Canadian Open 1979 (snooker)

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Canadian Open 1979
Billiard Picto 2-black.svg

Tournament type: Non-ranking
Attendees: 39
Venue: Canadian National Exhibition , Toronto , Canada
Opening: September 1979
Endgame: September 1979

Defending champion: CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn
Winner: CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn
Finalist: WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths
Highest Break: 142 ( Tony Meo ) EnglandEngland
← 1978
 
1980 →

The 1979 Canadian Open was a professional, non-ranking snooker tournament for the 1979/80 season . It was held in September 1979 as part of the Canadian National Exhibition in the Canadian city ​​of Toronto . Last year's winner and local hero Cliff Thorburn was able to defend his title with a victory in the Decider over the reigning world champion Terry Griffiths . Last year's finalist played the highest break with a 142 break.

Prize money

As in the previous year, only the winners and finalists received prize money, which was reduced by around a quarter compared to the previous year.

Prize money
winner £ 2,222
finalist 776 pounds
All in all £ 2,998

Tournament course

Compared to the previous year, the number of participants more than doubled from 18 to 39. This time, in addition to 17 professional players, 22 amateurs mainly from Canada, but also from England and Wales took part in the tournament. All amateurs and several professional players competed in the first two rounds, with the first round being played in the best of 9 frames mode and the second round in the best of 17 frames mode . The last sixteen, in which the rest of the field of participants or the world elite joined the tournament, was played in the same mode that was used up to and including the semi-finals. The endgame was finally played in Best of 33 Frames mode.

As the best-placed player in the world rankings, the number two in the world, the Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor , took part in the tournament.

First round

game Player 1 Result Player 2
1 (29)  Jim Wych CanadaCanada 35 : 35 CanadaCanada C. McManus  (A)
2 (29)  Frank Jonik CanadaCanada 51: 51 CanadaCanada Jim Whittaker  (A)
3 (A)  Jimmy White EnglandEngland 15 : 15 CanadaCanada T. Sloan  (A)
4th (29)  Paul Thornley CanadaCanada 15 : 15 CanadaCanada Larry Firth  (A)
5 (A)  Gordon Tekatck CanadaCanada 4th5 : 45 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Clive Everton  (A)
6th (A)  Kenny Shea CanadaCanada 35 : 35 CanadaCanada Eddie Galati  (A)
7th (29)  Kevin Robitaille CanadaCanada 05 : 05 CanadaCanada B. Spence  (A)
8th (A)  Tom Regina CanadaCanada 25 : 25 CanadaCanada G. Mahoney  (A)
9 (A)  Derek Norris CanadaCanada 05 : 05 CanadaCanada John Dillon  (A)
10 (29)  Mario Morra CanadaCanada 4th5 : 45 CanadaCanada Tony le May  (A)
11 (29)  Joe Johnson EnglandEngland 4th5 : 45 CanadaCanada Steve Baruda  (A)
12 (A)  D. Ireland CanadaCanada 35 : 35 EnglandEngland Ian Williamson  (A)
13 (A)  Kari Elovaara CanadaCanada 25 : 25 CanadaCanada Eddy Agha  (A)
14th (27)  Bernard Bennett EnglandEngland 15 : 15 CanadaCanada E. Karonen  (A)
15th (29)  John Bear CanadaCanada 35 : 35 CanadaCanada Bernie Mikkelsen  (29)

Further course of the tournament

  Second round
best of 17 frames 		Round of 16
best of 17 frames 		Quarterfinals
Best of 17 frames 		Semi-final
best of 17 frames 		Final
Best of 33 frames
                                             
A. CanadaCanada Kari Elovaara 9   2 Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Dennis Taylor 9  
A. CanadaCanada Tom Regina 8th   A. CanadaCanada Kari Elovaara 2  
  2 Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Dennis Taylor 3  
  19th CanadaCanada Kirk Stevens 9  
29 EnglandEngland Joe Johnson 9   19th CanadaCanada Kirk Stevens 9
29 CanadaCanada John Bear 7th   29 EnglandEngland Joe Johnson 2  
  19th CanadaCanada Kirk Stevens 8th  
  8th WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 9  
27 EnglandEngland Bernard Bennett 7th   8th WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 9  
A. CanadaCanada Derek Norris 9   A. CanadaCanada Derek Norris 6th  
  8th WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 9
  29 CanadaCanada Jim Wych 2  
29 CanadaCanada Jim Wych 9   29 EnglandEngland Tony Meo 8th
29 CanadaCanada Mario Morra 7th   29 CanadaCanada Jim Wych 9  
  8th WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 16
  5 CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn 17th
A. CanadaCanada Gordon Tekatch 9   5 CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn 9  
A. CanadaCanada Kenny Shea 5   A. CanadaCanada Gordon Tekatch 1  
  5 CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn 9
  18th EnglandEngland Steve Davis 6th  
A. EnglandEngland Jimmy White 9   18th EnglandEngland Steve Davis 9
A. EnglandEngland Tony Knowles 5   A. EnglandEngland Jimmy White 3  
  5 CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn 9
  11 Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Alex Higgins 6th  
29 CanadaCanada Kevin Robitaille 9   11 Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Alex Higgins 9  
A. CanadaCanada D. Ireland 5   29 CanadaCanada Kevin Robitaille 0  
  11 Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Alex Higgins 9
  12 CanadaCanada Bill Werbeniuk 5  
29 CanadaCanada Paul Thornley 9   12 CanadaCanada Bill Werbeniuk 9
A. CanadaCanada Jim Whittaker 2   29 CanadaCanada Paul Thornley 8th  

final

The reigning world champion Terry Griffiths had made it to the final with a 9: 8 win over Kirk Stevens . His Canadian opponent and defending champion Cliff Thorburn had defeated Alex Higgins , who had become world champion in 1972.

After an initial lead from Griffiths, Thorburn took a 3-1 lead before his Welsh opponent equalized to 3-3. But Thorburn managed to win seven frames in a row for a 10-3 lead. Immediately afterwards, Griffiths came up to 10: 8 on Thorburn, who won another frame, but Griffiths completed his winning streak with a score of 10:11 for Thorburn. After Thorburn had extended the lead by another frame, Griffiths equalized and took the lead for the second time, this time at 12:13. Thorburn, for his part, equalized directly and took the lead at 15:13 before Griffiths equalized again at 15:15. The next frame went to Thorburn again, but Griffiths managed to win the next frame and thus reach the decider . But Thorburn won this 73:49, so he won both the match and the tournament.

For Thorburn it was already the third win at the Canadian Open, the fourth and last one year later. In addition, Thorburn should inherit the world title from Griffiths at the end of the season.

Final: Best of 33 Frames
Canadian National Exhibition ,  Toronto , Canada , September 1979
WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 16: 17 CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn
98 : 39; 37: 80 ; 30: 64 ; 8: 59 ; 114 : 5 (73); 104 : 13 (63); 48: 67 ; 21: 69 ;
56: 69 ; 0: 101 (81); 23: 80 (50); 40: 71 ; 38: 74 ; 86 : 40 (81); 109 : 0 (109); 88 : 32 (88)
70 : 43; 57:21 ; 41: 64 ; 67:20 ; 62 : 51; 36: 98 (94); 67:17 ; 81:21 ;
72:57 ; 0: 75 (75); 19: 55 ; 7: 72 ; 57:36 ; 67 : 11; 50: 77 ; 90:40 ; 49: 73
94 Highest break 109
- Century breaks 1
4th 50+ breaks 5

Century Breaks

During the tournament, 12 century breaks of six games were played.

EnglandEngland Tony Meo 142
CanadaCanada Kirk Stevens 128
EnglandEngland Steve Davis 120, 100
CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn 116, 111, 108, 102, 101
WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 109 (2 ×)
EnglandEngland Joe Johnson 100

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ron Florax: 1979 Canadian Open. CueTracker.net, accessed March 19, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Chris Turner: Canadian Open / Canadian Masters - World Ranking and Invitation Events. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2011, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on March 19, 2019 (English).
  3. ↑ a b Ron Florax: 1979 Canadian Open - Finishes. CueTracker.net, accessed March 19, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Ron Florax: Rankings - 1979-1980. CueTracker.net, accessed March 19, 2019 .