Rankings revisit - a trip through history

Jimmy White won the 1987 British Open, beating Neal Foulds in the final.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_British_Open

Steve Davis was upset 5-4 in the last 32 by John Virgo. A good result for JV.
Another John, John Spencer, continued his recent return to form, reaching the quarter-finals where he lost to eventual champion White. The former number 1 had been as low as 68th in the rankings following the 1985 Grand Prix, but has been steadily climbing back up since then, and following this event finds himself up to 24th.

Stephen Hendry lost 5-2 to Eddie Sinclair in the last 96. He was helped by the players ranked 17 (Wayne Jones) and 18 (Meo) also losing early though and retains his top 16 place.

There we're too many suprises in the later rounds of the competition, with 4 of the top 5 contesting the semi-finals, and 2nd beating 4th in the final.

Foulds leapfrogs Thorburn and moves to number 3 in the rankings.

David Roe enters the top 64 for the first time.

QFs:
N Foulds (4) 5-3 Virgo (23)
Knowles (5) 5-4 Dennis Taylor (13)
White (2) 5-3 Spencer (27)
Thorburn (3) 5-3 David Taylor (40)

SFs:
Foulds (4) 9-2 Knowles (5)
White (2) 9-5 Thorburn (3)

Final:
White (2) 13-9 Foulds (4)

The top 16 going into the 1987 World Championship is as follows:

1. Davis
2. White
3. Foulds
4. Thorburn
5. Knowles
6. Griffiths
7. Thorne
8. Taylor
9. Johnson
10. Higgins
11. S Francisco
12. Parrott
13. Williams
14. P Francisco
15. Reynolds
16. Hendry

And here is the draw for the first round (seeds on the left)
Johnson (9) v Hughes (20)
Williams (13) v MacLeod (54)
Stevens (18) v Longworth (38)
Thorne (7) v Hendry (16)
Knowles (5) v Hallett (22)
S Francisco (11) v Campbell (32)
Foulds (3) v Virgo (19)
Dennis Taylor (8) v Mark Bennett (87)
Thorburn (4) v O'Kane (59)
Mountjoy (26) v David Taylor (30)
Meo (21) v Parrott (12)
White (2) v Reynolds (15)
Higgins (10) v Jon Wright (76)
Griffiths (6) v Wych (36)
Reardon (44) v West (35)
Davis (1) v King (27)

Peter Francisco is the only member of the top 16 not to have qualified, having lost 10-5 to Dene O'Kane in the final qualifying round.

If Jimmy White wins the World Championship and Steve Davis loses in the first round, Jimmy will become World Number 1!
This could be his year.

chengdufan wrote:If Jimmy White wins the World Championship and Steve Davis loses in the first round, Jimmy will become World Number 1!
This could be his year.

Well, sadly it was not to be. Steve Davis won the title again, beating defending champ Johnson in the final.

edit: link added:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Worl ... ampionship

There were a lot of surprises in the first round in '87.

Last 32:
Johnson (9) 10-9 Hughes (20)
Williams (13) 5-10 MacLeod (54)
Stevens (18) 4-10 Longworth (38)
Thorne (7) 7-10 Hendry (16)
Knowles (5) 6-10 Hallett (22)
S Francisco (11) 10-3 Campbell (32)
Foulds (3) 10-4 Virgo (19)
Dennis Taylor (8) 10-4 Mark Bennett (87)
Thorburn (4) 5-10 O'Kane (59)
Mountjoy (26) 10-5 David Taylor (30)
Meo (21) 8-10 Parrott (12)
White (2) 10-8 Reynolds (15)
Higgins (10) 10-6 Jon Wright (76)
Griffiths (6) 10-4 Wych (36)
Reardon (44) 10-5 West (35)
Davis (1) 10-7 King (27)

Last 16:
Johnson (9) 13-7 MacLeod (54)
Hendry (16) 13-7 Longworth (38)
Hallett (22) 13-9 S Francisco (11)
Foulds (3) 13-10 Dennis Taylor (8)
O'Kane (59) 13-5 Mountjoy (26)
White (2) 13-11 Parrott (12)
Griffiths (6) 13-10 Higgins (10)
Davis (1) 13-4 Reardon (44)

QFs:
Johnson (9) 13-12 Hendry (16)
Foulds (3) 13-9 Hallett (22)
White (2) 13-6 O'Kane (59)
Davis (1) 13-5 Griffiths (6)

SFs:
Johnson (9) 16-9 Foulds (3)
Davis (1) 16-11 White (2)

Final:
Davis (1) 18-14 Johnson (9)

So looking at the end of season rankings for 1986-87, I thought it might be interesting to see how many places each player has risen or fallen over the season. I've therefore added +- after their new rank.

1 (=) Steve Davis 28422
2 (+1) Jimmy White 22346
3 (+8) Neal Foulds 19533
4 (+2) Joe Johnson 14550
5 (-3) Cliff Thorburn 14479
6 (+4) Terry Griffiths 11085
7 (+37) Stephen Hendry 10880
8 (-1) Tony Knowles 10306
9 (+4) John Parrott 9937
10 (-6) Willie Thorne 9324
11 (-3) Alex Higgins 9050
12 (+7) Mike Hallett 8839
13 (+22) Dean Reynolds 8243
14 (-2) Silvino Francisco 8108
15 (-10) Dennis Taylor 7867
16 (-2) Rex Williams 7488
17 (=) Peter Francisco 6757
18 (-2) John Virgo 6683
19 (+31) John Spencer 6657
20 (+4) Eugene Hughes 6487
21 (+8) Warren King 6378
22 (+16) Wayne Jones 6236
23 (+22) Dene O'Kane 6033
24 (+36) Tony Drago 5878
25 (-2) Danny Fowler 5598
26 (-8) Doug Mountjoy 5464
27 (-18) Kirk Stevens 5440
28 (-13) Tony Meo 5318
29 (-3) Steve Longworth 5028
30 (+4) Barry West 4916
31 (+1) David Taylor 4837
32 (-2) Eddie Charlton 4595
33 (+10) Tommy Murphy 4588
34 (-14) John Campbell 4557
35 (-13) Tony Jones 4520
36 (-11) Steve Newbury 4424
37 (-10) Jim Wych 4410
38 (+2) Cliff Wilson 4318
39 (+16) Graham Cripsey 4185
40 (+11) Steve Duggan 4151
41 (-10) Ray Edmonds 4054
42 (=) Tony Chappel 4036
43 (-15) Murdo MacLeod 3907
44 (+2) Bob Chaperon 3870
45 (-4) Dave Martin 3845
46 (+17) Joe O'Boye 3755
47 NEW Jon Wright 3731
48 (+8) Jack McLaughlin 3483
49 (-28) Ray Reardon 3458
50 (-14) Paul Medati 3366
51 NEW Mark Bennett 3349
52 (-19) Marcel Gauvreau 3279
53 (-14) Malcolm Bradley 3204
54 (+10) Bob Harris 3121
55 (-1) Les Dodd 3087
56 NEW Ken Owers 3084
57 (+20) Colin Roscoe 3061
58 (+15) Bill Oliver 3031
59 (+7) Mario Morra 2906
60 (-23) Bill Werbeniuk 2904
61 (+1) John Rea 2904
62 (+10) Eddie Sinclair 2865
63 (-11) Graham Miles 2808
64 (-6) Jimmy van Rensberg 2636
65 (-18) Paddy Browne 2576
66 (+1) Matt Gibson 2544
67 NEW David Roe 2523
68 (-6) Dave Gilbert 2442
69 (-10) George Scott 2435
70 (-1) Geoff Foulds 2416
71 (-18) Robby Foldvari 2349
72 (+3) Mark Wildman 2343
73 (+14) Jim Bear 2324
74 (-9) Bernie Mikkelsen 2223
75 (+42) Robbie Grace 2037
76 (+8) Mike Darrington 2028
77 (+4) Tony Kearney 1974
78 (-4) Ian Williamson 1971
79 (-8) Gino Rigitano 1945
80 (-23) Fred Davis 1919
81 (-33) Roger Bales 1911
82 (-24) Vic Harris 1883
83 NEW Steve James 1853
84 (-1) Dessie Sheehan 1777
85 NEW Nigel Gilbert 1751
86 (+14) Greg Jenkins 1619
87 (-7) Ian Black 1562
88 (+11) Glen Wilkinson 1548
89 (-4) Paul Watchorn 1546
90 (+7) Billy Kelly 1523
91 (=) Pat Houlihan 1439
92 (-22) Jim Donnelly 1418
93 (-3) Frank Jonik 1403
94 (+4) Jim Meadowcroft 1384
95 NEW Brian Rowswell 1344
96 (-18) Perrie Mans 1298
97 (-2) Martin Smith 1254
98 (-49) Patsy Fagan 1251
99 NEW Paul Gibson 1247
100 (-24) Sakchai Sim Ngam 1218
101 (-19) Jack Fitzmaurice 1211
102 (+1) John Dunning 1201
103 (-7) Mick Fisher 1188
104 (-12) Mike Watterson 1175
105 (-26) John Hargreaves 1112
106 (-4) David Greaves 1080
107 (-18) Dennis Hughes 1014
108 (-14) Pascal Burke 1001
109 (-21) Omprakash Agrawal 969
110 (+11) Jim Rempe 941
111 (+7) Jackie Rea 746
112 (-11) Paul Thornley 696
113 (-2) Derek Mienie 678
114 (-21) Dave Chalmers 600
115 (-29) Eddie McLaughlin 561
116 (-12) Bert Demarco 526
117 (-3) Maurice Parkin 520
118 NEW Terry Whitthread 517
119 (-6) Ian Anderson 456
120 NEW Francois Ellis 350
121 (-11) Clive Everton 280
122 (-14) Bernard Bennett 264
123 (-16) Mike Hines 228
124 (-5) Joe Cagianello 208
125 (-17) Paddy Morgan 192
126 (-10) Gerry Watson 146
127 (-16) Doug French 29
128 (-13) James Giannaros 18

Dropped off:
Roy Andrewartha
Leon Heywood
Paul Mifsud
George Ganim

Players drop out of the rankings if they have not won a frame within the last two years.

Of the new nationalities from 1985-86:
Jim Rempe has only played in the World Championship. In '87 he won two matches before losing to Stephen Hendry.
Sakchai Sim Ngam had quite a few wins in his first season, but didn't play in the second season.
Omprakash Agrawal also won some matches in his first season. He tended to lose to nil in his second season, and didn't enter the last 2-3 events.

SnookerEd25 wrote:Wow, John Spencer really did have a renaissance around the mid-80s didn't he?

Are you able to summarise the good runs / scalps he had around this time?

His main runs were at the '86 UK Championship:
L96: 9-6 v Foldvari
L64: 9-5 v Cliff Wilson
L32: 9-4 v Kirk Stevens
L16: 2-9 v Thorburn

And the '87 British Open:
L64: 5-1 v Meo
L32: 5-2 v Dave Martin
L16: 5-3 v Joe Johnson
QF: 3-5 v Jimmy

He also beat Willie Thorne in the '87 Classic:
L64: 5-3 Thorne

Over the 86-87 season, my rankings correctly predicted 204/289 matchups between the real ranking top 64, good for over 70%

The real rankings correctly predicted 186/289, 64%.

I'm happy to see of course that this very raw stat shows my rankings are holding up ok. It would require much more in depth analysis to assess the rankings more seriously.

I'll probably have another look at analysis in the 2010s. I find it pretty boring to crunch these numbers though to be honest, so will just keep looking at event to event to update the rankings for now.


Something I've been thinking about for the future (much bigger data sample needed...) will be to have rankings which predict the future with more accuracy.
Player A is ranked 20th now. And player B is ranked 22nd. So player A should win, right? Well not if the data analysis predicts that after the next event, player B will rise to 18th, and player A will drop to 24th...

I will be taking a break from this project for the next few days. I have to travel for work tomorrow and won't be back till late on Saturday.

Just in case anyone wonders if I've given up. No! The data is on my desktop computer at home. Won't be transferring it to work laptop...

I may be going outside in the evenings. I've been hearing about this thing called 'fresh air'. Might give it a try.
If any of you have been to Lanzhou and can recommend things to do, please let me know. I haven't been there before.

We've had 34 ranking events so far. Here are the winners:

Steve Davis 13 ('81 WC; '83 WC; '83 IO; '84 Cl; '84 WC; '84 IO; '84 UK; '85 GP; '85 UK; '86 BO; '86 UK; '87 Cl '87 WC)
Ray Reardon 5 ('74 WC; '75 WC; '76 WC; '78 WC; '82 PPT)
Jimmy White 3 ('86 Cl; '86 GP '87 BO)
Cliff Thorburn 2 ('80 WC; '85 MT)
Tony Knowles 2 ('82 IO; '83 PPT)
Dennis Taylor 2 ('84 GP; '85 WC)
John Spencer 1 ('77 WC)
Terry Griffiths 1 ('79 WC)
Alex Higgins 1 ('82 WC)
Willie Thorne 1 ('85 Cl)
Silvino Francisco 1 ('85 BO)
Joe Johnson 1 ('86 WC)
Neal Foulds 1 ('86 IO)

chengdufan wrote:The rankings have been revised following the conclusion of each ranking event and the following players have held the no.1 spot so far:

Ray Reardon 25/04/74-29/04/77

John Spencer 30/04/77-28/04/78

Ray Reardon 29/04/78-27/04/79

Terry Griffiths 28/04/79-04/05/80

Alex Higgins 05/05/80-20/04/81

Steve Davis 21/04/81-15/05/82

Ray Reardon 16/05/82-01/05/83

Tony Knowles 02/05/83-08/10/83

Steve Davis 09/10/83-20/10/83

Tony Knowles 21/10/83-14/01/84

Steve Davis 15/01/84-present (05/05/86)

No change to this other than the present date (now 04/05/87). Steve stayed top throughout the 86-87 season.

Can anyone catch him in 87-88? Hendry perhaps? Jimmy? Maybe Joe Johnson is in with a shout having been in the last two World Championship finals...

The 1987-88 season began with the International Open.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_International_Open

9 new players entered this event:
Martin Clark (b.1968); Gary Wilkinson (b.1966); Jim Chambers (b.1957); Steve Meakin (b.1961); Robert Marshall (b.1964); Eric Lawlor (b.1937) (!!); Anthony Harris (b.1968); Jason Smith (b.1964); Derek Heaton (b.1948)

Eric Lawlor looks to be an interesting one, turning pro at 50! Does anyone know his story?

The big suprises in this were Martin Clark thrashing Dennis Taylor 5-0 in the last 32, and Mike Hallett knocking out Jimmy White in the last 16, winning 5-4. Hallett was on a high though after his good run at the World Championship, and Taylor had been out of form for the last year, so perhaps these results weren't ... that surprising.

Davis won another ranker, beating Thorburn comfortably in the final.

Alex Higgins, banned for 6 months, didn't play.

Here were the results from the quarter-finals onwards:

QFs:
Hendry (7) 5-2 O'Boye (46)
Thorburn (5) 5-1 Hughes (20)
Hallett (12) 5-4 Charlton (32)
S Davis (1) 5-2 Virgo (18)

SFs:
Thorburn (5) 9-1 Hendry (7)
Davis (1) 9-3 Hallett (12)

Final:
Davis (1) 12-5 Thorburn (5)

The 1987 Grand Prix was held in Reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Grand_Prix_(snooker)

Stephen Hendry won his first ranking title! He beat Dennis Taylor in the final, who had a welcome return to form. Hendry's best result though was probably beating Steve Davis 5-2 in the last 32.
Interestingly, Hendry only made one century break in the competition.
Tony Drago beat Jimmy White 5-3 in the last 32. And t here was only one 50+ break in that match. Johnny Bravo would have dominated in the '80s!

So after 2 events in 87-88, Steve Davis remains at number 1 in the rankings.
Hendry has moved up from 7th to 4th.
Peter Francisco is back in the top 16, in place of John Virgo.
Joe O'Boye has jumped 15 places, up to 31st.
Kirk Stevens is now all the way down at 40th. He has had a serious dive down the rankings in the last year.
Steve James is now knocking on the door of the toip 64 at 67th.
New players Martin Clark and Gary Wilkinson have already had some quite impressive results and have quickly reached 73rd and 75th in the rankings respectively.
Clive Everton and Bernard Bennett, who for years have been winning only a few frames per tournament, are now outside the top 128.

QFs:
P Francisco (24) 5-3 Thorne (13)
Dennis Taylor (15) 5-2 Newbury (30)
Parrott (9) 5-2 Chaperon (38)
Hendry (6) 5-2 Knowles (10)

SFs:
Taylor (15) 9-4 Francisco (24)
Hendry (6) 9-7 Parrott (9)

Final:
Hendry (6) 10-7 Taylor (15)

chengdufan wrote:Eric Lawlor looks to be an interesting one, turning pro at 50! Does anyone know his story?

I found this:
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport ... or-3025234

The 1987 UK Championship took place at the Guild Hall in Preston in November.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_UK_Championship

Numbers 1 and 2 in the world met in the final, with number 1 Steve Davis prevailing over Jimmy White. Davis compiled 5 century breaks in the final, but none in any of the earlier rounds.

Dean Reynolds and Dene O'Kane have been two of the most inconsistent players over the last few years, with deep runs punctuating surprising early round exits. Following the '87 UK, O'Kane replaces Reynolds in the top 16.

Stephen Hendry lost 9-7 to Canadian Jim Wych in the last 64 and drops one place to 5th as a result. Wych is now in 23rd, around 1000 points outside the top 16.

Neal Foulds has only won one match so far this season, against Paul Gibson. He has lost to Martin Clark, Stephen Hendry, and Danny Fowler. He keeps his number 3 ranking for now though following his stellar 86-87 season.

L16:
S Davis (1) 9-2 Higgins (14)
Parrott (7) 9-4 Knowles (10)
Thorne (13) 9-7 O'Kane (18)
Thorburn (5) 9-4 Campbell (47)
Hallett (9) 9-4 Fowler (26)
Johnson (6) 9-4 Chappel (36)
Griffiths (8) 9-3 S Francisco (12)
White (2) 9-5 Roe (44)

QFs:
Davis (1) 9-5 Parrott (7)
Thorne (7) 9-8 Thorburn (5)
Johnson (6) 9-7 Hallett (9)
White (2) 9-7 Griffiths (8)

SFs:
Davis (1) 9-2 Thorne (7)
White (2) 9-4 Johnson (6)

Final:
Davis (1) 16-14 White (2)

The fourth event of the 87-88 season was the 1988 Classic, again held in Blackpool in January.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Classic_(snooker)

Steve Davis won another final. This time beating number 7 John Parrott 13-11.

Dave Martin caused a big upset in the last 32, winning 5-2 against Jimmy White. He moves up 18 places in the rankings from 67 to 49.
Also rising significantly was Martin Clark, going up 18 spots from 62 to 44. New on tour, he and Gary Wilkinson (ranked 60) have been causing a stir.

Parrott and Hendry move up to 3rd and 4th in the rankings, with Foulds and Thorburn dropping to 5th and 6th.
Alex Higgins, not helped by missing two events through suspension, is out of the top-16. He and O'Kane are replaced by John Virgo and the in-form Steve Newbury.

Cliff Wilson is having a good season and is up to 33rd.

One of my new favourite players, Eric Lawlor, is already in the top 100 in the rankings.

QFs:
S Davis (1) 5-3 Hendry (5)
Newbury (21) 5-4 Griffiths (8)
Knowles (11) 5-1 Martin (67)
Parrott (7) 5-1 Dennis Taylor (12)

SFs:
Davis (1) 9-2 Newbury (21)
Parrott (7) 9-4 Knowles (11)

Final:
Davis (1) 13-11 Parrott (7)

The 1988 British Open was held in the Assembly Rooms in Derby.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_British_Open

There was a big shock in the last 64, with Steve Davis losing 5-0 to Ray Reardon, who by that stage had been on the decline for quite some time. I'm not sure if Steve just had an off day, Ray played like the Ray of old, or it was a bit of both.

Stephen Hendry picked off most of the main contenders on his way to victory, beating the likes of Terry Griffiths, Jimmy White and Cliff Thorburn, before dominating the final, beating Mike Hallett 13-2.

In the rankings, Dene O'Kane's good run took him back into the top 16, with fellow top-16 yo-yo player John Virgo dropping out.
Joe O'Boye played well and leaped 12 places up to number 22.

QFs:
Hendry (4) 5-4 White (2)
Thorburn (6) 5-2 Williams (31)
Parrott (3) 5-4 O'Kane (18)
Hallett (10) 5-4 O'Boye (34)

SFs:
Hendry (4) 9-5 Thorburn (6)
Hallett (10) 9-8 Parrott (3)

Final:
Hendry (4) 13-2 Hallett (10)

So here is the top 16 heading into the 1988 World Championship:

1 Steve Davis
2 Jimmy White
3 Stephen Hendry
4 John Parrott
5 Cliff Thorburn
6 Neal Foulds
7 Joe Johnson
8 Mike Hallett
9 Terry Griffiths
10 Tony Knowles
11 Dennis Taylor
12 Dene O'Kane
13 Willie Thorne
14 Silvino Francisco
15 Steve Newbury
16 Peter Francisco

And here is the first round draw, with seeded players on the left:
Steve Davis (1) v John Virgo (17)
Mike Hallett (8) v Bob Chaperon (28)
Alex Higgins (19) v Tony Drago (34)
Dennis Taylor (11) v Bill Werbeniuk (70)
Joe Johnson (7) v Cliff Wilson (36)
Rex Williams (31) v Steve James (48)
John Parrott (4) v Warren King (30)
Cliff Thorburn (5) v Kirk Stevens (57)
Neal Foulds (6) v Wayne Jones (27)
Doug Mountjoy (53) v Barry West (44)
Willie Thorne (13) v Peter Francisco (16)
Terry Griffiths (9) v Steve Longworth (39)
Tony Knowles (10) v Danny Fowler (20)
Silvino Francisco (14) v Eddie Charlton (33)
Dean Reynolds (25) v Stephen Hendry (3)
Jimmy White (2) v John Campbell (47)

2 top 16 players failed to qualify. Dene O'Kane lost 10-9 to Eddie Sinclair in the last 96, while Steve Newbury lost 10-8 to Barry West in the final qualifying round.
Stephen Hendry had to qualify, despite winning two of the five ranking events so far this season.

The 1988 World Championship was held at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Worl ... ampionship

Steve Davis won his fifth world title, defeating Terry Griffiths 18-11 in the final.
Numbers 2 and 3 in the world met in the last 16, with Jimmy White beating Hendry in a decider. This match-up would surely have been more worthy of a semi-final or final.

Tony Drago and Steve James were the surprise packages of the tournament, both progressing to the quarter-finals.

Two players played in a ranking event for the first time. Steve Mizerak and Alain Robidoux both lost their first match.

Following the Championship, the top 5 in the rankings remained unchanged.
Griffiths rose from 9th to 6th.
Danny Fowler and John Virgo entered the top 16 in place of Franciscos Silvino and Peter.
Steve James climbed 31 places, from 48th to 17th.
Bill Werbeniuk rose 25 spots, from 70th to 45th.

Here were the results:

L32:
Steve Davis (1) 10-8 John Virgo (17)
Mike Hallett (8) 10-2 Bob Chaperon (28)
Alex Higgins (19) 2-10 Tony Drago (34)
Dennis Taylor (11) 10-8 Bill Werbeniuk (70)
Joe Johnson (7) 10-7 Cliff Wilson (36)
Rex Williams (31) 6-10 Steve James (48)
John Parrott (4) 10-4 Warren King (30)
Cliff Thorburn (5) 10-6 Kirk Stevens (57)
Neal Foulds (6) 10-7 Wayne Jones (27)
Doug Mountjoy (53) 10-6 Barry West (44)
Willie Thorne (13) 10-6 Peter Francisco (16)
Terry Griffiths (9) 10-1 Steve Longworth (39)
Tony Knowles (10) 10-8 Danny Fowler (20)
Silvino Francisco (14) 7-10 Eddie Charlton (33)
Dean Reynolds (25) 6-10 Stephen Hendry (3)
Jimmy White (2) 10-3 John Campbell (47)

L16:
Davis (1) 13-1 Hallett (8)
Drago (34) 13-5 Taylor (11)
James (48) 13-9 Johnson (7)
Thorburn (5) 13-10 Parrott (4)
Foulds (6) 13-1 Mountjoy (53)
Griffiths (9) 13-9 Thorne (13)
Knowles (10) 13-7 Charlton (33)
White (2) 13-12 Hendry (3)

QFs:
Davis (1) 13-4 Drago (34)
Thorburn (5) 13-11 James (48)
Griffiths (9) 13-9 Foulds (6)
White (2) 13-6 Knowles (10)

SFs:
Davis (1) 16-8 Thorburn (5)
Griffiths (9) 16-11 White (2)

Final:
Davis (1) 18-11 Griffiths (9)

Here are the end of season rankings for the 1987-88 season, with the rise or fall since the end of the 86-87 season in brackets:

1 (=) Steve Davis 31074
2 (=) Jimmy White 21016
3 (+4) Stephen Hendry 17846
4 (+5) John Parrott 16230
5 (=) Cliff Thorburn 15012
6 (=) Terry Griffiths 14886
7 (-4) Neal Foulds 12706
8 (-4) Joe Johnson 12517
9 (+3) Mike Hallett 11404
10 (-2) Tony Knowles 10384
11 (-1) Willie Thorne 8256
12 (+3) Dennis Taylor 7800
13 (+10) Dene O'Kane 7509
14 (+22) Steve Newbury 7456
15 (+10) Danny Fowler 7112
16 (+2) John Virgo 7022
17 (+66) Steve James 6894
18 (-1) Peter Francisco 6797
19 (-5) Silvino Francisco 6769
20 (+4) Tony Drago 6181
21 (+1) Wayne Jones 6021
22 (+20) Tony Chappel 5789
23 (-12) Alex Higgins 5712
24 (-3) Warren King 5664
25 (+42) David Roe 5658
26 (+6) Eddie Charlton 5440
27 (+17) Bob Chaperon 5404
28 (-15) Dean Reynolds 5308
29 (-10) John Spencer 5042
30 (+7) Jim Wych 4962
31 (+2) Tommy Murphy 4909
32 (-12) Eugene Hughes 4891
33 (+6) Graham Cripsey 4828
34 (+12) Joe O'Boye 4816
35 (+3) Cliff Wilson 4719
36 (-6) Barry West 4709
37 (+14) Mark Bennett 4512
38 (+9) Jon Wright 4481
39 (-10) Steve Longworth 4445
40 NEW Martin Clark 4340
41 (+17) Bill Oliver 4331
42 (-8) John Campbell 4279
43 (-8) Tony Jones 4166
44 (+27) Robby Foldvari 4100
45 (+15) Bill Werbeniuk 4036
46 (+3) Ray Reardon 4009
47 (-20) Kirk Stevens 3991
48 (-7) Ray Edmonds 3901
49 (-33) Rex Williams 3899
50 (-19) David Taylor 3833
51 (-15) Doug Mountjoy 3678
52 (+45) Martin Smith 3594
53 (+32) Nigel Gilbert 3561
54 (+3) Colin Roscoe 3476
55 (-9) Dave Martin 3476
56 (-16) Steve Duggan 3447
57 (+2) Mario Morra 3443
58 (-2) Ken Owers 3379
59 (+40) Paul Gibson 3354
60 (-32) Tony Meo 3343
61 NEW Gary Wilkinson 3327
62 (-7) Les Dodd 3204
63 (+10) Jim Bear 3153
64 (-2) Eddie Sinclair 3093
65 (-2) Graham Miles 3079
66 (+2) Dave Gilbert 3059
67 (+28) Brian Rowswell 2963
68 (-25) Murdo MacLeod 2950
69 (-19) Paul Medati 2907
70 (-10) John Rea 2902
71 (-18) Malcolm Bradley 2573
72 (-18) Bob Harris 2537
73 (-21) Marcel Gauvreau 2325
74 (+8) Vic Harris 2262
75 (-11) Jimmy van Rensberg 2231
76 (+2) Ian Williamson 2134
77 (+3) Fred Davis 2107
78 (-30) Jack McLaughlin 2026
79 (=) Gino Rigitano 2021
80 (-8) Mark Wildman 1993
81 (+13) Jim Meadowcroft 1943
82 (+7) Paul Watchorn 1870
83 (-17) Matt Gibson 1867
84 (+8) Jim Donnelly 1806
85 NEW Jim Chambers 1797
86 (-25) Paddy Browne 1787
87 (+1) Glen Wilkinson 1696
88 (-19) George Scott 1695
89 (-13) Mike Darrington 1666
90 (=) Billy Kelly 1562
91 (+12) Mick Fisher 1557
92 (+10) John Dunning 1550
93 (-23) Geoff Foulds 1533
94 NEW Eric Lawlor 1496
95 (-11) Dessie Sheehan 1475
96 (-21) Robbie Grace 1448
97 (-20) Tony Kearney 1398
98 (-24) Bernie Mikkelsen 1334
99 (-18) Roger Bales 1300
100 (-14) Greg Jenkins 1241
101 NEW Anthony Harris 1236
102 (-9) Frank Jonik 1218
103 (-2) Jack Fitzmaurice 1151
104 (-13) Pat Houlihan 1139
105 (+6) Jackie Rea 1091
106 (-19) Ian Black 1072
107 (+11) Terry Whitthread 1037
108 (-1) Dennis Hughes 1024
109 (+5) Dave Chalmers 965
110 NEW Steve Meakin 883
111 (-5) David Greaves 825
112 (-2) Jim Rempe 810
113 (-5) Patsy Fagan 761
114 NEW Jason Smith 755
115 (-7) Pascal Burke 715
116 (+4) Francois Ellis 708
117 (-13) Mike Watterson 700
118 (-6) Paul Thornley 679
119 (=) Ian Anderson 623
120 (-15) John Hargreaves 505
121 (=) Clive Everton 423
122 NEW Robert Marshall 414
123 (-10) Derek Mienie 394
124 (-7) Maurice Parkin 378
125 (-29) Perrie Mans 371
126 NEW Derek Heaton 363
127 (-11) Bert Demarco 308
128 (-19) Omprakash Agrawal 232
129 (-29) Sakchai Sim Ngam 219
130 (-8) Bernard Bennett 198
131 (-16) Eddie McLaughlin 139
132 (-8) Joe Cagianello 126
133 NEW Alain Robidoux 80
134 (-11) Mike Hines 76
135 (-10) Paddy Morgan 64
136 NEW Steve Mizerak 40

Dropped off:
Gerry Watson
Doug French
James Giannaros

We've had 40 ranking events so far. Here are the winners:

Steve Davis 17 ('81 WC; '83 WC; '83 IO; '84 Cl; '84 WC; '84 IO; '84 UK; '85 GP; '85 UK; '86 BO; '86 UK; '87 Cl; '87 WC; '87 IO; '87 UK; '88 Cl; '88 WC)
Ray Reardon 5 ('74 WC; '75 WC; '76 WC; '78 WC; '82 PPT)
Jimmy White 3 ('86 Cl; '86 GP '87 BO)
Cliff Thorburn 2 ('80 WC; '85 MT)
Tony Knowles 2 ('82 IO; '83 PPT)
Dennis Taylor 2 ('84 GP; '85 WC)
Stephen Hendry 2 ('87 GP; '88 BO)
John Spencer 1 ('77 WC)
Terry Griffiths 1 ('79 WC)
Alex Higgins 1 ('82 WC)
Willie Thorne 1 ('85 Cl)
Silvino Francisco 1 ('85 BO)
Joe Johnson 1 ('86 WC)
Neal Foulds 1 ('86 IO)

The rankings have been revised following the conclusion of each ranking event and the following players have held the no.1 spot so far:

Ray Reardon 25/04/74-29/04/77

John Spencer 30/04/77-28/04/78

Ray Reardon 29/04/78-27/04/79

Terry Griffiths 28/04/79-04/05/80

Alex Higgins 05/05/80-20/04/81

Steve Davis 21/04/81-15/05/82

Ray Reardon 16/05/82-01/05/83

Tony Knowles 02/05/83-08/10/83

Steve Davis 09/10/83-20/10/83

Tony Knowles 21/10/83-14/01/84

Steve Davis 15/01/84-present (02/05/88)

chengdufan wrote:Jimmy White won the 1987 British Open, beating Neal Foulds in the final.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_British_Open

Steve Davis was upset 5-4 in the last 32 by John Virgo. A good result for JV.
Another John, John Spencer, continued his recent return to form, reaching the quarter-finals where he lost to eventual champion White. The former number 1 had been as low as 68th in the rankings following the 1985 Grand Prix, but has been steadily climbing back up since then, and following this event finds himself up to 24th.

Stephen Hendry lost 5-2 to Eddie Sinclair in the last 96. He was helped by the players ranked 17 (Wayne Jones) and 18 (Meo) also losing early though and retains his top 16 place.

There we're too many suprises in the later rounds of the competition, with 4 of the top 5 contesting the semi-finals, and 2nd beating 4th in the final.

Foulds leapfrogs Thorburn and moves to number 3 in the rankings.

David Roe enters the top 64 for the first time.

QFs:
N Foulds (4) 5-3 Virgo (23)
Knowles (5) 5-4 Dennis Taylor (13)
White (2) 5-3 Spencer (27)
Thorburn (3) 5-3 David Taylor (40)

SFs:
Foulds (4) 9-2 Knowles (5)
White (2) 9-5 Thorburn (3)

Final:
White (2) 13-9 Foulds (4)

I love this thread. Brilliant memories

The 1988-89 season will have the now familiar 6 ranking events:
The International Open
The Grand Prix
The UK Championship
The Classic
The British Open
The World Championship

Excitingly though, there are two additional ranking events to now look forward to:
The Canadian Masters
The European Open

This brings us up to eight ranking events this season!!

We have ten new players on tour who are all under 30. Most are in their early 20s:
Alain Robidoux (b.1960)
Mark Johnston-Allen (b.1968)
Mick Price (b.1966)
Tony Wilson (b.1964)
Steve Campbell (b.1966)
Darren Morgan (b.1966)
Nick Terry (b.1967)
Craig Edwards (b.1968)
Ian Graham (b.1967)
Mark Rowing (b.1966)

'Isle of Man' is the only new nationality.

My VPN is blocked at the moment. It happens occasionally and should be back up within a few days.
For now though I can't access Wikipedia, so my tournament links will be to cuetracker rather than Wiki. Cuetracker has more accurate results and includes the qualifying matches, but I prefer linking Wiki because of its tournament summaries. Hi ho.

The 1988 International Open took place at Trentham Gardens in Stoke.

https://cuetracker.net/tournaments/inte ... n/1988/599

For some reason, Cliff Thorburn didn't play. Does anyone know why?

The top two, Davis and White, met in the final once again. And again, Davis won. This means of the last 7 rankers, Steve has won 5, with Hendry winning the other 2.

The biggest shock was recent WC runner-up Terry Griffiths losing 5-0 to Jim Wych in the last 64.
There was also a last 16 upset, with Steve James having a great 5-2 win over Hendry. He moves into the top 16 for the first time, taking Virgo's place.

Dean Reynolds had a good run, beating Tony Jones, Neal Foulds, John Spencer and Joe Johnson on his way to the semis.

Of the new players, Mick Price and Mark Johnston-Allen did well. But the best run was by Alain Robidoux, who won three matches before losing in a decider to Steve Davis in the last 32.

QFs:
Davis (1) 5-2 Dennis Taylor (12)
James (17) 5-1 Meo (60)
Reynolds (28) 5-1 Johnson (8)
White (2) 5-2 West (36)

SFs:
Davis (1) 9-1 James (17)
White (2) 9-5 Reynolds (28)

Final:
Davis (1) 12-6 White (2)

1988 International Open Wikipedia:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_International_Open