Maximum Break - Records

Records

Firsts

• The first maximum break was made by Murt O'Donoghue at Griffith, New South Wales, Australia on 26 September 1934.
• Joe Davis compiled the first officially recognised 147 against Willie Smith in an exhibition match on 22 January 1955 at Leicester Square Hall, London.
• The first officially ratified maximum in competition was made by Rex Williams in the match, Professionals v. Amateurs, on 23 December 1966 in Cape Town.
• The first maximum compiled in professional competition was made by John Spencer on 13 January 1979 at the Holsten Lager Tournament against Cliff Thorburn, but it was not officially ratified due to oversized pockets. His achievement also wasn't recorded, as the television-crew were away on a tea-break.
• The first official maximum break in professional competition was made by Steve Davis in the 1982 Classic against Spencer. This was also the first televised 147.

• In 1983, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Championships, a feat that has since been repeated by Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry (three times), Ronnie O'Sullivan (three times), Mark Williams and Ali Carter.
• Cliff Thorburn is the first player to have made more than one competitive maximum break and Stephen Hendry is the first player to have made more than one televised maximum break.
• Mark Williams became the first person to compile an official maximum break against a woman at the Rhein–Main Masters.

Multiple maximums

• More than one official maximum break has been made in the same event on twelve occasions. Two maximums were compiled during the 1992 Matchroom League, the 1999 British Open in April, the 2000 Scottish Open, the 2007 Grand Prix, the 2008 World Championship, the 2008 Bahrain Championship, the 2010 Rhein–Main Masters, the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 10, the 2012 FFB Snooker Open, the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 11, the 2012 World Snooker Championship, and the 2012 UK Championship. Of these, only the maximums compiled at the 2008 World Championship, the 2010 Rhein–Main Masters, the PTC 2011/2012 – Event 10, the 2012 FFB Snooker Open, the PTC 2011/2012 – Event 11 and the 2012 UK Championship were made at the same venue. The 2008 World Championship is the only event where both maximum breaks (made by Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter just a day apart) were televised. The 2012 FFB Snooker Open is the only event where two maximums were made on the same day.
• There have been at least four matches where more than one maximum was compiled. Peter Ebdon compiled two maximum breaks during an 11-frame exhibition match at Eastbourne Police Club on April 15, 1996. In 2003 he also compiled two consecutive maximum breaks against Steve Davis in an exhibition match. In 2009 Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled consecutive maximum breaks at an exhibition match in Ireland.; Mark King and Joe Jogia achieved the same feat at the Grove Open later in the same year.
• Higgins and O'Sullivan are the only players to record maximum breaks in consecutive ranking events. Higgins made one during his defeat by Mark Williams in the LG Cup final, and then one in his second round match at the British Open, in 2003. O'Sullivan made one at the Northern Ireland Trophy and another at the UK Championship, in 2007. Since top 16 players were seeded through to the second round at the 2003 British Open, Higgins' maximums also came in consecutive ranking matches, albeit not in the same tournament.
• Higgins' maximum breaks at the 2003 LG Cup and 2004 Grand Prix made him the first and only player to record maximums in the same tournament in successive years (the LG Cup being the sponsor's name for that year's Grand Prix). Since Higgins made the maximums in the 2003 final and the 2004 first round, he made maximums in successive rounds of the same tournament but not at the same event.

Final frames and matches

• Hendry, O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, Barry Hawkins, Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui and Andy Hicks have all made maximums to win matches. Hendry compiled a maximum in the final at the 1997 Charity Challenge; Williams in the first round at the 2005 World Championship; O'Sullivan in the semi-finals at the 2007 UK Championship, in the second round at the 2008 World Championship, and in the last 64 at the 2010 World Open; Hawkins in the last 32 at the Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 – Event 3; Stevens at the last 128 of the 2012 FFB Snooker Open; Ding in the first round of the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 11; and Hicks in the second qualifying round of the 2012 UK Championship. Two of these were made in the deciding frame of the match: Hendry's at the 1997 Charity Challenge and O'Sullivan's at the 2007 UK Championship.
• Only Hendry, John Higgins and Stuart Bingham have made maximums in finals of tournaments. Hendry has made three, the first in the final of the 1997 Charity Challenge, the second at the 1999 British Open and the third at the 2001 Malta Grand Prix. Higgins made two, the first at the 2003 LG Cup and the second at the 2012 Shanghai Masters. Bingham made the maximum in the final of the 2012 Wuxi Classic.

Chronological

• O'Sullivan compiled the fastest maximum break in snooker, which took 5 minutes and 20 seconds recorded in the first round of the 1997 World Championship. Michael White compiled the fastest maximum break in six-red snooker, it took 2 minutes and 28 seconds in the group stage of the 2009 Six-red World Championship.
• The youngest player to make a 147 in any competition is Judd Trump at the Potters Under-16 Tournament at the age of 14 years and 206 days. The youngest player to make an official 147 in professional competition is Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon at the Euro Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 – Event 3 at the age of 16 years and 312 days. The youngest player to have made a televised 147 is Ding Junhui at the age of 19 years and 7 months in the 2007 Masters.
• The oldest player to make a maximum in professional competition is Stephen Hendry, who made his maximum break at the 2012 World Snooker Championship at the age of 43 years and 99 days.