The 1987 Mercantile Credit Classic was the eighth edition of the professional snooker tournament which took place from 2–11 January 1987. The tournament was played at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool, Lancashire. Television coverage was by ITV with weekday afternoon coverage on Channel 4.
Qualifying took place in November 1986. The leading players started at the last-64 stage and had to win two matches to reach the last-16 televised stage in January. Only five of the leading 16 seeded players reached the last-16 including defending champion Jimmy White and Steve Davis
In the first semi-final Jimmy White beat Dean Reynolds in the deciding frame after fluking a red and then making a break of 74. Steve Davis beat Stephen Hendry 9–3 in the second semi-final.
Defending champion Jimmy White made it to the final again but lost to Steve Davis in another 13–12 result. Davis won the first prize of £50,000 while White took the runners-up prize of £30,000 and another £5,000 for the high break prize for his break of 126 in the semi-finals.
The final attracted an average of 9.2million viewers on ITV, peaking at 15.2million.
Main draw
Final Final: Best of 25 frames. Referee: . Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool, England, 10 & 11 January 1987. Steve Davis 13–12 Jimmy White First session: 52–61, 25–65, 66–36, 95–29, 74–12 (70), 56–66 (Davis 55), 65–21Second session: 54–62, 68–66 (White 53), 6–69, 123–0 (119), 67–43, 37–71, 28–73, 69–58 (Davis 55, White 58)Third session: 73–22 (72), 7–107 (74), 72–2 (53), 7–94 (50), 71–0 (60), 36–47, 1–75 (75), 65–35, 55–80, 75–35 119 Highest break 75 1 Century breaks 0 7 50+ breaks 5
Qualifying
Last-64 round
5–4 5–1 5–3 5–1 5–1 5–4 5–3 5–2 5–2 5–0 5–4 5–4 5–3 5–4 5–0 5–4
5–0 5–3 5–4 5–3 5–2 5–0 5–2 5–2 5–4 5–3 5–3 5–4 5–4 5–3 5–0 5–3
Last-32 round
Jimmy White 5–0 Malcolm Bradley Steve Duggan 5–0 Bill Werbeniuk Terry Griffiths 5–4 Dave Martin John Spencer 3–5 John Campbell Wayne Jones 5–1 Tony Kearney Les Dodd 4–5 Cliff Wilson Kirk Stevens 3–5 Barry West Cliff Thorburn 4–5 Dean Reynolds
Steve Davis 5–2 John Virgo Tony Meo 5–0 Steve Longworth Rex Williams 4–5 Eddie Charlton Alex Higgins 2–5 John Parrott Danny Fowler 5–4 Mike Hallett Stephen Hendry 5–1 Jon Wright Silvino Francisco 5–3 Bob Harris Joe Johnson 3–5 Peter Francisco
Century breaks (Including qualifying rounds)
140, 112 Cliff Thorburn 136, 122, 111 Stephen Hendry 131 John Parrott 126 Jimmy White 122, 102 Mark Bennett 119, 108 Steve Davis 112 Danny Fowler 109 Tommy Murphy 106 Peter Francisco 104 Steve Duggan 104 Neal Foulds 103 Terry Griffiths 100 Jon Wright
References