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Other Non-Ranking and Invition Events
First held 1980-1989
* See also:    Pre 1980     1990-99   2000 onwards

        

Bass Golden Leisure Classic
An event open only to players not ranked in the top 16. It was held once only at the Liverpool Centre in 1982 just after the world championship. There were some 23 competitors, 14 of whom played in the first round with the winners meeting the other nine in the last 16. Two former billiards champions, Rex Williams and Ray Edmonds contested the final.

Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1982 Liverpool Centre Bass Rex Williams Ray Edmonds 4-1 £750
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BCE Belgian Classic
This invitation event in January 1986 was significant in that it was the first involving top players to be staged on the continent. Eight of the world’s top nine players took part (only Cliff Thorburn was missing) and the tournament was sponsored by table manufacturers BCE. It was only held once.
 
Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1986  Ostend Casino BCE Terry Griffiths Kirk Stevens 9-7 £12,000
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Camus China Masters
Held once only this was one of many events in the Far East in the mid 1980s promoted by Barry Hearn’s Matchroom organisation and sponsored by distillers, Camus. As was usual with these events, there were three local players who took on a few of the Matchroom players. This particular event had a field of six, with Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths and Dennis Taylor joining three local Chinese.
Season Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1986/7  Shanghai Camus Steve Davis Terry Griffiths 3-0 n/a
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Continental Airlines London Masters
A series of “after dinner” matches at London’s Café Royal, co-promoted by Barry Hear's Matchroom organisation, culminating in the two top players over the series meeting in a final. The series ran for three seasons.
Season Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1988/89 CaféRoyal, London Continental Airlines Stephen Hendry John Parrott 4-2 £35,000
1989/90 CaféRoyal, London Continental Airlines Stephen Hendry John Parrott 4-2 £40,000
1990/91 CaféRoyal, London Continental Airlines Steve Davis Stephen Hendry 4-0 £40,000
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Highland Masters
This was one-off event which was held in April 1982 in Inverness. It was an eight-man invitation with Reardon, Spencer, Alex Higgins and Steve Davis each matched, in the first round against a Scottish professional none of whom managed to overcome the more illustrious rivals and the four top stars fought out the semi-finals with Reardon comfortably beating Spencer in the final. Spencer had the top break of 112.

Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1982 Eden Court Theatre, Inverness none Ray Reardon John Spencer 11-4 £5,000
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Hong Kong Masters
This was one of a several events established in the Far East in the mid 1980s by Barry Hearn’s Matchroom organisation. Usually the events included a few local players. Initially sponsored by distillers, Camus, the event became part of the short-lived, first World Series in 1987 when backed by Riley’s. LEP supported the final event under that particular title in 1988. When the World Series was re-established in 1990/91 there was a leg in Hong Kong but it was called the Hong Kong Challenge.

Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1983 Hong Kong Camus Doug Mountjoy Terry Griffiths 4-3 n/a
1984 Hong Kong Camus Steve Davis Doug Mountjoy 4-2 n/a
1985 Hong Kong Camus Terry Griffiths Steve Davis 4-2 n/a
1986 Hong Kong Camus Willie Thorne Dennis Taylor 8-3 £34,800
1987 Hong Kong Rileys Steve Davis Stephen Hendry 9-3 £30,000
1988 Hong Kong LEP Jimmy White Neal Foulds 6-3 £30,000
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Kent Cup
Held in China this event originally featured several of the Matchroom team. Although it has been held on a regular basis over the years I have only included the three occasions to date when a significant number of leading professionals took part.
Season Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1986/7 Beijing Kent Willie Thorne Jimmy White 5-2 n/a
1987/8 Beijing Kent John Parrott Martin Clark 5-1 n/a
1990/1 Beijing Kent Joe Swail Marcus Campbell 5-0 n/a
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Kit-Kat Break for World Champions
This unique event was the idea of entertainer and snooker historian, Roger Lee. It featured all the eight world champions still active at the time, Fred Davis, John Spencer, Ray Reardon, Alex Higgins, Terry Griffiths, Cliff Thorburn, Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor. It was the two most recent champions who contested the final with Dennis Taylor repeating his Crucible victory over Steve Davis a few months earlier.
Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1985 East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham Kit-Kat Dennis Taylor Steve Davis 9-5 £10,000
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Malaysian Masters
This was another of the events established in the Far East in the mid 1980s by Barry Hearn’s Matchroom organisation. Usually the events included a few local players. Sponsored by distillers, Camus, the event was only held twice with a year’s break in between. The first one was contested on a round robin format and the second by straight knockout.

Season Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1984/5 Kuala Lumpur Camus Terry Griffiths Tony Meo Round Robin n/a
1986/7 Kuala Lumpur Camus Jimmy White Dennis Taylor 2-1 n/a
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Matchroom Professional Championship
In the late 1980s Barry Hearn’s Matchroom organisation controlled up to eight of the top players of the day and they promoted their own tournament which was held for three seasons from 1986. In 1988 sponsorship was obtained and for that season it was known as the LEP Matchroom Championship.

Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1986 Cliffs Pavilion, Southed-on-Sea none Willie Thorne Steve Davis 10-9 £50,000
1987 Cliffs Pavilion, Southed-on-Sea none Dennis Taylor Willie Thorne 10-3 £50,000
1988 Cliffs Pavilion, Southed-on-Sea LEP Steve Davis Dennis Taylor 10-7 £50,000
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Northern Ireland Classic
This was another invitation event, held once only in November 1981. There were eight invited players, Steve Davis, Alex Higgins, Terry Griffiths, Cliff Thorburn, Jimmy White, Doug Mountjoy, Kirk Stevens and Dennis Taylor who made the top break of 112.
Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1981 Ulster Hall, Belfast none Jimmy White Steve Davis 11-9 £5,000
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New Zealand Masters
An event held in the summer, when the British circuit was in its close season, and which attracted a field of eight of the top professionals in the late 1980s.

Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1988 Wellington Lion Brown Stephen Hendry Mike Hallett 6-1 £12,000
1989 Wellington Lion Brown Willie Thorne Joe Johnson 7-4 £15,000
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Norwich Union Grand Prix
This event comprised a series of four-man events played at hotels across Europe with the top four players contesting the finals at Monte Carlo. It saw the return to snooker sponsorship of Norwich Union after a gap of fourteen years.

Season Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1988/89 Monte Carlo Norwich Union Steve Davis Jimmy White 5-3 £50,000
1989/90 Monte Carlo Norwich Union Joe Johnson Stephen Hendry 5-4 £20,000
1990/91 Monte Carlo Norwich Union John Parrott Steve Davis 4-2 £25,000
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Padmore / Super Crystalate International
This event, another one-off, nearly did not happen at all. The sponsors pulled out four days before it was due to start but promoter Mike Watterson stepped in and found two companies prepared to back the event although not to the same extent as the original promised sum of £15,000. Eight players contested the event on a straight knockout in early 1980. Alex Higgins, despite suffering from an ear infection and influenza, came through to win.

Year Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1980 Gala Baths, West Bromwich Padmore / Super Crystalate Alex Higgins Perrie Mans 4-2 £2,000
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Singapore Masters
This was another of the events established in the Far East in the mid 1980s by Barry Hearn’s Matchroom organisation. Usually the events included a few local players. Sponsored by distillers, Camus, the event was only held twice. The first one was contested on a round robin format and the second by straight knockout. Steve Davis and Terry Griffiths contested both finals winning one each.

Season Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1984/5 Singapore Camus Terry Griffiths Steve Davis Round Robin n/a
1985/6 Singapore Camus Steve Davis Terry Griffiths 6-3 n/a
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Tokyo Masters
This was only held only once as part of Barry Hearn’s World Series which comprised a number of similar events around the world with points awarded for each performance. As well as the prize money for each event there was an overall prize for the series winner. The series was mainly contested by Matchroom players but other top professionals were invited as well

Season Venue Sponsor Winner
 Runner Up Score 1st Prize
1987/8 Tokyo British Caledonian Dennis Taylor Terry Griffiths 6-3 £30,000






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© Chris Turner 2008