1984 UK Championship

1984 Coral UK Championship

Tournament information
Dates	18 November – 2 December 1984 (1984-11-18 – 1984-12-02)
Venue	Preston Guild Hall
City	Preston
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£101,000
Winner's share	£20,000
Highest break	Jack McLaughlin  (NIR) (135)
Final
Champion	Steve Davis  (ENG)
Runner-up	Alex Higgins  (NIR)
Score	16–8
← 1983 1985 →

The 1984 UK Championship (officially the 1984 Coral UK Championship) was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England, between 18 November and 2 December 1984. This was the eighth edition of the UK Championship but only the first to be granted ranking status, as it was now open to all professional overseas players as well as those from the UK. ^{[1] [2]} The BBC aired the event from the second round onwards with two tables for the coverage up to and including the semi-finals which would remain until 1992. The championship was sponsored by sports betting company Coral.

The defending champion was Alex Higgins who won the 1983 event after defeating Steve Davis 16–15 in the final. The pair met in the final again, with Davis winning 16–8, to win his third UK Championship title. ^[3] The highest break of the tournament was a 135 made by Jack McLaughlin during the non-televised stages; the highest break of the televised stages was a 134 made by Davis. There was a total prize fund of £101,000 with the winner receiving £20,000.

The final attracted an average of 14.5 million viewers on BBC1, peaking at 15.2 million. ^[4]

Prize fund

The winner of the event received a total of £20,000. ^[5] The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

Winner:	£20,000
Highest break (TV):	£2,000
Total:	£101,800

Main draw

The tournament featured 32 players. Players in bold denote match winners. ^{[6] [7]}

Round of 32 Best of 17 frames

Alex Higgins 9–7 Tony Jones Bill Werbeniuk 1–9 Rex Williams Willie Thorne 9–7 John Parrott Eddie Charlton 9–4 Silvino Francisco Cliff Thorburn 9–4 Jack McLaughlin Terry Griffiths 6–9 Cliff Wilson David Taylor 9–6 Murdo MacLeod Ray Reardon 9–2 Danny Fowler

Kirk Stevens 9–7 Tony Chappel John Spencer 6–9 Joe Johnson Tony Knowles 9–5 Marcel Gauvreau Dennis Taylor 9–6 Warren King Jimmy White 9–5 John Campbell Doug Mountjoy 9–2 Mike Hallett Steve Davis 9–1 Tommy Murphy Tony Meo 9–4 Eugene Hughes

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Alex Higgins	9
	Rex Williams	7
					Alex Higgins	9
					Willie Thorne	5
	Willie Thorne	9
	Eddie Charlton	7
									Alex Higgins	9
									Cliff Thorburn	7
	Cliff Thorburn	9
	Cliff Wilson	3
					Cliff Thorburn	9
					Ray Reardon	8
	Ray Reardon	9
	David Taylor	4
													Alex Higgins	8
													Steve Davis	16
	Kirk Stevens	9
	Joe Johnson	2
					Kirk Stevens	9
					Tony Knowles	7
	Tony Knowles	9
	Dennis Taylor	2
									Kirk Stevens	2
									Steve Davis	9
	Jimmy White	9
	Doug Mountjoy	2
					Jimmy White	4
					Steve Davis	9
	Steve Davis	9
	Tony Meo	7

Final

Final: Best of 31 frames. Referee: Jim Thorpe The Guild Hall, Preston, England, 1 and 2 December 1984.
Steve Davis   England	16–8	Alex Higgins   Northern Ireland
First session:116–6, 89–30, 94–23, 95–0, 72–25, 70–75, 130–10 (106) Second session: 5–83, 124–1 (120), 110–0, 24–66, 0–124 (124), 65–60, 51–79 Third session: 22–116, 28–80, 9–107, 104–8, 84–11, 123–1, 91–24 Fourth session:110–32, 105–27, 65–40
120	Highest break	124
2	Century breaks	1

Century breaks

A total of 28 century breaks were made during the tournament.^{[ citation needed ]}

• 135 – Jack McLaughlin
• 134, 120, 108, 106 – Steve Davis
• 132, 125 – Cliff Thorburn
• 129, 124, 100 – Alex Higgins
• 121 – Eddie Sinclair
• 119, 114, 102 – Tony Chappel
• 119 – Willie Thorne
• 113, 100 – Tony Jones
• 111 – Peter Francisco
• 111 – Tony Meo
• 110 – Malcolm Bradley
• 108 – Steve Newbury
• 107 – Tony Knowles
• 105 – Jimmy White
• 102 – Eddie Charlton
• 101 – John Parrott
• 100 – Paddy Browne
• 100 – Robby Foldvari
• 100 – Cliff Wilson

References

1. Turner, Chris. "UK Championship". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
2. "UK Championship history". BBC Sport. 3 December 2001. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
3. Kastner, Hugo (2006). Humboldt-Ratgeber Snooker. ISBN   9783899940985 . Retrieved 14 March 2020.
4. Waumsley, Rick (April 1992). "Television's Top Ten". Snooker Scene. Birmingham: Everton's News Agency. pp. 14–15.
5. "1984 UK Championship Prize Money Breakdown". snookerdatabase.co.uk. Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
6. "1984 UK Championship Results". Snooker Database. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
7. "UK Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2012.