Pontins Professional 1979

Pontins Professional 1979
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	8th
Venue:	Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park , Prestatyn
Opening:	May 5th 1979
Endgame:	May 12, 1979
Defending champion:	Ray Reardon
Winner:	Doug Mountjoy
Finalist:	Graham Miles
Highest Break:	132 ( Ray Reardon )
← 1978   1980 →

The 1979 Pontins Professional was a professional snooker invitation tournament for the 1978/79 season . The tournament was from 5 to 12 May 1979 at the amusement park chain Pontins belonging Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park in the seaside resort Prestatyn in North Wales held. The winner was the Welshman Doug Mountjoy , who defeated the Englishman Graham Miles 8: 4 in the final. Mountjoy's compatriot and defending champion Ray Reardon played the highest break of the tournament with a 132 break.

Prize money

Like the previous editions, the tournament was sponsored by Pontins . Compared to the previous year, the prize money remained unchanged; again a total of £ 2,000 was paid out, the majority of which (£ 1,500) went to the winner.

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

Tournament course

In contrast to the previous year, only eight instead of twelve players took part in the tournament this year. As in the two previous editions, the tournament started with a group phase, this time consisting of two groups of four. After a simple round- robin tournament was played, the top two players in each group advanced to the semi-finals. From this point on, the tournament winner was played in the knockout system . While all group games lasted exactly seven frames, the semi-finals took place in the best of 7 frames and the final in the best of 15 frames .

Group stage

Group A

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames	Diff.	Pt
1	Doug Mountjoy	3	2	1	14: 7	+7	4th
2	Graham Miles	3	2	1	12: 9	+3	4th
3	John Spencer	3	2	1	11:10	+1	4th
4th	Perrie Mans	3	0	3	5:16	–11	0

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Doug Mountjoy	16 : 16th	Perrie Mans
2	Graham Miles	34 : 34th	Doug Mountjoy
3	Graham Miles	25 : 25	Perrie Mans
4th	John Spencer	25 : 25	Perrie Mans
5	John Spencer	34 : 34th	Graham Miles
6th	Doug Mountjoy	25 : 25	John Spencer

Group B

space	player	Lots	S.	N	Frames	Diff.	Pt.
1	Steve Davis	3	3	0	15: 6	+9	6th
2	Ray Reardon	3	2	1	12: 9	+3	4th
3	Fred Davis	3	1	2	8:13	-5	2
4th	Ian Anderson	3	0	3	7:14	–7	0

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Fred Davis	34 : 34th	Ian Anderson
2	Ray Reardon	16 : 16th	Ian Anderson
3	Ray Reardon	25 : 25	Fred Davis
4th	Steve Davis	16 : 16th	Ray Reardon
5	Steve Davis	34 : 34th	Ian Anderson
6th	Steve Davis	25 : 25	Fred Davis

Knockout phase

	Semi-final best of 7 frames				Final Best of 15 frames
	Doug Mountjoy	4th
	Ray Reardon	3
					Doug Mountjoy	8th
					Graham Miles	4th
	Steve Davis	0
	Graham Miles	4th

final

The Welshman Doug Mountjoy had survived the group stage as first place in his group thanks to two sovereign victories and met in the semifinals against the six-time former world champion and defending champion Ray Reardon , who was also Welshman and had finished second in Group B. In a tight game, Mountjoy was able to qualify 4: 3 for the final. In the final, he met the Englishman Graham Miles , who had become vice world champion a few years earlier, but otherwise had few successes. He was just ahead of John Spencer and behind Mountjoy in second place in his group and surprisingly defeated the up-and-coming Steve Davis , who had previously survived the group stage without defeat, 4-0 in the semifinals .

No exact frame results have been reported from the finale. In the end, however, Mountjoy won 8: 4 and won the Pontins Professional for the first time.

Final: Best of 15 Frames Pontins Theme Park,  Prestatyn , Wales , May 12, 1979
Doug Mountjoy	8 : 4	Graham Miles
unknown
-	Highest break	-
-	Century breaks	-
-	50+ breaks	-

Century Breaks

A total of three players each played a Century Break during the tournament :

• Ray Reardon : 132
• Fred Davis : 100
• Graham Miles : 100

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Ron Florax: 1979 Pontins Professional. CueTracker.net, accessed June 24, 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 24, 2020 (English).  
3. ^ ^{A b} Ron Florax: 1979 Pontins Professional - Finishes. CueTracker.net, accessed June 24, 2020 .  
4. ↑ 1979 Pontin's Professional Results. Snooker Database, accessed June 24, 2020 .