to reach the tournament proper, became the first qualifier to win the world snooker championship. The win made him the youngest champion, at the age of , until Stephen Hendry won the title in 1990. He received £480 prize money for the match, while Spencer received £320, in addition to their earnings from previous rounds. Higgins also received 6,000 cigarettes from the sponsors. The final attracted little press attention; the match report in The Times ran to only 90 words. Shortly afterwards, however, there was increasing interest, particularly in Higgins, from news media. In March he was the subject of a profile in the Sunday People, and a documentary titled Hurricane Higgins was broadcast on ITV in September 1972. Gordon Burn described Higgins's play on the Thursday evening of the final, during which Higgins won all six frames, as "snooker which, in its insolence, its exuberance, its confidence and its danger, few of those present have ever seen before". Journalist Donald Trelford wrote of Higgins that "This thin, pale, hollow-cheeked ex-jockey was something new to the game, cutting through its genteel pretensions like a swordsman." Snooker historian Clive Everton told Trelford that after Higgins's victory, "snooker was never the same again". Promotions company West and Nally, believing that the emergence of Higgins represented a commercial opportunity, organised a further Park Drive 2000 event. Park Drive sponsored the 1973 World Snooker Championship providing £8,000 in prize money. The 1973 Championship was staged as fortnight-long event rather than a much longer tournament like the 1972 Championship had been, and for the first time, part of the final was televised by the BBC. Main draw Results are shown below. Winning players are denoted in bold. Qualifying Results are shown below. Winning players are denoted in bold. Known century breaks The known century breaks made at the qualifying and main tournament were as follows. 133, 115, 104, 103, four other century breaks Alex Higgins 124 Eddie Charlton 123, 109, 101 John Spencer 115 Graham Miles Notes References 1972 World Championships World Snooker Championship Sports competitions in Birmingham, West Midlands