Pontins Professional

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Pontins Professional
Tournament status
Ranking tournament: -
Minor ranking tournament: -
Invitation tournament: 1974-2000
Tournament dates of the last edition
Venue: Pontin's Prestatyn , Prestatyn
Prize money (total):
Prize money (winner):
Frames in the final: Best of 17
Records
Most wins: WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon  (4 ×)
Highest Break:
Venue (s) on the map

The Pontins Professional was a tournament for snooker professionals from 1974 to 2000 . As an invitation tournament, it never had the status of a ranked tournament .

history

In the early 1970s, the British holiday operator Pontins introduced snooker events for its holiday resorts. Especially in the holiday park in Prestatyn on the Welsh coast, snooker professionals often performed and created a special attraction. In 1974 the Pontins Spring Open was therefore introduced as a spring event , at which holidaymakers could compete against professional players. The professionals got a handicap in the form of a point deduction. At the same time, a purely professional tournament was held, which was scheduled to end the season after the snooker world championship at the beginning of the summer break and was therefore attractive to many professionals. Initially, a group phase was also experimented with, but the tournament was mostly played as an elimination tournament with 8 participants. In 1981 a second open tournament was introduced in the fall, the Pontins Autumn Open.

Prestatyn developed beyond the tournament to a center of the snooker sport. For years the qualification rounds for the big snooker tournaments took place there. While the prize money increased enormously in other tournaments, the Pontins Professional only received £ 5,000 prize money at the best of times. The professional tournament lost its attractiveness and was discontinued in 2000, while the open tournaments continued. In the 2000s there was a Pro-Am tournament series instead of the tournament and from 2005 to 2010 the Pontin's International Open Series , the qualifying series for the amateurs for the Snooker Main Tour in Wales, took place. After that, the professional tour was increasingly redesigned and Prestatyn lost its importance for professional snooker.

The record winner of the Pontins Professional is Ray Reardon from Welsh , who won the first three editions of the tournament and was victorious a fourth time after a one-year break. He was in the final seven times. His compatriot Terry Griffiths and the Irish Ken Doherty each won the tournament three times. With Darren Morgan and Doug Mountjoy there were two more multiple winners from Wales, the Englishman Neal Foulds also won two tournaments. John Spencer made it to the finals six times, but only won the title once.

winner

year winner Result finalist season
Pontins Professional
1974 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon 10: 9 EnglandEngland John Spencer 1973/74
1975 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon 10: 4 EnglandEngland John Spencer 1974/75
1976 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon 10: 9 EnglandEngland Fred Davis 1975/76
1977 EnglandEngland John Spencer 7: 5 EnglandEngland John Pulman 1976/77
1978 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon 7: 2 EnglandEngland John Spencer 1977/78
1979 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Doug Mountjoy 8: 4 EnglandEngland Graham Miles 1978/79
1980 EnglandEngland John Virgo 9: 6 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon 1979/80
1981 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 9: 8 EnglandEngland Willie Thorne 1980/81
1982 EnglandEngland Steve Davis 9: 4 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon 1981/82
1983 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Doug Mountjoy 9: 7 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon 1982/83
1984 EnglandEngland Willie Thorne 9: 7 EnglandEngland John Spencer 1983/84
1985 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 9: 7 EnglandEngland John Spencer 1984/85
1986 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths 9: 6 EnglandEngland Willie Thorne 1985/86
1987 EnglandEngland Neal Foulds 9: 8 EnglandEngland Willie Thorne 1986/87
1988 EnglandEngland John Parrott 9: 1 EnglandEngland Mike Hallett 1987/88
1989 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan 9: 2 MaltaMalta Tony Drago 1988/89
1990 ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry 9: 6 EnglandEngland Mike Hallett 1989/90
1991 EnglandEngland Neal Foulds 9: 6 EnglandEngland Mike Hallett 1990/91
1992 EnglandEngland Steve James 9: 8 EnglandEngland Neal Foulds 1991/92
1993 IrelandIreland Ken Doherty 9: 3 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan 1992/93
1994 IrelandIreland Ken Doherty 9: 5 EnglandEngland Nigel Bond 1993/94
1995 EnglandEngland Peter Ebdon 9: 8 IrelandIreland Ken Doherty 1994/95
1996 IrelandIreland Ken Doherty 9: 7 EnglandEngland Nigel Bond 1995/96
1997 EnglandEngland Martin Clark 9: 7 EnglandEngland Andy Hicks 1996/97
1998 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Mark Williams 9: 6 EnglandEngland Martin Clark 1997/98
1999 EnglandEngland Jimmy White 9: 5 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Matthew Stevens 1998/99
2000 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan 9: 2 EnglandEngland Jimmy White 1999/00

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