershot, Hants on 13 Mar 1991.

Cliff Thorburn (Canada) (b. 16 Jan 1948) was first to make two tournament 147 breaks on 23 Apr 1983 (the first in the World Professional Championships) and 8 Mar 1989. Peter Ebdon (b. 27 Aug 1979) and James Wattana (Thailand) (b. 17 Jan 1970) have also achieved this feat.

Stephen Hendry became the first to make more than two tournament 147s. He also shares the record with Ronnie O'Sullivan for most maximums with eight. Hendry's first was made in the European League and his second in the 1995 World Championship. The record-breaking third came on 25 Nov 1995 in the UK Championship. Not content with this he made his fourth maximum on 5 Jan 1997 in the 1997 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge and his fifth on 23 May 1998 in the 1998 Dr Martens Premier League, his sixth on 19 Sep 1999 in the final of the 1999 British Open (the first maximum in a ranking final), his seventh on (21-23) November in 1999 in the 1999 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship and his eighth on 25 Feb 2001 in the final of the 2001 Rothmans Grand Prix!

Leo Levitt was the first amateur to achieve the maximum break, in November 1948 at the Winsor Bowling alley in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Geet Sethi (India) was the first one to manage one in competition, in the Indian Amateur Championships on 21 Feb 1988.

In April 2002 the New Zealand No2, amateur Harry Haenga, father of national champion Daniel Haenga, scored a 147 off the break against Glenn Gemmel at the Porirua Club, near Wellington, New Zealand. This was not in a tournament but was witnesses by two A Grade players, one of whom is a NZ representative and the other is a Referee.

16 Red Ball Clearances

In competition

The highest snooker break in competition is Wally West's 151. He made the break in the final of a club handicap at the Hounslow Lucania Club in 1976 against Derek "Butch" Rogers, in front of about 100 spectators. The qualified referee John Posner was in charge of the match.

Wally won the first frame with the aid of a 104. In the second, Butch clipped the blue and left Wally snookered. Wally potted green as his free ball with a brown to follow. He then took 14 red and blacks and a pink off the last red. He then cleared up to make the 151.

Jamie Burnett (Scotland) made a break of 148 on 16 October 2004, at the Prestatyn qualifiers for the Travis Perkins UK Championship. This was the first break over 147 in professional snooker. Burnett made the break in the 14th frame of his match against Leo Fernandez. He potted the brown as the extra red, then another brown followed by the 15 reds and all the colours. He made a blue on the first red, a pink on the last one and another pink on one of the other reds. The rest went with blacks. He went on to win the match 9-8.
The first 16 red clearance in a tournament was by Steve James (b. 2 May 1961) who made 135 against Alex Higgins in the World Professional Championships at Sheffield, S Yorks on 14 Apr 1990.

Dean Reynolds (England) a 16 red clearance of 143 in the seniors event of the 2006 European Team championships, in Carlow, Ireland.

Others

In 2006 Jamie Cope became the first player to record a 155 break. He did it in a witnessed practice match. Jamie is a professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire, England.

On 23 April 2003 Jamie Cope made a 151 break on the match table at The Reardon Snooker Club (Hanley Stoke-on-Trent) during a practise game with David Fomm-Ward. After a foul shot by his opponent Jamie was snookered behind the Brown ball. He took the Brown as the free ball and then potted Blue, 8 Red and 8 Black, 2 Red and 2 Pink, 5 Red and 5 Black. Then cleared all the colours. He was 17 years old at the time.

In 1995 Tony Drago's (Malta) (b. 22 Sep 1965) made a 149 in a practice match against Nick Manning at the West Norwood Snooker Club. Drago broke off and snookered Manning behind the brown. Manning tried to escape from the snooker but left a free ball. Drago took the brown as the free ball and then the brown again for four more points and followed that with 15 reds, 13 blacks, a pink and a blue and all the colours.

Eddie Manning (Leicester, England) also achieved a 149, in 1997 at Willie Thorne's in Leicester. His practice partner was Kam (or Kan?) Pandya. Manning. Like Drago he took brown, brown, 13 blacks, pink and blue.

Steve Duggan (b. 10 Apr 1958) made a witnessed break of 148 in a practice frame with Mark Rowing in Doncaster, S Yorks on 27 Apr 1988 (or 1992?).

Stephen Hendry made a 148 in practice vs Alfie Burden in 1993.

In 1976 Alex Higgins knocked in a 146 vs Willie Thorne in a Challenge Match. He had brown, green, 10 blacks and 5 pinks.

Cliff Thorburn managed a 139 in practice against Geoff Foulds in 1980.

Other high breaks

Kelly Fisher is the leader among the women. She has a 143 in competition and 20+ 147's in practice.

Four consecutive century breaks were first compiled in a major tournament by John Higgins: 103, 104, 138 and 128, in Preston, England on Sun 16th October 2005. He achieved the feat in the final of the 2005 Grand Prix, against Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Shaun Murphy (England) equalled the feat in the 2007 Welsh Open, Feb 14 2007, in Newport Centre, Wales. He beat Jamie Cope 5-0 in the second round and won the first four frames with 135, 110, 102 and 101.

Three consecutive century breaks were first compiled in a major tournament by Steve Davis: 108, 101 and 104 at Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs on 10 Sep 1988. In 1998 John Higgins (Scotland) (b. 18th May 1975) became the first to manage the feat in a World Championship match. Peter Ebdon became the first to make four century breaks in five frames, in the European Open qualifying competition at Blackpool on 6 Sep 1992. Stephen Hendry made seven centuries in the final of the 1994 UK Championship, which is a record in a professional match. He also became the first player ever to make five centuries in seven frames.

In the 2004 British Open Stephen Maguire (Scotland) made five consecutive centuries over two matches. He finished his quarter-final match against Anthony Hamilton with three centuries and started his semi-final against Ronnie O'Sullivan with two more.

Mark Allen (N.Ireland) has also made five consecutive century breaks, at the Larne Masters, in the Fountain Club in Larne, Northern Ireland, 23 January 2005. Allen finished off his second round match against Stephen Smith with a 117, before rattling in breaks of 134, 120 and 104 to beat Declan Hughes 3-0. He then began his quarter-final match against Robert McCullough with a 116. Just for good measure, Mark had begun his match against Smith with a 111 break, making it a phenomenal six centuries in seven frames.

In the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy Ronnie O’Sullivan made five centuries - the first time that has ever been achieved in a ranking event best-of-nine match. The third-round match, which he won 5-2, was played 8 November against Allister Carter (England). Ronnie warmed up with 108, 122 and 107 intaking a 3-1 lead before a 147. Carter pulled one frame back then O’Sullivan closed with a 129 total clearance.

Stephen Hendry holds the record for most tons by one player in a tournament. He made 16 centuries during the 2002 World Championship.
In the 2004 British Open John Higgins made four breaks over 140; one 141 and two 144s.

Eddie Charlton (Australia) once made a total of 273 in two consecutive games. His first opponent didn't get a shot, and Eddie made 130 or so, after sinking a red off the break then clearing the table. His next opponent (Ray Reardon) didn't get a shot either, and Eddie cleared the table again, for a world record of a total of 273 in 2 consecutive frames.

Michael White of Neath, England is possibly the youngest player to make a century break. He made it in a club compition in the Empire Neath where he practices. It was ratified by the Guiness World Records. He was 9 at the time, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan who made his first century at age 10.

Longest Unbeaten Run

From 17 Mar 1990 to his defeat by Jimmy White on 13 Jan 1991, Stephen Hendry won five sucessive titles and 36 consecutive matches in ranking tournaments. During the summer of 1992, Ronnie O'Sullivan won 38 consecutive matches, but these were in qualifying competition.
Stephen Lee (England) won 33 frames in a row in the 1992 qualifying competition.

Among the women Kelly Fisher had the longest winning streak in snooker history. Her winning streak started on June the 9th 2001 by defeating Christine Sharp 3-0 and ended on March 3rd 2003 after she was defeated 4-3 by Maria Catalano. Kelly won 15 major women's snooker tournaments and 69 straight matches.

Most Tournament Wins

Stephen Hendry has won 36 ranking titles in his career. That's eight more than Steve Davis, who has 28 wins.