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Snooker World Records

Here are the (unofficial) snooker world records that I have collected. If you notice any errors or know of any other records, please let me know.

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.

Reanne Evans (b. 25 Oct 1985) has won 12 Women's World Championships, 2005-2014, 2016, 2019

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 Michael White (Wales) (b. 5 Aug 1991) who was 14 yr 210 days when he won the World Amateur Snooker Championships in Prestatyn, Wales on 3 Mar 2006. 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.

Oldest

In 2022 Ronnie O'Sullivan became the oldest world champion at 46 years and 148 days. Beating the previous record of 45 years and 203 days by Ray Reardon in 1978.

Highest Breaks

See also John Kobylecky's One Hundred (& more) Years of Memorable Achievements in Snooker History (1919-2023) which documents incidences of 147s, three centuries in three frames and three centuries in four frames

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 in an under-16 series match against Chris Piech at the Potters Club in Coalville on 13 Mar 2004. (Not recognised by Guinness World Records as it wasn't an open-age competition)

The official Guinness Book of World Records holder is Sean Maddocks from Liverpool, England. He was 15 yr 90 days old when he made the max on 8 July 2017, during a last 32 match against Jake Nicholson at the LITEtask Pro-Am Series in Leeds, England. Source: WPBSA

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.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has the most maximums in the professional game with 15 ahead of John Higgins on 13 and Stephen Hendry on 11. See the full list of players with maximums.

O'Sullivan's latest came at the 2018 English Open, in the last frame of a last-64 match against Allan Taylor (England).

Stephen Hendry became the first to make more than two tournament 147s. 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, his eighth on 25 Feb 2001 in the final of the 2001 Rothmans Grand Prix, his ninth on 28 Apr 2009 in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Betfred.com World Championship, his 10th in the second round of the 2011 Wyldecrest Park Homes Welsh Open and his 11th in the first round of the 2012 Betfred.com World Championship!

Leo Levitt was the first amateur to achieve the maximum break, in november 1948 at the Windsor 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 the World Junior Championship in Iceland (June 1989) Gary Hill made a maximum break at the age of 20 years 8 months and became the youngest player to achieve this in a WPBSA recognised competion.

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.

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jimmy White made 147s in consecutive frames during an exhibition in Ireland, in January 2009.

Peter Ebdon made 147s in two consecutive frames during an exhibition match against Steve Davis in 2003.

Nutcharut Wongharuthai (Thailand) is the first woman known to have made a 147 in a match. She did this in a practice match at the Hi-End Snooker Club 11 March 2019. Watch it on YouTube. Read more on World Women's Snooker.

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.

Steve Duggan (b. 10 Apr 1958) made a witnessed break of 148 against Mark Rowing in a local handicap tournament at in the Woodlands Snooker Club, Woodlands, Doncaster, S Yorks on 27 Apr 1988. The Guinness Book of Records got it wrong at the time, saying it was in a practise match.

Phil Doody was the referee in the aforementioned match. The week before the match Rowing, made a 155 break against Doody, in a practise frame, on the same table, in the same club! Unfortunately, as only Rowing and Doody were present, the Guinness Book of Records, wouldn't record it.

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

6 December 2008 Ricky Walden (England) made a 16 red clearance of 141 against Mark Davis (England) in the last qualifying round for the 2008 Maplin UK Championship. The event was held at The World Snooker Academy in EIS (English Institute of Sport) Sheffield. He won the frame 149-0. It was the thirteenth frame of the best-of-17 match, which he lost 7-9.

3 April 2018 Mark Selby (England) made a 16 red clearance of 141 against Scott Donaldson (Scotland) in the last 64 of the 2018 Fuhua Group China Open. The event was held at the Beijing National Olympic Center Gymnasium, Beijing, China. He won the frame 149-0. It was the second frame of the best-of-11 match. See the frame scores (World Snooker).

10 December 2020 Liam Highfield (England) made a 16 red clearance of 140 against Barry Hawkins (England) in the last 32 of the 2020 Matchroom.live Scottish Open. The event was held at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, England. He won the frame 144-0. It was the sixth frame of the best-of-7 match, which he lost 4-3. See the frame scores (World Snooker).

30 March 2023 Ryan Day (Wales) made a 16 red clearance of 139 against Mark Selby (England) in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Tour Championship. He won the frame 147-0. It was the 15th frame of the best-of-19 match, which he lost 10-7. Day had also made a 147 in the third frame! See the frame scores (World Snooker).

The first 16 red clearance in a professional 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. Watch on YouTube.

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 2 November 2020 professional snooker player Mark Allen (Northern Ireland) made a 155 in a practice match. He had previously also made a 149 and a 150.

On 14 August 2021 professional snooker player Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Thailand) made a 155 in a practice match against fellow pro Hossein Vafaei (Iran) at the Q House Snooker Academy, Darlington, England. Possibly the very first 155 caught on tape. Watch on YouTube. See also the accompanying tweet.

It has been said that Alex Higgins (Northern Ireland) once made a 155 in an exhibition.

Mark Rowing is supposed to have made a 155 break against Phil Doody in a practise frame, in the Woodlands Snooker Club, Woodlands, Doncaster, S Yorks on Apr 1988. As mentioned above Steve Duggan made a witnessed break of 148 in a local handicap tournament the week after, on the same table, in the same club!

On 23 April 2003 Cope had 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.

Teenager Sam Harvey scored a break of 151 during a practice match at his home club in Bedford in November 2010. The 17-year-old was playing tour professional Kyren Wilson (England) when he registered the score. After a foul from his opponent early in the frame, Harvey was left with a free ball, and potted the brown to a centre pocket, gaining position on the black. He then spilt the reds open and went on to pot all 15, taking 12 more blacks, two pinks and a blue before clearing the colours.

In May 2022 Daniel Wells (Wales) made a 151 in a practice match against Tyler Rees (Wales) at the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy, Sheffield, England. (source: Fen Regis Trophies) .

7 June 2019 Mark J Williams tweeted that he had made a 150.

In 1995 Tony Drago (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.

Marco Fu (Hong Kong) made a 149, in March 2022, in a practice match against Noppon Saengkham (Thailand). (source: Twitter)

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

Matthew Selt (England) made a 148 in practice vs Joe Perry on 9 November 2018. (source: Twitter)

Marco Fu made a 148 in a practice match at the Hong Kong Sports Institute in November 2020. Watch on YouTube.

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

On 28 July 2018 Liang Wenbo (China) made a total clearance of 140 with only blacks in round two of the 2018 Riga Masters against Neil Robertson (Australia). It wasn't a maximum because he potted the 13th and 14th red in one shot. Watch on YouTube.

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

Other High Breaks and Most Unanswered Points

Kelly Fisher is said to be the leader among the women. She is supposed to have made a 143 in competition (May/June 1994). She was 15 at the time.

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.

Three consecutive century breaks were first compiled in a ranking 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.

Kyren Wilson (4) and Anthony Hamilton (2) collectively made six consecutive century breaks 10 Feb 2016 in the 2016 China Open qualifiers in Barnsley, England.

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.

John Higgins won the 2005 Grand Prix in Preston and rewrote the record books in the process. In his final demolition of Ronnie O'Sullivan (9-2) he knocked in four consecutive century breaks (103, 104, 138 and 128), a feat never to have been accomplished in professional ranking tournaments.

Higgins also broke the "points unanswered" record in a ranking event. He scored 494 points without a reply from O'Sullivan. This record was later beaten by Stuart Bingham (England) who made 547 against Sam Baird in the 2016 China Open.

Ronnie O'Sullivan scored 556 without reply in beating Ricky Walden in the quarter finals of the non-ranking 2014 Dafabet Masters 17 January 2014. He had breaks of 79, 88, 72, 134, 77, 56 and 39.

Mark J Williams made four centuries against Stephen Lee in the first round of the 2011 Bank of Beijing China Open, and still lost 5-4.

In the 2004 British Open John Higgins made three 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, Wales 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.

Most Century Breaks

The most century breaks by one player in a tournament is 23. It was first accomplished by Kyren Wilson in the 2021 Championship League. It was later equalled by Matthew Selt in the 2023 Championship League.

Neil Robertson holds the record for most tons by one player in one season with 103 in the 2013/2014 season. The record 100th ton came in his quarterfinal match in the 2014 World Championship.

Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record for most career centuries. He made his 1000th century in the last frame of the final of the 2019 Players Championship.

See John Kobylecky's Centuries Compiled in Professional Tournament Play by the Leading Players of the Game (1919-2023) for a detailed account of all official centuries made by Ronnie O'Sullivan and others in professional events.

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

Ronnie O'Sulivan has won 41 ranking titles in his career. See the full list of players with ranking titles.

By winning the 2010 Party Casino Premier League Ronnie O'Sulivan became the first man to win a single professional title on nine separate occasions, surpassing Steve Davis' previous record of eight. He also won in 2011 to make it 10.

Frame Records

The longest frame played lasted 123 minutes and 41 seconds. It was the deciding frame between Fergal O'Brien and David Gilbert in the last qualifying round for the 2017 World Championship. The frame and match was won by O'Brien.

Most points scored in a single frame was 195. Mark J Williams (Wales) won 101-94 in a frame versus Ding Junhui (China) in the quarterfinals of the 2023 UK Championship. Williams conceded 12 fouls (value 53) to Ding's 3 (12) (details).

Most points scored by one player in a single frame was 178. Jimmy Robertson (England) won 178-6 in the final frame against Lee Walker (Wales) in the first round of the 2021 Scottish Open (7 Dec 2021). Robertson potted a red, earned 44 points in fouls and then made a 133 break. See David Hendon's tweet for more.

Bob Clark entered the Seniors competition in the Pontins Open 2007. His son and partner came to watch and decided to go shopping. Two and a half hours later they returned and were surprised to find the match still in progress. On asking what frame it was they were shocked to hear it was still the first. This frame involved three reracks and lasted 2 hours and 50 mins!

Other Resources