Pontins Professional 1978

Pontins Professional 1978
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	12
Venue:	Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park , Prestatyn
Opening:	April 29, 1978
Endgame:	May 6, 1978
Defending champion:	John Spencer
Winner:	Ray Reardon
Finalist:	John Spencer
Highest Break:	122 ( Ray Reardon )
← 1977   1979 →

The 1978 Pontins Professional was a professional snooker invitation tournament for the 1977/78 season . The tournament was to 6 May 1978 of 29 April Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park , a Pontins - amusement park in North Wales seaside resort of Prestatyn discharged. The winner was Ray Reardon from Welsh , who defeated defending champion John Spencer from England 7-2 in the final. In addition, Reardon played the highest break of the tournament with a 122 break.

Prize money

The tournament was sponsored by the amusement park chain Pontins , as it was named after . Compared to the previous year, the total prize money decreased by £ 1,500 to £ 2,000, of which 75% went to the winner of £ 1,500.

	Prize money
winner	£ 1,500
finalist	£ 500
Group stage	-
All in all	£ 2,000

Tournament course

As in the previous year, twelve players took part in the tournament , starting it with a group stage in two groups of six and a simple round-robin tournament . The respective group winners qualified for the final. The games in the group phase each ran over five frames, while the final was played in the best of 13 frames mode .

Group stage

Group A

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames	Diff.	Pt
1	Ray Reardon	5	4th	1	18: 7	+11	8th
2	Doug Mountjoy	5	3	2	15:10	+5	6th
3	Dennis Taylor	5	3	2	15:10	+5	6th
4th	Patsy Fagan	5	2	3	11:14	-13	4th
5	Graham Miles	5	2	3	10:15	-15	4th
6th	John Pulman	5	1	4th	6:19	-13	2

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Patsy Fagan	23 : 23	Graham Miles
2	Patsy Fagan	23 : 23	Ray Reardon
3	Graham Miles	23 : 23	Doug Mountjoy
4th	Graham Miles	14 : 14th	John Pulman
5	Doug Mountjoy	14 : 14th	Dennis Taylor
6th	Doug Mountjoy	14 : 14th	John Pulman
7th	Doug Mountjoy	14 : 14th	Patsy Fagan
8th	John Pulman	23 : 23	Patsy Fagan
9	Ray Reardon	23 : 23	Dennis Taylor
10	Ray Reardon	14 : 14th	Doug Mountjoy
11	Ray Reardon	14 : 14th	John Pulman
12	Ray Reardon	05 : 05	Graham Miles
13	Dennis Taylor	23 : 23	Patsy Fagan
14th	Dennis Taylor	14 : 14th	Graham Miles
15th	Dennis Taylor	05 : 05	John Pulman

Group B

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames	Diff.	Pt
1	John Spencer	5	5	0	18: 7	+11	10
2	Cliff Thorburn	5	3	2	13:12	+1	6th
3	Fred Davis	5	2	3	14:11	+3	4th
4th	Perrie Mans	5	2	3	12:13	-1	4th
5	Perrie Mans	5	2	3	11:14	-3	4th
6th	Alex Higgins	5	1	4th	7:18	–11	2

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Fred Davis	14 : 14th	Alex Higgins
2	Fred Davis	14 : 14th	Perrie Mans
3	Alex Higgins	23 : 23	Cliff Thorburn
4th	Perrie Mans	14 : 14th	Alex Higgins
5	Perrie Mans	14 : 14th	Rex Williams
6th	John Spencer	23 : 23	Fred Davis
7th	John Spencer	23 : 23	Perrie Mans
8th	John Spencer	14 : 14th	Alex Higgins
9	John Spencer	14 : 14th	Cliff Thorburn
10	John Spencer	14 : 14th	Rex Williams
11	Cliff Thorburn	23 : 23	Fred Davis
12	Cliff Thorburn	23 : 23	Rex Williams
13	Cliff Thorburn	14 : 14th	Perrie Mans
14th	Rex Williams	23 : 23	Fred Davis
15th	Rex Williams	14 : 14th	Alex Higgins

final

Welshman Ray Reardon had won his sixth and final world title a few days before the start of the tournament. He had already won the first three editions of the Pontins Professional, but missed the final last year. In this edition, despite a defeat, he was the only player in his group to win four games, taking first place. In the final he met John Spencer , who had been his closest competitor for much of the past few years and who himself had won the world championship three times. The previous year's winner was in first place in his group and stormed into the final without defeat.

No exact frame results are available from the finale itself. In the end, however, Reardon won 7-2 and won his fourth title at the Pontins Professional, which despite three further finals was his last tournament win at the Pontins Professional. Nevertheless, until the tournament was closed in 2000, no player managed to break Reardon's record of four titles, making the Welsh sole record winner.

Final: Best of 13 Frames Pontins Theme Park,  Prestatyn , Wales , May 6th 1978
Ray Reardon	7 : 2	John Spencer
unknown
-	Highest break	-
-	Century breaks	-
-	50+ breaks	-

Century Breaks

During the tournament three players each played a century break :

• Ray Reardon : 122
• Graham Miles : 103
• John Spencer : 100

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: 1978 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. ^ ^{A b} Ron Florax: 1978 Pontins Professional - Finishes. CueTracker.net, accessed June 27, 2020 .