1978 Champion of Champions

1978 Daily Mirror Champion of Champions

Tournament information
Dates	2–3 November 1978 (1978-11-02 – 1978-11-03)
Venue	Wembley Conference Centre
City	London
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£4,000
Winner's share	£2,000
Highest break	94
Final
Champion	Ray Reardon  (WAL)
Runner-up	Alex Higgins  (NIR)
Score	11–9
1980 →

The 1978 Champion of Champions (officially the 1978 Daily Mirror Champion of Champions) was a professional non‑ ranking snooker tournament held on 2 and 3 November 1978 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England.

Summary

Four players contested the tournament which was held over two days. ^[1] The event was promoted by Michael Barrett, a boxing promoter. ^[2]

Ray Reardon easily won the first semi‑final 6‍–‍1 after taking a 5‍–‍0 lead. In the evening match Doug Mountjoy led 3‍–‍2 but Alex Higgins won the next four frames to win 6‍–‍3. The 8th frame was won on a respotted black . ^[3] In the final Reardon led Higgins 6‍–‍4 after the afternoon session . In the evening Reardon extended his lead to 9‍–‍5 before Higgins won the next four frames to level the match. In the 19th frame Reardon had a 77 clearance to win the frame and then won the 20th frame easily to win the match. ^[4]

Brief highlights were shown on ITV's World of Sport on the following afternoon (Saturday 4 November, 3:10 pm). ^{[5] [6]}

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

• Winner: £2,000
• Runner-up: £1,000
• Semi-finals: £500
• Total: £4,000 ^[1]

There was a £100 prize for every century break. ^[2]

Players

The following 4 players qualified for the tournament: ^[2]

Player	Qualified as
Ray Reardon  (WAL)	1978 World Snooker Championship winner
Patsy Fagan  (IRL)	1977 UK Championship winner
Alex Higgins  (NIR)	1978 Masters winner
Doug Mountjoy  (WAL)	1978 Pot Black winner

Main draw

^[1]

	Semi-finals Best of 11 frames (2 November)				Final Best of 21 frames (3 November)
	Ray Reardon  (WAL)	6
	Patsy Fagan  (IRL)	1
					Ray Reardon  (WAL)	11
					Alex Higgins  (NIR)	9
	Alex Higgins  (NIR)	6
	Doug Mountjoy  (WAL)	3

Final

Final: Best of 21 frames. Referee: John Smyth. Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 3 November 1978. [1]
Ray Reardon   Wales	11–9	Alex Higgins   Northern Ireland
Afternoon:125–8 (52), 90–43 (90), 75–46, 28–108, 60–43, 20–114 (83), 13–101 (76), 104–19 (70), 1–140 (61, 62), 84–22 Evening:78–36, 101–18 (67), 12–100, 73–48 (61), 41–90, 51–60, 23–83 (51), 30–72, 78–46 (77), 94–12
(frame 2) 90	Highest break	83 (frame 6)
0	Century breaks	0
6	50+ breaks	5

Century breaks

None. The highest break: 94– Alex Higgins in the semi‑final.

References

1. "Daily Mirror Champion of Champions (1978)". snooker.org. 24 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
2. "Snooker – World champion in semi-final faces Fagan". The Times. 2 November 1978. p. 13.
3. "Snooker – Higgins lives up to his 'Hurricane' tag". The Times. 3 November 1978. p. 22.
4. "Snooker – Reardon repels determined rally by Higgins". The Times. 4 November 1978. p. 6.
5. "Weekend broadcasting – Personal choice". The Times. 5 November 1978. p. 11.
6. Everton, Clive (4 November 1978). "Reardon the champion". The Guardian . Retrieved 18 November 2024– via newspapers.com.