1936 Daily Mail Gold Cup

The 1936 Daily Mail Gold Cup was a professional snooker tournament sponsored by the Daily Mail. Despite giving a handicap to all the other players, the cup was won by Joe Davis who won all his five matches. The Australian Horace Lindrum finished in second place in the final table. It was the third Daily Mail Gold Cup tournament, although the first two had been billiards events. The Daily Mail Gold Cup ran from 1935 to 1940.

Daily Mail Gold Cup

Tournament information
Dates	28 September – 19 December 1936 (1936-09-28 – 1936-12-19)
Final venue	Thurston's Hall
Final city	London
Country	United Kingdom
Format	Non-Ranking event
Highest break	Sidney Smith (133)
Final
Champion	Joe Davis
Runner-up	Horace Lindrum
← 1935/36 1937/38 →

Format

The third event was a round-robin snooker tournament and was played from 28 September to 19 December 1936. Most of the matches were played at Thurston's Hall in London. There were 6 competitors and a total of 15 matches. Each match was of 71 frames, lasting six days (Monday to Saturday) and consisted of two sessions of six frames each day (five on the final evening). The 6 competitors were Joe Davis, Horace Lindrum, Sidney Smith, Willie Smith, Tom Newman and Melbourne Inman. The event had two handicapping aspects. Each player had a handicap which was given in each frame. The handicaps were: Joe Davis - 0, Horace Lindrum - 7, Sidney Smith - 14, Willie Smith - 18, Tom Newman - 24, Melbourne Inman - 35. In addition there was a sealed handicap for each match. This was an additional adjustment to be made after each match (a number of frames) which was kept secret until the end of the tournament. It seems that the handicapper decided to make no adjustments since the final table simply reflects the actual results.

Results

The cup was won by Joe Davis who won all his five matches. Melbourne Inman, an aging billiards player, struggled, despite receiving the most generous handicap. The other four players were very close in the final table. Willie Smith won a prize for the most frames won in a match, 48 in his match against Melbourne Inman.

During the tournament Sidney Smith scored a record 133 break, becoming the first player to make a total clearance in snooker competition. It happened in his match against Tom Newman on 11 December. Smith was conceding 10 points to Newman in this match and went further behind when he went in-off a red. Smith then made the total clearance which included the 15 reds with six blacks, six pinks, two blues, a green and then all the colours. The clearance was in frame 58 of the match, the fourth of the evening session. Smith won the prize for the highest break of the tournament.

Winner	Score	Loser	Dates	Venue
Sidney Smith	44–27	Melbourne Inman	28 September–3 October	Thurston's Hall, London
Horace Lindrum	37–34	Tom Newman	5–10 October	Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis	39–32	Willie Smith	12–17 October	Thurston's Hall, London
Willie Smith	48–23	Melbourne Inman	19–24 October	Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis	42–29	Tom Newman	26–31 October	Thurston's Hall, London
Willie Smith	41–30	Sidney Smith	2–7 November	Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis	44–27	Melbourne Inman	9–14 November	Thurston's Hall, London
Horace Lindrum	41–30	Willie Smith	9–14 November	Imperial Rooms, Glasgow
Sidney Smith	36–35	Horace Lindrum	16–21 November	Thurston's Hall, London
Tom Newman	44–27	Melbourne Inman	16–21 November	Manchester
Tom Newman	40–31	Willie Smith	23–28 November	Thurston's Hall, London
Horace Lindrum	41–30	Melbourne Inman	30 November–5 December	Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis	38–33	Sidney Smith	30 November–5 December	Birmingham
Tom Newman	36–35	Sidney Smith	7–12 December	Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis	41–30	Horace Lindrum	14–19 December	Thurston's Hall, London

Table

Pos	Player	Pld	MW	FW
1	Joe Davis	5	5	204
2	Horace Lindrum	5	3	184
3	Tom Newman	5	3	183
4	Willie Smith	5	2	182
5	Sidney Smith	5	2	178
6	Melbourne Inman	5	0	134

The positions were determined firstly by the number of matches won (MW) and, in the event of a tie, the number of frames won (FW).