Editing Cliff Thorburn (section)

==Early professional career==
Thorburn played [[John Spencer (snooker player)|John Spencer]] in a series of three exhibition matches in 1971; although he lost all three,{{sfn|Morrison|1988|pages=107–110}} he was recommended by Spencer to the [[World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association]],{{sfn|Williams|Gadsby|2005|pages=103–111}} and he was accepted as a professional in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cliff Thorburn |url=https://wst.tv/players/cliff-thorburn/ |website=World Snooker Tour |access-date=4 May 2022 |archive-date=5 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205055754/https://wst.tv/players/cliff-thorburn/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Thorburn travelled to England in 1973, and on the day of his arrival, the reigning world snooker champion [[Alex Higgins]] offered to play him for £5 a frame. Thorburn, receiving 28 points start in each frame, claims to have beaten Higgins in every frame they played, and that Higgins refused to pay up.{{sfn|Everton|2012|page=87}}

At the [[1973 World Snooker Championship]], his first major tournament on the professional snooker circuit, Thorburn defeated [[Dennis Taylor]] 9–8 in the first round then lost 15–16 to Williams in the second round. Later that year, he had a 4–0 win over [[Pat Houlihan]] at the [[1973 Norwich Union Open]] before losing 2–4 to Higgins in the quarter-final. In the [[1974 World Snooker Championship]] he defeated Alex McDonald 8–3 in qualifying then lost 4–8 to [[Paddy Morgan]] in the first round. He started the [[1974–75 snooker season]] with a victory in the [[1974 Canadian Open]], knocking out [[Willie Thorne]] and [[Graham Miles]] to reach the final, where he won 8–6 against Taylor.{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|pages=949–952}} He reached the quarter-finals of the [[1975 World Snooker Championship]] with wins over Morgan and Miles, losing the quarter-final 12–19 to [[Eddie Charlton]], and, the following year, was eliminated 14–15 by Higgins in the first round of the [[1976 World Snooker Championship]].{{sfn|Everton|1985|page=59}}

The [[1977 World Snooker Championship]] was the first to be held at the [[Crucible Theatre]] in [[Sheffield]]. Thorburn became the first Canadian world snooker championship finalist. He [[whitewash (sport)|whitewash]]ed Chris Ross 11–0 in qualifying, then recorded a 13–6 win over Williams. In the quarter-final, he won in the deciding frame, 13–12, against Charlton.{{sfn|Everton|1985|page=60}} He overcame Taylor 18–16 in the semi-final, and twelve hours later was facing Spencer in the final. Spencer built a 4–2 lead at the end of the first {{cuegloss|session}}, but Thorburn won four of the next six frames and they finished the second session level at 6–6. Thorburn took the first two frames of the third session, and it finished with them level again, at 9–9. Thorburn built a 13–11 lead during the fourth session, and extended it to 15–11 before Spencer won four consecutive frames to make it 15–15; the next session again saw them share the frames, finishing at 18–18. Spencer won three frames in a row to lead 21–18, and Thorburn took the next two to trail by a single frame. Spencer took the last frame of the session, leading 22–20. In the last session, Thorburn again narrowed the gap to one frame, but then Spencer won three in a row to achieve victory at 25–21.{{sfn|Morrison|1989|pp=33–34}}

Thorburn reached the final of the [[1978 Masters (snooker)|1978 Masters]] with wins over [[Doug Mountjoy]] and Spencer, losing 5–7 to Higgins in the final. He was knocked out of the [[1978 World Snooker Championship]] by Charlton, 12–13 in the quarter-finals.{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|pages=949–952}} In the [[1978–79 snooker season]] he defeated [[Tony Meo]] 17–15 in the final to win the [[1978 Canadian Open]] after having trailed 6–10 at the end of the first day of the final,{{sfn|Everton|1985|page=61}} but lost his opening matches in both the [[1979 Masters (snooker)|Masters]] (4–5 to [[Perrie Mans]]) and the [[1979 World Snooker Championship|World Championship]] (10–13 to [[John Virgo]]).{{sfn|Hale|1987|page=169}} He retained his Canadian Open title in [[1979 Canadian Open|1979]], taking a 10–3 lead over [[Terry Griffiths]] before winning the match in the deciding frame, at 17–16.{{sfn|Everton|1985|page=63}}