Dennis Taylor at the 1987 Masters
In the final of the 1985 World Championships, Dennis Taylor had the last laugh in the Black Ball Showdown, and he will always be remembered. In 1987, he staged another exciting comeback in the Masters, another crowded event of the sport, winning the title with a narrow 9-8 victory over Alex Higgins.
Although the two sides are both Northern Irish, the two very different personalities and style of play also created a little different atmosphere for the final, and the Wembley Convention Centre was full. Taylor was bullied at the start, Higgins quickly established a 4-2 lead, and Taylor managed to pull back a set before the end of the afternoon stage to save some room for manoeuvre for the late game.
For the game, the March 1987 issue of Snooker Scene wrote: "Higgins desperately needs this championship to prove to himself, to the entire snooker world, that his sword is not old." After a 5-5 draw, Higgins scored three consecutive sets and played the two highest singles in the finals — 98 and 88 points.
Higgins with Taylor in 1985
In the ensuing innings, when the two sides had only three red balls left and Higgins already had a 40-point lead, Taylor seemed preoccupied, as if his focus and confidence had been affected. At this time, Higgins had the ball, and two red balls were in a safer position in the top vault, but due to the inconvenience of walking, he chose to gather the third red ball near the top vault, but unexpectedly this move created an offensive opportunity.
If this shot is lost, it may become Taylor's last shot in this competition. As a result, he successfully scored and rescued the other two red balls, and after clearing the table to the pink ball, he could not make the mother ball walk more comfortably to the black ball, and if he forced the thin cutting of the black ball when facing the black ball, it was possible for the mother ball to fall into the middle pocket, so Taylor took a conservative approach, placing the mother ball near the edge of the library. Higgins then tried a difficult and thin black ball without success, and Taylor scored a simple black ball to make the score 6-8.
Reverse the winning Taylor
Seemingly encouraged by the psychological warfare, Taylor then scored his highest single score in the final, 74, dragging the game into the decider for the next two innings.
Higgins lost all time in the decider, and Taylor finally won the match at 1:09 a.m. local time, which was also the latest match taylor had ended since the 1985 snooker Grand Prix final lost 9-10 to Steve Davis. In a post-match interview, Taylor said he had heard backstage when he was 8-5 behind that people in higgins' camp had started celebrating the victory, which made him more determined to try to turn the tables.
This determination is Dennis Taylor's magic weapon, and it is this determination that has helped him survive many of the major competitions of his career.
Taylor's performance at the 2016 Masters!
The story after this final
In 1987, Taylor had a chance to win five or more titles, but this Masters title was his last of great importance. Until 1994, he was consistently in the top 16 in the world in the world rankings; Taylor retired in 2000 but remained active in snooker as a BBC commentator.
Higgins' career began to decline in the late 1980s, with only the 1989 Irish Masters champion and other highlights. He last played as a professional player in 1997, and has since returned several times without success, dying in 2010 at the age of 61.
Taylor and Higgins had teamed up to represent Northern Ireland in the Snooker World Cup in Bournemouth, and the two had a lot of contradictions during the game, and Higgins threatened to "find someone to kill him when Taylor returns to Northern Ireland".