The 1978 Champion of Champions (officially the 1978 Daily Mirror Champion of Champions) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament held on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 November 1978 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 2–3 November 1978 |
| 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 → | |
Summary
editFour 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]
Prize fund
editThe breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
There was a £100 prize for every century break.[2]
Players
editThe following 4 players qualified for the tournament:[2]
| Player | Qualified as |
|---|---|
| Ray Reardon |
1978 World Snooker Championship winner |
 Patsy Fagan |
1977 UK Championship winner |
| Alex Higgins |
1978 Masters winner |
| Doug Mountjoy |
1978 Pot Black winner |
Main draw
edit| Semi-finals Best of 11 frames (2 November) | Final Best of 21 frames (3 November) | |||||
| Ray Reardon | 6 | |||||
| Patsy Fagan | 1 | |||||
| Ray Reardon | 11 | |||||
| Alex Higgins | 9 | |||||
| Alex Higgins | 6 | |||||
| Doug Mountjoy | 3 | |||||
Final
edit| 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 (52)–8; 90 (90)–43; 75–46; 28–108; 60–43; 20–114 (83); 13–101 (76); 104 (70)–19; 1–140 (61,62); 84–22 Evening: 78–36; 101 (67)–18; 12–100; 73 (61)–48; 41–90; 51–60; 23–83 (51); 30–72; 78 (77)–46; 94–12 | ||
| 90 | Highest break | 83 |
| 0 | Century breaks | 0 |
| 6 | 50+ breaks | 5 |
Century breaks
editNone. The highest break: 94 Alex Higgins
References
edit- ^ a b c d "1978 Champion of Champions". cuetracker.net. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
- ^ a b c "Snooker – World champion in semi-final faces Fagan". The Times. 2 November 1978. p. 13.
- ^ "Snooker – Higgins lives up to his 'Hurricane' tag". The Times. 3 November 1978. p. 22.
- ^ "Snooker – Reardon repels determined rally by Higgins". The Times. 4 November 1978. p. 6.
- ^ "Weekend broadcasting – Personal choice". The Times. 5 November 1978. p. 11.