How it unfolded
Alex Higgins, the youngest champion a decade earlier, had by now been written off as a fading player after several poor seasons and personal controversy. In the semi-final he fell 5-15 behind Jimmy White before staging a wild comeback, and the 69 break he made from a hopeless position along the way is still regarded as one of the finest clearances ever played under pressure. In the final he beat six-time champion Ray Reardon 18-15 to take his second world title. When the match ended, Higgins tearfully called his wife Lynn and young daughter Lauren to the table, and the image of him holding his daughter in front of the cameras instantly became this sport's most widely replayed scene. His marriage did not last much longer, but that single moment remains the most repeated image in snooker history.
Why it still matters
This final proved snooker could be more than a cue sport — it could be a television event about raw emotion. The 69 break in the semi-final is still cited as a textbook case of break-building under pressure, and the image of Higgins holding his daughter has been used repeatedly in the sport's promotional material and documentaries for decades since.