The 1980 British Gold Cup was a professional snooker tournament with no impact on the world rankings during the 1979/80 season . The tournament was held from February 24 to 28, 1980 in the Assembly Rooms of the English city of Derby in Derbyshire and was the first edition of the British Open , which was part of the professional tour until 2004 . The winner of the first edition was the Northern Irishman Alex Higgins , who managed a 5-1 win over Ray Reardon in the final . At the same time he played the highest break of the tournament with a 135 break.
The British Gold Cup had no sponsor, but it still had a total of £ 9,000 in prize money divided between the top four players, slightly less than half of which, at £ 4,000, went to the winner.
Prize money
winner
£ 4,000
finalist
£ 3,000
Semi-finalist
£ 1,000
Group stage
£ 0
All in all
£ 9,000
Tournament course
Even before the main round, a qualifying group phase was held, in which twelve players were divided into four groups of three and the winners each advanced to the main round. In addition to the four qualifiers, twelve other players took part in this, who together were also divided into four groups of four and played a simple round-robin tournament . The first place in the group advanced to the semi-finals and was decided by a one-frame play-off in the event of a tie. From the semi-finals, the winner was determined in the knockout system . All group games were played over three frames and the play-off over one frame, while the semi-finals were played in the best of 7 frames mode and the final in the best of 9 frames mode .
1In principle, there was a tie between Higgins and Griffiths in the final table of the group stage, but no play-off game has been recorded. Anyway, Higgins qualified for the finals.
The Northern Irishman Alex Higgins had just barely survived the group stage and met Tony Meo in the semifinals , whom he defeated with a white wash . In the final he met Ray Reardon , who had been crowned group winner with confidence, but then only defeated Dennis Taylor in the decider in the semifinals . Nevertheless, Reardon won the first frame of the game, but had no chance in the further course of the game when Higgins also won five frames in a row with a 132 break and thus the game with 5: 1.
Final: Best of 9 Frames Assembly Rooms, Derby , England , February 28, 1980
A total of twelve players took part in the qualification, the duration of which is unknown. They were divided into four groups of three, in which they played a simple round- robin tournament and the group winner finally qualified for the main round.
Alex Higgins
Ray Reardon
Willie Thorne
Patsy Fagan
Bill Werbeniuk
