Park Drive 2000
| Tournament status | |
|---|---|
| Ranking tournament: | - |
| Minor ranking tournament: | - |
| Invitation tournament: | 1971-1972 |
| Tournament dates of the last edition | |
| Venue: | different, different |
| Prize money (total): | £ 2,000 |
| Prize money (winner): | 750 pounds |
| Frames in the final: | Best of 9 |
| Records | |
| Most wins: |
 John Spencer (3 ×)
|
| Highest Break: | 146 Ray Reardon (Fall 1972)
|
| Venue (s) on the map | |
| the exact locations are unknown | |
The Park Drive 2000 was a beginning of the 1970s, four times material discharged professional snooker tournament with the status of Invitation Tournament. The editions of the tournament took place in spring and autumn of each year and were therefore also referred to as Park Drive 2000 - Spring and Park Drive 2000 - Autumn . The venues were each different, more details are unknown. John Spencer is a record winner with three titles; his main competitor Ray Reardon played the highest break in tournament history with a 146 break during the last edition.
history
The tournament arose after a discussion between Clive Everton and the Gallaher group , who wanted to appear as sponsor and named the tournament their Park Drive brand . A total of four players took part in each edition of the tournament. The tournament took place as a three-fold round-robin tournament , with the games being played in various locations. At the end of these three rounds, a final table was drawn up, the top two players of which met in a final. There were a total of four editions, which fell in the spring and autumn of 1971 and 1972, respectively. Park Drive was the sponsor .
The first edition of the tournament took place from January 4th to 31st, 1971 during the 1970/71 season . The three Englishmen John Spencer , John Pulman and Rex Williams as well as the Welshman Gary Owen took part. Spencer and Williams were able to qualify for the final, in which Spencer won 4-1 and took the £ 750 prize money. Old master John Pulman played the only Century Break of the tournament worth 119 points. For the autumn edition, Gary Owen was replaced by his compatriot Ray Reardon , who together with defending champion Spencer promptly qualified for the final and won it 4: 3. However, Spencer played the tournament's highest break with a 136 break.
There was also a change of participants for the next edition in spring 1972; Rex Williams was replaced by the aspiring Northern Irishman Alex Higgins . Like Reardon last year, he qualified straight away for the final, in which he had to admit defeat to John Spencer 3: 4. With a 102 break, the Northern Irishman played the highest break of the edition. For the next edition in autumn, the participants remained unchanged and again John Spencer and Alex Higgins prevailed in the group stage. As in the previous year, however, Higgins lost in the final; this time Spencer won 5-3. During the group stage, Ray Reardon had played a 146 break, the highest break in a professional tournament at the time. This edition was the last edition of the tournament. Then the sponsor switched to the snooker world championship , which meant the end of this tournament.
Clive Everton wrote in an article for the BBC in 2005 that Alex Higgins had won one of the four tournaments. The data given here do not contain this information and are supported by entries in the snooker database CueTracker as well as by archive versions of the website of the late author Chris Turner.
winner
| year | venue | winner | Result | finalist | sponsor | season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park Drive 2000 Invitational Tournament | ||||||
| Spring 1971 | different |
John Spencer
|
4: 1 |
Rex Williams
|
Park Drive | 1970/71 |
| Fall 1971 |
Ray Reardon
|
4: 3 |
John Spencer
|
1971/72 | ||
| Spring 1972 |
John Spencer
|
4: 3 |
 Alex Higgins
|
|||
| Fall 1972 |
John Spencer
|
5: 3 |
Alex Higgins
|
1972/73 | ||
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Clive Everton : The day the Masters was born. BBC Sport , February 11, 2005, accessed June 8, 2020 .
- ^ A b c Chris Turner: Other Non-Ranking and Invition Events - First held before 1980 *. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2011, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on June 8, 2020 (English).
- ^ Ron Florax: 1971 Park Drive 2000 - Spring. CueTracker.net, accessed June 8, 2020 .
- ↑ Ron Florax: 1971 Park Drive 2000 - Autumn. CueTracker.net, accessed June 8, 2020 .
- ^ Ron Florax: 1972 Park Drive 2000 - Spring. CueTracker.net, accessed June 8, 2020 .
- ^ A b Ron Florax: 1972 Park Drive 2000 - Autumn. CueTracker.net, accessed June 8, 2020 .
