1978 Champion of Champions

1978 Daily Mirror Champion of ChampionsTournament information

Dates| 2–3 November 1978 (1978-11-02 – 1978-11-03)
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 ->

Snooker tournament

The 1978 Champion of Champions (officially the 1978 Daily Mirror Champion of Champions) was a professional non‑ranking snooker tournament held on 2 and 3 November 1978 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England.

## Summary

[edit]

Four 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][6]

## Prize fund

[edit]

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

* Winner: £2,000
* Runner-up: £1,000
* Semi-finals: £500
* Total: £4,000[1]

There was a £100 prize for every century break.[2]

## Players

[edit]

The following 4 players qualified for the tournament:[2]

Player | Qualified as

|

Ray Reardon (WAL) | 1978 World Snooker Championship winner
Patsy Fagan (IRL) | 1977 UK Championship winner
Alex Higgins (NIR) | 1978 Masters winner
Doug Mountjoy (WAL) | 1978 Pot Black winner

## Main draw

[edit]

[1]

| Semi-finals
Best of 11 frames
(2 November)| | Final
Best of 21 frames
(3 November)

|
|
|

|  |  |  |  |  |

|  | |

|  Ray Reardon (WAL)| 6

|  Patsy Fagan (IRL)| 1 |

|  Ray Reardon (WAL)| 11

| |  Alex Higgins (NIR)| 9

|  Alex Higgins (NIR)| 6

|  Doug Mountjoy (WAL)| 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: 125–8 (52), 90–43 (90), 75–46, 28–108, 60–43, 20–114 (83), 13–101 (76), 104–19 (70), 1–140 (61, 62), 84–22
Evening: 78–36, 101–18 (67), 12–100, 73–48 (61), 41–90, 51–60, 23–83 (51), 30–72, 78–46 (77), 94–12
(frame 2) 90 | Highest break  | 83 (frame 6)
0 | Century breaks  | 0
6 | 50+ breaks  | 5

## Century breaks

[edit]

None. The highest break: 94 – Alex Higgins in the semi‑final.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "Daily Mirror Champion of Champions (1978)". snooker.org. 24 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
2. ^ a b c "Snooker – World champion in semi-final faces Fagan". The Times. 2 November 1978. p. 13.
3. ^ "Snooker – Higgins lives up to his 'Hurricane' tag". The Times. 3 November 1978. p. 22.
4. ^ "Snooker – Reardon repels determined rally by Higgins". The Times. 4 November 1978. p. 6.
5. ^ "Weekend broadcasting – Personal choice". The Times. 5 November 1978. p. 11.
6. ^ Everton, Clive (4 November 1978). "Reardon the champion". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2024 - via newspapers.com.

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Champion of Champions

Tournaments|

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* List of winners

* v
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1978–79 snooker season

Ranking events|

* World Championship

Non-ranking events|

* Canadian Open
* Champion of Champions
* UK Championship
* Australian Professional Championship
* Pot Black
* Holsten Lager International
* The Masters
* Forward Chemicals Tournament
* Irish Masters
* Bombay International
* Tolly Cobbold Classic
* Pontins Professional
* Golden Masters

* 1978–79 world rankings

*[WAL]: Wales
*[NIR]: Northern Ireland
*[IRL]: Ireland
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