1980 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	22 April–5 May 1980
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£60,000
Winner's share	£15,000
Highest break	136 (x2)
Final
Champion	Cliff Thorburn
Runner-up	Alex Higgins
Score	18–16
← 1979 1981 →

The 1980 Embassy World Snooker Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 22 April and 5 May 1980 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Cliff Thorburn won in the final 18–16 against Alex Higgins.

Tournament summary

• Tony Meo, Cliff Wilson and Ray Edmonds made their Crucible debuts, however they lost in the first round 9–10 against Alex Higgins, 6–10 against Doug Mountjoy and 5–10 David Taylor respectively.^[1][2][3] John Pulman made his last appearance at the World Championship, but lost 5–10 against Canadian Jim Wych.^[4]
• The championship extended the players who played the Crucible from 16 to 24 with the top eight players going automatically in to round 2.^[5]
• To accommodate these eight extra matches, the frames in each match were also revamped. The first round went to 19 frames, the second and quarter-finals to 25, the semi-finals to 31 and the final to 35 frames. The format still continues today except for the semi-final, which became a 33-frame match in 1997.^[5]
• The coverage of the final was interrupted by coverage of the Iranian Embassy Siege, as the BBC took the snooker off the air to bring live coverage about the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy in London.^[6]
• John Street refereed the final.^[7]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[8]

• Winner: £15,000
• Runner-up: £8,000
• Semi-final: £4,000
• Quarter-final: £2,000
• Last 16: £1,500
• Last 32: £750

• Highest break: £1,000
• Maximum break: £10,000

• Total: £60,000

Main draw

^[5][9][10]

	Round 1 Best of 19 frames					Round 2 Best of 25 frames					Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames					Semi-finals Best of 31 frames					Final Best of 35 frames
		Steve Davis	10				Terry Griffiths (1)	10
		Patsy Fagan	6				Steve Davis	13
												Steve Davis	9
												Alex Higgins	13
		Alex Higgins	10		Perrie Mans (8)	6
		Tony Meo	9				Alex Higgins	13
																	Alex Higgins	16
																Kirk Stevens	13
		Kirk Stevens	10				John Spencer (5)	8
		Graham Miles	3				Kirk Stevens	13
												Kirk Stevens	13
												Eddie Charlton (4)	7
		John Virgo	10		Eddie Charlton (4)	13
		Jim Meadowcroft	2				John Virgo	12
																						Alex Higgins	16
																						Cliff Thorburn (3)	18
		Doug Mountjoy	10				Cliff Thorburn (3)	13
		Cliff Wilson	6				Doug Mountjoy	10
												Cliff Thorburn (3)	13
												Jim Wych	6
		Jim Wych	10		Dennis Taylor (6)	10
		John Pulman	5				Jim Wych	13
																	Cliff Thorburn (3)	16
																David Taylor	7
		David Taylor	10				Fred Davis (7)	5
		Ray Edmonds	3				David Taylor	13
												David Taylor	13
												Ray Reardon (2)	11
		Bill Werbeniuk	10		Ray Reardon (2)	13
		Willie Thorne	9				Bill Werbeniuk	6

Century breaks

There were 11 century breaks at the championship.^[9] Kirk Stevens and Steve Davis shared the high break prize when they both made a 136 break. It was the first time the highest break would go to two players.^[11][12][13] There was also a £5,000 bonus for compiling a higher break than the championship record of 142.^[8]

• 136, 116 Steve Davis
• 136 Kirk Stevens
• 123, 104 Doug Mountjoy
• 122 Alex Higgins
• 119, 114 Cliff Thorburn
• 108 John Spencer
• 106 Fred Davis
• 101 Bill Werbeniuk

References