In the 50 year history of the Masters, only six players have lifted the trophy more than twice: Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Mark Selby, Steve Davis, Paul Hunter and Cliff Thorburn.
Canada’s Thorburn had an extraordinary career, winning the World Championship in 1980 and making the first Crucible 147 in 1983 amid many other great achievements. And he ranks his trio of Masters crowns very close to the top. He beat Ray Reardon in the 1983 final, Doug Mountjoy in 1985 and Jimmy White in 1986.
Having turned 77 this month, Thorburn is the oldest living Masters champion, and the only surviving player other than Rex Williams from the inaugural 1975 event. The Grinder still enjoys coming to London for the tournament and he was at Alexandra Palace last week. We caught up with the popular Toronto man to look back on his involvement with the Masters over half a century….
The elite feel of the Masters
“Right away I knew the Masters was special, particularly once it moved to Wembley Conference Centre in 1979. The venue was vast and the crowds were huge, sometimes over 2,800. When it was packed out it was something wonderful. When I played one of the crowd favourites like Jimmy White or Alex Higgins, it was like being a Russian ice hockey player in Canada, I was the outsider. But most of the time they were respectful. The table was in a huge area, if you missed a ball it felt like a long walk back to your seat. If your opponent missed, you’d be virtually running to the table to see what he had left you. It was a fabulous arena to play in. The sponsors at the time put a lot into it. Everything was gold, including the set and the trophy. Often the people in the first two rows would wear tuxedos. I used to call it the Grand-Daddy of snooker tournaments. It wasn’t the World Championship of course – that was something different and nothing can match the feeling of going to Sheffield. But the Masters always had that elite character because it was just the top 16 players and everything was so beautifully presented. And of course it was always in London which is one of the world’s great cities. It's still the same today, the Masters stands out. You have to rise to the occasion. It’s a reward for getting into the top 16. If you’ve won the Masters, you’ve really done something. It’s a different deal to any other tournament apart from the World Championship. The pressure in the final is as big as it gets outside the Crucible. I won the Canadian Open four times and of course that meant a lot to me. That was my own Triple Crown – the World, Masters and Canadian.”
Coming back to Ally Pally
“It’s great to see friends like Dennis Taylor and John Virgo. I know snooker has moved on, but it’s also important to have a connection to our past and to honour the great players. It’s a wonderful game and we have a great history and I like the fact that we keep some traditions. The people have changed now, but the game is still more or less the same. Alexandra Palace is an awesome venue. I just wish it wasn’t such a long walk down the hill. And even longer to get back up! I like the way you can have dinner and watch the matches. And the practice area where the fans can see what’s going on – that’s great. The BBC do an amazing job, Hazel is still there and I hope she does it for another 20 years.”
Kirk Stevens’ 147 in 1984
“I was defending champion that year but I lost in the first round to John Spencer. I was disappointed but I stuck around, and when Kirk played Jimmy in the semi-finals I wanted to be there. The actor Donald Sutherland was in town and he had heard there was a Canadian playing, so he got in touch and he came along, it was his first time watching snooker. I met him in the sponsors lounge before the game and we had a glass of wine, I was so thrilled to meet him. Towards the end he went to find his seat in the arena, and the first frame he saw was Kirk making a 147, which is one of the best 147s of all time, and the crowd went wild. After that, I went in to try to find Donald, looked around for him, and he had gone. So the only frame he ever watched live was Kirk’s 147! I guess he thought that kind of thing happened all the time.”
Cliff’s favourite modern players
“I love watching Judd Trump. I’m glad he has learned more about the game and he has got something to fall back on now when he’s not at his best. He still plays impossible shots and he’s great under pressure. I think he works very hard. There was a time in my career where I didn’t want to go to bed because I enjoyed practicing so much, and I couldn’t wait to wake up and start again. And I think Judd’s got that enthusiasm now. I also enjoy watching Jack Lisowski and Ali Carter, partly because they have had to overcome serious health issues and shown a lot of character. And I got to know Gary Wilson so I was really happy for him to win a few titles. Ronnie is Ronnie of course – I don’t need to say any more because we all know how good he is. Alongside John Higgins and Mark Williams they have done so much for snooker, but they can’t go on forever. I also lean towards the international players like Ding Junhui and Neil Robertson because I know what a commitment they have made. I really wanted Ding to win the World Championship when he got to the final a few years ago. The players are better now of course, but they still play bad shots, they are human. We played on tougher tables. And sometimes we couldn’t practise before a match. I remember in Sheffield during the early days of the World Championship at the Crucible, there were no practice tables so Alex Higgins used to go to a bar which had a table. He thought the balls were too cold so he would put them in a pie machine to warm them up. It was a different world. But I’m happy for the players of today, they have so many great tournaments.”
Respect for the Whirlwind
“During the 1986 final, Jimmy White became my favourite player. I can’t remember the exact score, but towards the end of the final, he was 30 or 40 points up in a frame when he called a foul on himself that no one else had seen. I ended up winning the frame and the match. The crowd were usually fair with me. But if they got a bit rowdy, he would put his hand up and stop them. That’s the kind of guy Jimmy was, and still is now. He really wanted to beat me, but he wanted it to be fair. And he always played his natural game, he didn’t change it against me. To beat him in that final was a real treat.”