History of all 147's Maximum Breaks in Professional Snooker

There has been 139th officially record professional 147 maximum snooker breaks since Steve Davis's 147 at the Lada Classic in 1982. Let's take a look back at some of these most memorable breaks.

1. Steve Davis – 1982 Lada Classic

Despite the first maximum break to be officially recognised was made by Joe Davis in an exhibition in 1955, it wasn't until 1982 that we saw the first professional 147 maximum break. Namesake (but not related!) and six-times world champion Steve Davis the achieved this moment of magic at the 1982 Lada Classic. His prize? A brand new Lada car which he then gave to his parents!

2. Cliff Thorburn – 1983 World Championship

Only a year later Canadian snooker legend Cliff Thorburn went on to make one of the most memorable 147's in snooker's history at the World Championship, in its spiritual home, The Crucible Theatre. Upon potting the final ball the "Grinder" fell to his knees and soon after received a huge hug from countryman Bill Werbeniuk!

3. Kirk Stevens – 1984 Masters

147's were soon coming in all at once (just like London buses!) and a year later another popular and good looking Canadian was the first to make a maximum break at The Masters, Kirk Stevens. Until Ding Junhui made another one in 2007, fans of the Masters had to wait over 20 years for a 147 break in the capital.

4. Willie Thorne – 1987 UK Championship
5. Tony Meo – 1988 Matchroom League
6. Alain Robidoux – 1988 European Open
7. John Rea – 1989 Scottish Championship
8. Cliff Thorburn – 1989 Matchroom League
9. James Wattana – 1991 World Masters
10. Peter Ebdon – 1991 Strachan Professional
11. James Wattana – 1992 British Open
12. Jimmy White – 1992 World Championship

Despite being known as one of the best break builders and rest players of his era, and having made over 300 century breaks, it was quite surprising that six-times World Champion finalist Jimmy White only made one professional 147 break in his career. If you are going to do it only once, then it might as well be at the World Championship!

13. John Parrott – 1992 Matchroom League
14. Stephen Hendry – 1992 Matchroom League
15. Peter Ebdon – 1992 UK Championship
16. David McDonnell – 1994 British Open1
17. Stephen Hendry – 1995 World Championship
18. Stephen Hendry – 1995 UK Championship
19. Stephen Hendry – 1997 Charity Challenge
20. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 1997 World Championship

Arguably the most famous 147 break of all time from snooker's all-time most popular player, Ronnie O'Sullivan. Against qualifier Mick Price in the first round of the World Championship, he produced perfect snooker to pot all 15 reds and colours in just five minutes and 20 seconds, which to this day no player is close to matching.

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Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan currently (June 2018) holds the all-time record for 147 breaks, 13, two more than Stephen Hendry's tally.

21. James Wattana – 1997 China International Challenge
22. Stephen Hendry – 1998 Premier League
23. Adrian Gunnell – 1998 Thailand Masters Qualifiers
24. Mehmet Husnu – 1998 China International Qualifiers
25. Jason Prince – 1999 British Open Qualifiers
26. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 1999 Welsh Open
27. Stuart Bingham – 1999 UK Tour
28. Nick Dyson – 1999 UK Tour
29. Graeme Dott – 1999 British Open
30. Stephen Hendry – 1999 British Open
31. Barry Pinches – 1999 Welsh Open
32. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 1999 Grand Prix
33. Karl Burrows – 1999 B&H Championship
34. Stephen Hendry – 1999 UK Championship
35. John Higgins – 2000 Nations Cup
36. John Higgins – 2000 Irish Masters
37. Stephen Maguire – 2000 Scottish Open
38. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2000 Scottish Open
39. Marco Fu – 2000 Scottish Masters
40. David McLellan – 2000 B&H Championship
41. Nick Dyson – 2000 UK Championship
42. Stephen Hendry – 2001 Malta Grand Prix
43. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2001 LG Cup
44. Shaun Murphy – 2001 B&H Championship
45. Tony Drago – 2002 B&H Championship
46. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2003 World Championship
47. John Higgins – 2003 LG Cup

Four-time world champion John Higgins sits third on the all-time 147 breaks table with a seriously impressive tally of eight. In the final of the 2003 LG Cup, he made one of these 147 breaks and then in his very next match, he makes one in the first round of the British Open!

48. John Higgins – 2003 British Open
49. John Higgins – 2004 Grand Prix
50. David Gray – 2004 UK Championship
51. Mark Williams – 2005 World Championship
52. Stuart Bingham – 2005 Masters Qualifying
53. Robert Milkins - 2006 World Championship Qualifying
54. Jamie Cope – 2006 Grand Prix
55. Ding Junhui – 2007 Masters
56. Andrew Higginson – 2007 Welsh Open
57. Jamie Burnett – 2007 Grand Prix
58. Tom Ford – 2007 Grand Prix
59. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy
60. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2007 UK Championship
61. Stephen Maguire – 2008 China Open
62. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2008 World Championship
63. Ali Carter – 2008 World Championship
64. Jamie Cope – 2008 Shanghai Masters
65. Liang Wenbo – 2008 Bahrain Championship Qualifying
66. Marcus Campbell – 2008 Bahrain Championship
67. Ding Junhui – 2008 UK Championship
68. Stephen Hendry – 2009 World Championship
69. Mark Selby – 2009 Jiangsu Classic
70. Neil Robertson – 2010 China Open
71. Kurt Maflin – 2010 Players Tour Championship event one
72. Barry Hawkins – 2010 Players Tour Championship event three
73. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2010 World Open
74. Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon – 2010 Rüsselsheim Open
75. Mark Williams – 2010 Rüsselsheim Open
76. Rory McLeod – 2010 Prague Open
77. Stephen Hendry – 2011 Welsh Open
78. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2011 Paul Hunter Classic
79. Mike Dunn – 2011 German Masters
80. David Gray – 2011 Players Tour Championship event ten
81. Ricky Walden – 2011 Players Tour Championship event ten
82. Matthew Stevens – 2011 Players Tour Championship event 12
83. Ding Junhui – 2011 Players Tour Championship event 12
84. Ding Junhui – 2011 Players Tour Championship event 11
85. Jamie Cope – 2011 Players Tour Championship event 11
86. Marco Fu – 2012 Haikou World Open Qualifiers
87. Robert Milkins – 2012 World Championship Qualifiers
88. Stephen Hendry – 2012 World Championship
89. Stuart Bingham – 2012 Wuxi Classic
90. Ken Doherty – 2012 Paul Hunter Classic
91. John Higgins – 2012 Shanghai Masters
92. Tom Ford – 2012 Bulgarian Open
93. Andy Hicks – 2012 UK Championship Qualifiers
94. Jack Lisowski – 2012 UK Championship Qualifiers
95. John Higgins – 2012 UK Championship
96. Kurt Maflin – 2012 Ravenscraig Open
97. Ding Junhui – 2013 Players Championship
98. Neil Robertson 2013 Wuxi Classic Qualifiers
99. Judd Trump – 2013 Antwerp Open
100. Mark Selby – 2013 UK Championship

Mark Selby made the 100th official 147 break at the 2013 UK Championship in the semi-final against Ricky Walden. Since then Selby has gone from strength-to-strength, winning many more ranking titles including becoming a three-time world champion.

101. Dechawat Poomjaeng – 2013 German Masters Qualifying
102. Gary Wilson – 2013 German Masters Qualifying
103. Shaun Murphy – 2014 Championship League
104. Shaun Murphy – 2014 Gdynia Open
105. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2014 Welsh Open
106. Aditya Mehta – 2014 Paul Hunter Classic
107. Ryan Day – 2014 Haining Open
108. Shaun Murphy – 2014 Ruhr Open
109. Ronnie O’Sullivan 2014 UK Championship
110. Ben Woollaston – 2014 Lisbon Open
111. Barry Hawkins – 2015 Championship League
112. Marco Fu – 2015 Masters
113. Judd Trump – 2015 German Masters
114. David Gilbert – 2015 Championship League
115. Neil Robertson – 2015 UK Championship
116. Marco Fu – 2015 Gibraltar Open
117. Ding Junhui – 2016 Welsh Open
118. Fergal O’Brien – 2016 Championship League
119. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh – 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
120. Stephen Maguire – 2016 Shanghai Masters
121. Shaun Murphy – 2016 European Masters Qualifying
122. Alfie Burden – 2016 English Open
123. John Higgins – 2016 Northern Ireland Open
124. Mark Allen – 2016 UK Championship
125. Ali Carter – 2017 German Masters qualifiers
126. Ross Muir – 2017 German Masters qualifiers
127. Mark Davis – 2017 Championship League
128. Tom Ford – 2017 German Masters
129. Mark Davis – 2017 Championship League
130. Judd Trump – 2017 China Open
131. Gary Wilson – 2017 World Championship qualifiers
132. Liang Wenbo – 2017 English Open
133. Kyren Wilson – 2017 International Championship
134. Cao Yupeng – 2017 Scottish Open
135. Martin Gould – 2018 Championship League
136. Luca Brecel – 2018 Championship League
137. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2018 China Open
138. Stuart Bingham – 2018 China Open
139. Liang Wenbo – 2018 World Championship qualifiers

The most recent maximum 147 break was made only a few months ago at the 2018 World Championship qualifiers. What makes this break so memorable is that in the very next frame the popular Chinese player came within inches of making a history-making second maximum break, missing the final black!

During the 2017/2018 season eight maximum breaks were made which is a huge contrast to the whole of the 1980s where the same number of breaks were made! If eight 147 breaks are made in the upcoming 2018/2019 season then we'll pass the previously unimaginable total of 147 professional 147 breaks, perhaps even at the 2019 World Championship!