1980 Classic (1979/1980)

Wilson's Classic

Tournament information
Dates	7–8 January 1980 (1980-01-07 – 1980-01-08)
Venue	New Century Hall
City	Manchester
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Non-Ranking event
Total prize fund	£9,500 [1]
Winner's share	£3,000 [2]
Highest break	Alex Higgins  (NIR) (75)
Final
Champion	John Spencer
Runner-up	Alex Higgins
Score	4–3
← First 1980 (December) →

The 1980 Wilson's Classic (January) was the inaugural edition of the professional invitational snooker tournament, which took place on 7 and 8 January 1980. The tournament was played at the New Century Hall in Manchester, and featured eight professional players. ^[3]

John Spencer won the tournament, beating Alex Higgins 4–3 in the final. ^[4] A second Classic was staged in 1980 in December with Steve Davis winning the title.

Higgins made the highest break of the tournament, 75, during the final. ^[2]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: ^[2]

• Winner: £3,000
• Runner-up: £1,500
• Semi-final: £1,000
• Quarter-final: £600
• Highest break: £600
• Total: £9,500 ^[1]

Main draw

^{[5] [2]}

	Quarter-finals Best of 3 frames					Semi-finals Best of 3 frames					Final Best of 7 frames
	Terry Griffiths		2
	Jim Meadowcroft		0			Terry Griffiths		0
	Alex Higgins		2			Alex Higgins		2
	Dennis Taylor		0								Alex Higgins		3
	John Spencer		2								John Spencer		4
	Graham Miles		0			John Spencer		2
	John Virgo		2			John Virgo		0
	Doug Mountjoy		0

Final

Final: Best of 7 frames. Referee: Jim Thorpe. New Century Hall, Manchester, England, 8 January 1980.
Alex Higgins   Northern Ireland	3–4	John Spencer   England
46–64, 50–51, 102–39, 97(75)–19, 70 (52)–26, 29–67, 90(52)–30
75	Highest break	52
0	Century breaks	0
2	50+ breaks	1

References

1. "Repeat clash". Manchester Evening News. 3 January 1980. p. 27.
2. "Spencer beats Higgins to win Wilson's Classic". Snooker Scene. February 1980. pp. 16–17.
3. "Reardon takes on Spencer". Evening Sentinel. 12 December 1979. p. 19.
4. "Wilson's Classic, Lada Classic, Mercantile Credit Classic". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
5. "1980 Mercantile Credit Classic Results Grid". Snooker Database. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2018.