1981 Masters (snooker)

1981 Benson & Hedges Masters

Tournament information
Dates	27 January – 1 February 1981 (1981-01-27 – 1981-02-01)
Venue	Wembley Conference Centre
City	London
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£20,500
Winner's share	£6,000
Highest break	Terry Griffiths  (WAL) (136)
Final
Champion	Alex Higgins  (NIR)
Runner-up	Terry Griffiths  (WAL)
Score	9–6
← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 Masters (officially the 1981 Benson & Hedges Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from Tuesday 27 January to Sunday 1 February 1981 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England. The number of invited players had been raised to 12, which saw Steve Davis make his Masters debut and a rise in prize money. With the increase in the number of players the tournament was extended from 5 days to 6, with a Sunday finish.

Alex Higgins reached his fourth consecutive Masters final by defeating Cliff Thorburn 6–5 in the semi-finals, despite having trailed 1–5. There he reversed the result of the 1980 final against Terry Griffiths, who had himself made a dramatic recovery to beat John Spencer 6–5 in the semi-finals, after trailing 2–5 and needing two snookers in the eighth frame. Griffiths set a new tournament record break of 136 in the final. The tournament attracted 18,742 spectators in its six days, including a new British tournament record of 2,422 for the final session.

Main draw

^{[1] [2] [3]}

	Round 1 Best of 9 frames					Quarter-finals Best of 9 frames					Semi-finals Best of 11 frames					Final Best of 17 frames
						Terry Griffiths  (WAL)		5
	Fred Davis  (ENG)		5			Fred Davis		2
	Kirk Stevens  (CAN)		4								Terry Griffiths		6
											John Spencer		5
						Ray Reardon  (WAL)		1
	Dennis Taylor  (NIR)		2			John Spencer		5
	John Spencer  (ENG)		5													Terry Griffiths		6
																Alex Higgins		9
						Alex Higgins  (NIR)		5
	Eddie Charlton  (AUS)		0			Doug Mountjoy		1
	Doug Mountjoy  (WAL)		5								Alex Higgins		6
											Cliff Thorburn		5
						Cliff Thorburn  (CAN)		5
	Perrie Mans  (RSA)		5			Perrie Mans		4
	Steve Davis  (ENG)		3

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: John Smyth Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 1 February 1981.
Alex Higgins   Northern Ireland	9–6	Terry Griffiths   Wales
First session:117–10 (75), 38–69, 54–64, 62–47, 99–38, 58–31, 20–69, 69–10, 77–37, 75–39, 113–5, 0–136 (136), 31–97, 51–62, 85–48
75	Highest break	136
0	Century breaks	1
1	50+ breaks	1

Century breaks

Total: 2 ^[4]

• 136 – Terry Griffiths
• 102 – Cliff Thorburn

References

1. "1981 Masters Results". Snooker Database. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
2. "The Masters". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
3. "1981 Benson & Hedges Masters". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
4. "1981 Masters". CueTracker - Snooker Results and Statistics Database. Retrieved 19 January 2015.