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. 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. 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 14.5million viewers on BBC1, peaking at 15.2million.
Prize fund The winner of the event received a total of £20,000. 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.
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
Final Final: Best of 31 frames. Referee: Jim ThorpeThe Guild Hall, Preston, England, 1 and 2 December 1984. Steve Davis 16–8 Alex Higgins 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, 51–79Third session: 22–116, 28–80, 9–107, 104–8, 84–11, 123–1, 91–24Fourth 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.
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