1980 Classic (1979/1980)
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 7–8 January 1980 |
| Venue | New Century Hall |
| City | Manchester |
| Country | England |
| Organisation | WPBSA |
| Format | Non-Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £9,500[1] |
| Winner's share | £3,000[2] |
| Highest break | .svg.png){kind=small} Alex Higgins (NIR) (75) |
| Final | |
| Champion |  John Spencer |
| Runner-up | Alex Higgins |
| Score | 4–3 |
← First 1980 (December) → | |
The 1980 Wilson's Classic (January) was the inaugural edition of the professional invitational snooker tournament, which took place on 7 and 8 January 1980. The tournament was played at the New Century Hall in Manchester, and featured eight professional players.[3]
John Spencer won the tournament, beating Alex Higgins 4–3 in the final.[4] A second Classic was staged in 1980 in December with Steve Davis winning the title.
Higgins made the highest break of the tournament, 75, during the final.[2]
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[2]
- Winner: £3,000
- Runner-up: £1,500
- Semi-final: £1,000
- Quarter-final: £600
- Highest break: £600
- Total: £9,500[1]
Main draw
| Quarter-finals Best of 3 frames | Semi-finals Best of 3 frames | Final Best of 7 frames | ||||||||||||
 Terry Griffiths
| 2 | |||||||||||||
| Jim Meadowcroft
| 0 | Terry Griffiths
| 0 | |||||||||||
| Alex Higgins
| 2 | Alex Higgins
| 2 | |||||||||||
| Dennis Taylor
| 0 | Alex Higgins
| 3 | |||||||||||
| John Spencer
| 2 | John Spencer
| 4 | |||||||||||
| Graham Miles
| 0 | John Spencer
| 2 | |||||||||||
| John Virgo
| 2 | John Virgo
| 0 | |||||||||||
| Doug Mountjoy
| 0 | |||||||||||||
Final
| Final: Best of 7 frames. Referee: Jim Thorpe. New Century Hall, Manchester, England, 8 January 1980. | ||
| Alex Higgins Northern Ireland
|
3–4 | John Spencer England
|
| 46–64, 50–51, 102–39, 97(75)–19, 70 (52)–26, 29–67, 90(52)–30 | ||
| 75 | Highest break | 52 |
| 0 | Century breaks | 0 |
| 2 | 50+ breaks | 1 |
References
- ^ a b "Repeat clash". Manchester Evening News. 3 January 1980. p. 27.
- ^ a b c d "Spencer beats Higgins to win Wilson's Classic". Snooker Scene. February 1980. pp. 16–17.
- ^ "Reardon takes on Spencer". Evening Sentinel. 12 December 1979. p. 19.
- ^ "Wilson's Classic, Lada Classic, Mercantile Credit Classic". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ "1980 Mercantile Credit Classic Results Grid". Snooker Database. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2018.