1978 Champion of Champions
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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
Four players contested the tournament which was held over two days. The event was promoted by Michael Barrett, a boxing promoter.
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. 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.
Brief highlights were shown on ITV's World of Sport on the following afternoon (Saturday 4 November, 3:10pm).
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
- Winner: £2,000
- Runner-up: £1,000
- Semi-finals: £500
- Total: £4,000
There was a £100 prize for every century break.
Players
The following 4 players qualified for the tournament:
| 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
| 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
| Final: Best of 21 frames. Referee: John Smyth. Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 3 November 1978. | ||
| 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
None. The highest break: 94 – Alex Higgins in the semi‑final.