Terry Griffiths

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Terry Griffiths
Born	October 16, 1947
Nationality	Welsh
Professional	1978–1997
Highest ranking	#3 (1981/82)
Highest break	139
Tournament wins
Ranking events	1
Non-ranking events	7
World Champion	1979

Terry Griffiths (born October 16, 1947, Llanelli) is a retired Welsh snooker player. He is a former world champion, and is renowned for his slow, cautious style of play.

A former postman, Griffiths had a long amateur career, winning the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 and the English Amateur Championship in 1977 and 1978 before turning professional.

The then virtually unknown Griffiths shot to fame during the 1979 world championships. Interviewed after beating Eddie Charlton in a long semi-final, it suddenly dawned on him what he had done, and he said "I'm in the final now, you know!" in his broad native accent. He went on to beat Dennis Taylor 24-16 in the final, becoming world champion at his first attempt.

The Crucible Curse struck a year later, as he lost his first-round match to Steve Davis, who went on to win his first title in 1981. He never repeated this, although he reached the final in 1988, losing to Steve Davis. He has also won The Masters.

Griffiths retired from professional play in 1997, and is now coach to Marco Fu, Stephen Hendry and, until recently, Mark Williams. He also frequently commentates on snooker for the BBC.