Has a qualifier ever won the World Snooker Championship?

We take a look at how many qualifiers have gone on to reign supreme in the World Snooker Championship.

Who many qualifiers have won the World Snooker Championship?

Only three players have ever come through World Snooker Championship qualification and gone on to land the biggest prize that the sport has to offer.

Alex Higgins became the first to do so back in 1972 - seeing off John Spencer in an absorbing 68 frame affair - before Terry Griffiths followed suit seven years later.

Twenty-six years then elapsed between Griffiths' 24-16 success over Dennis Taylor in 1979 and Shaun Murphy's title-winning campaign in 2005.

Murphy, who, of course, is now one of the most potent tournament winners on the professional stage was in the infancy of his career two decades ago, and unseeded for the Sheffield spectacle.

He overcame Chris Small 10-5 in the first round on the back of two arduous qualifying wins over Marcus Campbell and Joe Swail.

His reward for those three victories was a glamorous showdown with John Higgins in the last 16 where he produced a true Herculean effort to see of the revered Scotsman in eye catching fashion (13-8).

Another former world champion awaited in the quarter-finals - Steve Davis - but, again, Murphy proved to be too hot to handle, displaying free-flowing, break-building quality in abundance to ease to a 13-4 success.

A true granite test awaited in the semi-finals, with Peter Ebdon - famed for his methodical match-play snooker - largely expected to have boasted too much tactical nous for the more care-free Murphy...

That notion was put to bed emphatically though with Murphy overturning a 6-2 first session deficit to prevail 17-12 - winning the final five frames with breaks of 50+ in each of them.

An absorbing and captivating final against Matthew Stevens culminated in Murphy reeling off three century breaks as he held his nerve to edge one of the most closely contested finals in World Snooker Championship history.

What made his feat all the more incredible was the fact that Stevens held leads after the first, second and third sessions, only for the pre-tournament 150/1 outsider to hold his nerve and dispatch of the heavily-fancied Welshman down the home straight.

Qualifiers to have won the World Snooker Championship?

1. Alex Higgins (1972) - 37-31 v John Spencer
2. Terry Griffiths (1979) - 26-16 v Dennis Taylor
3. Shaun Murphy (2005) - 18-16 v Matthew Stevens

How many qualifiers have reached the World Snooker Championship final?

Jak Jones' remarkable run in 2024 saw him become only the tenth World Snooker Championship qualifier to reach the final (ninth at the Crucible).

The Welshman was a 200/1 outsider ahead of the event, but made a mockery of those odds by dispatching the likes of Zhang Anda, Si Jiahui, Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham, before falling just short against Kyren Murphy in the final.

Jones' run to the final saw him become the first player to progress through qualifying and reach the showpiece in eight years, with Chinese superstar Ding Junhui - who had dropped out of the top 16 for the first time - the last to do so in 2016.

Qualifiers to have reached the World Snooker Championship Final

1. Alex Higgins - 1972 (Champion)
2. Cliff Thorburn - 1977 (Runner-Up)
3. Perrie Mans - 1978 (Runner-Up)
4. Terry Griffiths - 1979 (Runner-Up)
5. Shaun Murphy - 2005 (Champion)
6. Mark Selby - 2007 (Runner-Up)
7. Graeme Dott - 2010 (Runner-Up)
8. Judd Trump - 2011 (Runner-Up)
9. Ding Junhui - 2016 (Runner-Up)
10. Jak Jones - 2024 (Runner-Up)