The 1980 UK Championship (officially the 1980 Coral UK Championship) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England, between 16 and 29 November 1980. This was the fourth edition of the UK Championship and the third staging of the competition in Preston. The event was sponsored by Coral for the third consecutive year. The televised stages were shown on the BBC from 22 to 29 November – the BBC's television coverage had been extended to eight days after the success of other competitions such as the World Championship. They covered from the quarter-finals which matches were played on a one table stage of two sessions a day and would remain that way until it became a ranking event in 1984.
Steve Davis defeated Alex Higgins 16–6 in the final to win his first major title, after making his first major quarter-final in the previous year's championship. Davis whitewashed Terry Griffiths 9–0 in the semi-finals on his way to the final. The highest break of the tournament was a 134 made by Higgins.
Prize fund
Winner: £6,000 Runner-up: £3,000 Semi-final: £1,500 Quarter-final: £1,000 Last 16: £500 Last 24: £250
Main draw
Final Final: Best of 31 frames. Referee: Jim Thorpe (first session), John Williams (other sessions)The Guild Hall, Preston, England, 28 and 29 November 1980. Steve Davis 16–6 Alex Higgins First session: 93–29 (69), 107–16, 27–79 (58), 79–16 (60), 26–69, 114–0 (114), 96–29 (95), 65–41, 68–29, 81–24, 28–74 Second session: 60–66, 47–55, 64–10 (64), 81–38 Third session: 74–21 (55), 105–12 (75), 65–32, 62–70 (Davis 61, Higgins 66), 86–34 (75), 97–20, 64–46 114 Highest break 66 1 Century breaks 0 9 50+ breaks 2
Qualifying
Preliminary round Best of 17 frames
Kingsley Kennerley W/O Jackie Rea
Sid Hood 9–3 Chris Ross
Mike Hallett 9–8 Bernard Bennett
Last 32 Best of 17 frames
Tony Meo 9–5 Sid Hood
Mike Hallett 9–8 Ray Edmonds
Eddie Sinclair 9–1 Kingsley Kennerley
Joe Johnson 9–6 John Dunning
Jim Meadowcroft 9–1 David Greaves
Mark Wildman 9–8 Cliff Wilson
Roy Andrewartha 9–8 Tony Knowles
Rex Williams 9–1 John Barrie
Century breaks
134, 109 Alex Higgins 118 Tony Meo 118 Willie Thorne 114 Steve Davis 102 Doug Mountjoy 102 Ray Reardon
References