1979 UK Snooker Championship
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The 1979 Coral UK Championship took place at the Guildhall, Preston in November/December 1979.
33 year old John Virgo confounded those who doubted his ability to win on the big occasion by defending Terry Griffiths, the reigning world champion, by the odd frame of a final cheifly notable for the award of two frames to Grffiths to penalise Virgo's late arrival for the final session after an alarm clock failed to go off and Virgo therefore overslept, turning in for the tournament late. This is a fact he likes to pepper his commentary with nowadays when he's in the commentary box for the BBC.
The general pattern of results indicated a new generation about to emerge to take over from most of the players who had dominated the 1970s. Of the quarter-finalists, only Ray Edmonds, himself a relatively new professional, was over 35. Steve Davis, 22 years old was the youngest playing in his first ever major quarter-final.
Canadian Bill Werbeniuk played in the competition as a UK citizen and made it to the semi finals losing to Terry Griffiths 9-3.
The BBC covered the coverage again with more days other than the final in the last 2 years but the final session was not covered due to a technian's strike
[edit] Prize Money
Winner £4,500
Total £15,000
[edit] Highest Break
???
[edit] The Results
1st Round Best of 17 frames
John Dunning 9-8 David Greaves
Mike Hallett 9-1 Maurice Parkin
Jackie Rea 9-8 Bernard Bennett
2nd Round Best of 17 frames
Tony Meo 9-7 David Taylor
Willie Thorne 9-4 Roy Andrewartha
Bill Werbeniuk 9-3 Joe Johnson
Ray Edmonds 9-3 Jim Meadowcroft
Pat Houlihan 9-3 Jackie Rea
| Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
 Steve Davis |
9 | |||||||||||||
 Doug Mountjoy |
5 | |||||||||||||
| John Virgo |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Steve Davis |
7 | |||||||||||||
| John Virgo |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Meo |
6 | |||||||||||||
| John Virgo |
9 | |||||||||||||
 Dennis Taylor |
4 | |||||||||||||
| Dennis Taylor |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Willie Thorne |
8 | |||||||||||||
| Dennis Taylor |
9 | |||||||||||||
 Patsy Fagan |
6 | |||||||||||||
| Patsy Fagan |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Graham Miles |
5 | |||||||||||||
| John Virgo |
14 | |||||||||||||
| Terry Griffiths |
13 | |||||||||||||
 Bill Werbeniuk |
9 | |||||||||||||
| John Spencer |
8 | |||||||||||||
| Bill Werbeniuk |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Ray Edmonds |
8 | |||||||||||||
| Ray Edmonds |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Fred Davis |
6 | |||||||||||||
| Terry Griffiths |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Bill Werbeniuk |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Alex Higgins |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Pat Houlihan |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Terry Griffiths |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Alex Higgins |
7 | |||||||||||||
| Terry Griffiths |
9 | |||||||||||||
| Cliff Wilson |
4 | |||||||||||||
