Pontins Professional 1977

Pontins Professional 1977
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	12
Venue:	Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park , Prestatyn
Opening:	April 30, 1977
Endgame:	May 7, 1977
Defending champion:	Ray Reardon
Winner:	John Spencer
Finalist:	John Pulman
Highest Break:	96 ( John Spencer )
← 1976   1978 →

The Pontins Professional 1977 was a professional snooker invitation tournament for the 1976/77 season . The tournament was to 7 May 1977 of 30 April Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park , a Pontins - amusement park in North Wales seaside resort of Prestatyn discharged. The first winner was John Spencer , who defeated John Pulman 7: 5 in an all-English final . At the same time, he played with a break of 96, probably the highest break of the tournament.

Prize money

As with the previous editions, the owner company of the venue, Pontins , appeared as a sponsor. Compared to last year, the prize money increased by £ 1,000 to £ 3,500, of which the winner accounted for a little less than half of £ 1,500.

	Prize money
winner	£ 1,500
finalist	£ 500
Semi-finalist	250 pounds
Group stage	125 pounds
All in all	£ 3,500

Tournament course

Compared to the previous year, the number of participants increased to twelve players with this edition. The tournament started with a group phase in which a simple round- robin tournament was played in two groups of six . The two best players in each group then met in a play-off game, from which the winners advanced to the final. After the group games were played in Best of 5 Frames mode and the play-offs in Best of 3 Frames mode, the final was played in Best of 13 Frames mode.

Group stage

Group A

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames	Diff.	Pt
1	Graham Miles	5	3	2	11: 7	+4	6th
2	John Spencer	5	3	2	11: 8	+3	6th
3	Dennis Taylor	5	3	2	10: 8	+2	6th
4th	Ray Reardon	5	3	2	9: 7	+2	6th
5	Perrie Mans	5	2	3	9:11	-2	4th
6th	Willie Thorne	5	1	4th	4:13	–9	2

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Perrie Mans	13 : 13	Dennis Taylor
2	Perrie Mans	13 : 13	Willie Thorne
3	Graham Miles	03 : 03	Willie Thorne
4th	Graham Miles	03 : 03	Ray Reardon
5	Graham Miles	13 : 13	Perrie Mans
6th	Ray Reardon	03 : 03	Dennis Taylor
7th	Ray Reardon	03 : 03	Willie Thorne
8th	Ray Reardon	13 : 13	Perrie Mans
9	John Spencer	03 : 03	Ray Reardon
10	John Spencer	13 : 13	Graham Miles
11	John Spencer	13 : 13	Perrie Mans
12	Dennis Taylor	03 : 03	Willie Thorne
13	Dennis Taylor	13 : 13	Graham Miles
14th	Dennis Taylor	13 : 13	John Spencer
15th	Willie Thorne	13 : 13	John Spencer

Group B

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames	Diff.	Pt
1	Cliff Thorburn	5	4th	1	12: 7	+5	8th
2	John Pulman	5	3	2	12: 7	+5	8th
3	Fred Davis	5	2	3	10:11	-1	4th
4th	Doug Mountjoy	5	2	3	9:11	-2	4th
5	Eddie Charlton	5	2	3	8:11	-3	4th
6th	Rex Williams	5	1	4th	9:13	-4	2

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Eddie Charlton	13 : 13	Doug Mountjoy
2	Eddie Charlton	13 : 13	Fred Davis
3	Fred Davis	03 : 03	Cliff Thorburn
4th	Fred Davis	23 : 23	Rex Williams
5	Doug Mountjoy	13 : 13	Fred Davis
6th	Doug Mountjoy	13 : 13	Rex Williams
7th	John Pulman	03 : 03	Eddie Charlton
8th	John Pulman	13 : 13	Doug Mountjoy
9	John Pulman	13 : 13	Rex Williams
10	John Pulman	23 : 23	Fred Davis
11	Cliff Thorburn	03 : 03	John Pulman
12	Cliff Thorburn	13 : 13	Doug Mountjoy
13	Cliff Thorburn	13 : 13	Eddie Charlton
14th	Cliff Thorburn	23 : 23	Rex Williams
15th	Rex Williams	13 : 13	Eddie Charlton

Play-offs

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	(A1)  Graham Miles	20: 20	John Spencer  (A2)
2	(B1)  Cliff Thorburn	21: 21	John Pulman  (B2)

final

The Englishman John Spencer won the snooker world championship in 1977 and with it his third and last world title right before the start of the tournament . Nevertheless, he needed luck in the group stage when he was one of four players with three wins in his group and thanks to his frame difference, he finished second and qualified for the play-offs. In this he defeated group winners Graham Miles 2-0 and moved into the final. In this he met John Pulman , who had won eight world championships, especially in the 1960s, and qualified for the play-offs here by taking second place in his group and for the final there with a 2-1 win over Cliff Thorburn . For the old master it should be the last final of his career.

Spencer got off to a better start and took a clear 3-0 lead, thanks in part to a break in 96, probably the tournament's highest break. After both players had each won one (further) frame, Pulman managed to get close to Spencer at 4: 4 and later to 5: 5. But this did not help him when Spencer then won two frames in a row and won the game 7: 5.

Final: Best of 13 Frames Pontins Theme Park,  Prestatyn , Wales , May 7th 1977
John Spencer	7 : 5	John Pulman
69 : 49, 79 : 25, 96 : 16 (96), 49: 77 (66), 92 : 16, 38: 67 , 53: 65 , 37: 58 , 59 : 51, 22: 55 , 66 : 59, 64 : 48
96	Highest break	66
-	Century breaks	-
1	50+ breaks	1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: 1977 Pontins Professional. CueTracker.net, accessed June 27, 2020 .  
2. ↑ Chris Turner: Pontins Open / Pontins Professional / Pontins World Pro-Am Series - Non-Ranking Events. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2008, archived from the original on February 28, 2012 ; accessed on June 27, 2020 (English).  
3. ^ Ron Florax: 1977 Pontins Professional - Finishes. CueTracker.net, accessed June 27, 2020 .