The “Nugget” has seen a lot of his records surpassed, but even years after his retirement there’s one that he still proudly holds onto.
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry share the majority of the biggest records in snooker between them – except, that is, for overall tournament victories.
O’Sullivan and Hendry may have won the most ranking events throughout their respective careers, currently tied on 36 wins apiece.
But according to the excellent stats website CueTracker, Steve Davis is the leading player when it comes to tournament victories in total.
With a staggering 81 professional trophies, Davis boasts ten more than Hendry in second place, and eleven more than O’Sullivan in third.
John Higgins, who has been runner-up in the last three World Championships and is a 21/1 outsider with Paddy Power for this year’s title, is nearing the 50 mark with his tally of 47 – followed by Mark Williams who rounds off the top five.
Jimmy White, Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, and Ray Reardon complete the top ten of career triumphs.
The sum of 81 from Davis is even more impressive as it doesn’t even include all the team and pairs competition wins that he contributed to throughout the 1980s – including four World Cups and four World Doubles Championships.
As well as his regular conquering of the Crucible, Davis triumphed in the UK Championship six times – a record that stood until 2018 – and earned three Masters successes.
The Londoner began his career in the late 1970s at a time when only the World Snooker Championship was deemed worthy of being classified as a ranking event.
Indeed, Davis had to wait until 1982 to compete in the first ranking event that wasn’t held in Sheffield, and the upgrading of tournaments didn’t become commonplace until midway through the decade.
As a result, his overall ranking total of 28 could actually be seen as a little low compared to O’Sullivan and Hendry, who always had and have had an abundance of ranking events to enter.
Now 62, Davis hasn’t played competitively in more than two years, and he has in fact become commonly associated with his love of music and djing instead.
Still, the six-time world champion will always be best remembered as a proven winner, one of the most prolific the game has ever produced.
The question is, can you name the players Davis beat in all 81 finals that he won? (surnames are accepted)
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