(1948-01-16) 16 January 1948 (age 76) Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Sport country
Canada
Nickname
The Grinder[1]
Professional
1972–1996
Highest ranking
1 (1981/82)
Maximum breaks
2
Tournament wins
Ranking
2
World Champion
1980
Clifford Charles Devlin ThorburnCM (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Higgins 18–16 in the final. He is generally recognised as the sport's first world champion from outside the United Kingdom—since Australian Horace Lindrum's 1952 title is usually disregarded—and he remains the only world champion from the Americas. He was runner-up in two other world championships, losing 21–25 to John Spencer in the 1977 final and 6–18 to Steve Davis in the 1983 final. At the 1983 tournament, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break in a World Championship match, achieving the feat in his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths.
Ranked world number one during the 1981–82 season, Thorburn was the first non-British player to top the snooker world rankings. He won the invitational Masters in 1983, 1985, and 1986, making him the first player to win the tournament three times and the first to retain the title. He retired from the main professional tour in 1996. Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Snooker Hall of Fame in 2014, he competed later in his career in Snooker Legends events and on the World Seniors Tour, winning the 2018 Seniors Masters at the Crucible Theatre at age 70. He retired from competitive snooker after the 2022 UK Seniors Championship.
^"Cliff Thorburn". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn CM (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow...
Canadian CliffThorburn met the 1972 champion Alex Higgins from Northern Ireland in the final, which was a best-of-35-frames match. Thorburn won the match...
as a child. Werbeniuk spent a portion of his youth travelling with CliffThorburn and playing pool for money. Werbeniuk won the Amateur Championship in...
Spencer won his third World Snooker Championship title by defeating CliffThorburn by 25 frames to 21 in the final. It was the first time the championship...
and top seed in the tournament was CliffThorburn, who had defeated Alex Higgins 18–16 in the 1980 final. Thorburn lost by 10 frames to 16 to Steve Davis...
Fourteen maximum breaks have been made in the history of the tournament, CliffThorburn compiled the first in 1983, and Mark Selby the most recent in 2023 which...
won the 1987 World Doubles Championship, defeating Dennis Taylor and CliffThorburn 12–6 in the final. He reached the quarter-finals of the 1987 World Championship...
won one other ranking title at the 1984 Grand Prix, where he defeated CliffThorburn 10–2 in the final, and also won the invitational 1987 Masters, defeating...
the start of play. Steve Davis played CliffThorburn in the second semi-final. With Davis leading 3–2, Thorburn was on course for a maximum break but...
tournament success was the Benson and Hedges Masters in 1979, beating CliffThorburn 5–4, Ray Reardon 5–3 and, in the final, Alex Higgins 8–4, winning the...
Ray Reardon was the first to hold the position, and was followed by CliffThorburn, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan...
outside the United Kingdom to win the title in the modern era, following CliffThorburn in 1980. Doherty remains the only world champion from the Republic of...
John Spencer (1969, 1971, and 1977), Alex Higgins (1972 and 1982), CliffThorburn (1980) and Terry Griffiths (1979). Four players made their world championship...
first professional title, the Scottish Masters, beating CliffThorburn 9–4 in the final. Thorburn led 3–0 and 4–1 but then White won eight frames in succession...
instead. As a result, Lindrum's title win is sometimes ignored, with CliffThorburn (CAN), Ken Doherty (IRL), Neil Robertson (AUS) and Luca Brecel (BEL)...
final, reached the final of the Benson & Hedges Masters, losing 7–9 to CliffThorburn, and won the 1983 International Masters, where he defeated Davis 2–1...
defeating CliffThorburn 18–6 in the final. A total of 18 century breaks were made during the tournament. The highest was made by Thorburn in the fourth...
1990. He was world championship runner-up to Ray Reardon in 1976 and CliffThorburn in 1980. At the 1982 event, Higgins came from 13 to 15 behind to defeat...
by Steve Davis. He was also runner-up at the 1985 Masters losing to CliffThorburn, but by 1988 he had dropped out of the top 16. Mountjoy enjoyed a resurgence...
was the defending champion, having won the 1977 event by defeating CliffThorburn 25–21 in the final. Spencer lost 8–13 in the first round to Perrie Mans...
championship for the last time, losing 6–10 in the first round to Ken Doherty. CliffThorburn, another former champion making his final World Championship appearance...
Allison Fisher, James Wattana, Silvino Francisco Show 6 (4 June 1991) - CliffThorburn, Steve James, Neal Foulds Show 7 (11 June 1991) - Alex Higgins, Ray...
Global Information
Canada