1984 Masters (snooker)

The 1984 Benson & Hedges Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 22 and 29 January 1984 at the Wembley Conference Centre. The Masters, in its 10th year, changed the format into a championship for the game's top 16 ranked players. The BBC extended their television coverage to show all 8 days of the event and the prize money was more than double that of the previous year.

Benson & Hedges Masters

Tournament information
Dates	22–29 January 1984
Venue	Wembley Conference Centre
City	London
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£115,000
Winner's share	£35,000
Highest break	Kirk Stevens (147)
Final
Champion	Jimmy White
Runner-up	Terry Griffiths
Score	9–5
← 1983 1985 →

Defending champion Cliff Thorburn lost to John Spencer in the first round, but it was fellow Canadian Kirk Stevens' maximum break against Jimmy White in the 9th frame of their semi-final, for which the tournament is perhaps best remembered. The break earned Stevens £10,000 for the 147, £1,000 for the highest break, and a gold award for breaking the tournament record. It was Stevens' second maximum break, the other being made in a practice session, and only the 3rd ever televised 147 break by any player. "I couldn't believe how I felt. I was just enthralled in it, lost in it" Stevens said. Meanwhile, White won the match 6–4 with a 119 break in the next frame and went on to win his only Masters title. In front of his home crowd he beat Welshman Terry Griffiths by 9 frames to 5, playing in his fourth Masters final in five years.

Field

Defending champion Cliff Thorburn was the number 1 seed with World Champion Steve Davis seeded 2.[1] The remaining places were allocated to the top 16 players in the world rankings. Tony Knowles was making his debut in the Masters.

Main draw

[2][3]

	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	4
	16	John Spencer	5
						16	John Spencer	4
						9	Terry Griffiths	5
	8	Bill Werbeniuk	1
	9	Terry Griffiths	5
											9	Terry Griffiths	6
											4	Tony Knowles	4
	5	Alex Higgins	5
	12	Doug Mountjoy	2
						5	Alex Higgins	1
						4	Tony Knowles	5
	4	Tony Knowles	5
	13	Dennis Taylor	2
																9	Terry Griffiths	5
																11	Jimmy White	9
	3	Ray Reardon	5
	14	John Virgo	3
						3	Ray Reardon	3
						11	Jimmy White	5
	6	Eddie Charlton	2
	11	Jimmy White	5
											11	Jimmy White	6
											7	Kirk Stevens	4
	7	Kirk Stevens	5
	10	David Taylor	1
						7	Kirk Stevens	5
						2	Steve Davis	3
	2	Steve Davis	5
	15	Tony Meo	0

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: John Street Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 29 January 1984.
Jimmy White  England	9–5	Terry Griffiths  Wales
First session: 106–1, 85–16 (79), 59–51, 68–52, 77–16 (76), 60–66 (White 53), 24–96 (59), 8–71, 96–11, 65–13, 69–55, 7–71, 20–74, 67–41
79	Highest break	59
0	Century breaks	0
3	50+ breaks	1

Century breaks

Total: 6[4]

• 147, 105 Kirk Stevens
• 119, 113 Jimmy White
• 112 Ray Reardon
• 100 Doug Mountjoy

References

1. "Snooker - chance for Meo to take revenge". The Times. 21 January 1984. p. 21.
2. "1984 Masters Results". Snooker Database. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
3. "The Masters". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
4. "1984 Masters". CueTracker - Snooker Results and Statistics Database. Retrieved 19 January 2015.