uk

UK Championship

World Ranking Event since 1984

A Brief History of the UK Championship

One of the oldest events in the calendar, what was originally known as the United Kingdom Professional Snooker Championship began life in 1977. In those days it was open only to British residents and passport holders. With sponsorship from ball manufacturers, Super Crystalate, the first event, with a field of twenty-four was held at the Blackpool Tower Circus with Irishman, Patsy Fagan taking the £2000 first prize. 1978 the event found a new home, The Preston Guild Hall where it became a regular event for the next twenty years. New sponsors were found in bookmakers, Coral who backed the event for eight years. During that time Steve Davis was the dominant figure winning four times and runner up once. Alex Higgins appeared in four Coral finals, winning one and Terry Griffiths lost two out of his three finals.

1983 was one of the great finals. Alex Higgins had lost a final frame decided the previous year to Terry Griffiths and was up against Steve Davis who opened up a 7-0 lead only to watch Alex level at 11-11 and then come back again to take the last two frames for a 16-15 victory.

The UK has always been regarded as the second most important event primarily as matches in those early days were always ‘best of 19’ with a final over 31 frames. In more recent times, early rounds have been reduced to ‘best of nine’ but later rounds are still played over seventeen frames.

In 1984 the event was opened up to all professionals and was granted ranking status since when it has always carried more points than any event outside the world championship. Tennents, another division of the same parent company as Coral, took over the sponsorship in 1986 and Steve Davis won another two titles. Then along came Stephen Hendry who was expected to cruise past a revived Doug Mountjoy in the 1988 final. Doug had won the title ten years earlier but was enjoying a revival in form. To everyone’s surprise, the Welshman won 16-12 and went on to take the next event on the calendar as well. Stormseal were the sponsors for the next two years which resulted in Hendry beating Davis in both finals.

John Parrott added the UK in 1991 to the world title he had won a few months before. There were no sponsors that year but Royal Live Assurance stepped in for the next four years which saw, in 1992 Jimmy White gain his only victory in the event and the following year Ronnie O’Sullivan lift the trophy to become the youngest ever winner of any ranking event. Stephen Hendry then won the next three. In 1994 he set up a record with seven centuries in the final and the following year he made the first televised 147 break in the event. A feat which he repeated in 1999. No one else has made a televised UK maximum although Willie Thorne, Peter Ebdon and Nick Dyson have achieved one in the early rounds.

In 1997 Liverpool Victoria become the sponsors and after one more year at Preston the event moved to Bournemouth where the company had its headquarters. Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams shared the honours at Bournemouth but now the event moved on to York’s Barbican Centre seeking a new backer. No sponsor initially came forward but Ronnie O’Sullivan took the title for a third time. At long last sponsorship was obtained for 2002 in the shape of Powerhouse but only for one season initially. Mark Williams clinched his second win in the event. Travis Perkins stepped in with a three-year sponsorship deal in 2003 which also saw Matthew Stevens finally win a ranking title. The title went outside the British Isles for the very first time in 2005 when 18 year-old Ding Junhui from China beat Steve Davis, nearly 30 years his senior. Ding was only four months old when Davis won his last UK title in 1987.

Maplin Electronics signed a three year title sponsorship deal in 2006 and that year saw Peter Ebdon , playing better than anyone could remember, take the title for the first time and become only the ninth player to win both the World and UK titles.

Roll Of Honour

Year	Venue	Sponsor	Winner	Runner Up	Score	1st Prize
1977	Tower Circus, Blackpool	Super Chrystalate	Patsy Fagan	Doug Mountjoy	12-9	£2,000
1978	Guild Hall, Preston	Coral	Doug Mountjoy	David Taylor	15-9	£3,500
1979	Guild Hall, Preston	Coral	John Virgo	Terry Griffiths	14-13	£4,500
1980	Guild Hall, Preston	Coral	Steve Davis	Alex Higgins	16-6	£6,000
1981	Guild Hall, Preston	Coral	Steve Davis	Terry Griffiths	16-3	£10,000
1982	Guild Hall, Preston	Coral	Terry Griffiths	Alex Higgins	16-15	£11,000
1983	Guild Hall, Preston	Coral	Alex Higgins	Steve Davis	16-15	£12,000
1984	Guild Hall, Preston	Coral	Steve Davis	Alex Higgins	16-8	£20,000
1985	Guild Hall, Preston	Coral	Steve Davis	Willie Thorne	16-14	£24,000
1986	Guild Hall, Preston	Tennents	Steve Davis	Neal Foulds	16-7	£60,000
1987	Guild Hall, Preston	Tennents	Steve Davis	Jimmy White	16-14	£70,000
1988	Guild Hall, Preston	Tennents	Doug Mountjoy	Stephen Hendry	16-12	£80,000
1989	Guild Hall, Preston	Stormseal	Stephen Hendry	Steve Davis	16-12	£100,000
1990	Guild Hall, Preston	Stormseal	Stephen Hendry	Steve Davis	16-15	£110,000
1991	Guild Hall, Preston	none	John Parrott	Jimmy White	16-13	£35,000
1992	Guild Hall, Preston	Royal Liver Assurance	Jimmy White	John Parrott	16-9	£70,000
1993	Guild Hall, Preston	Royal Liver Assurance	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	10-6	£70,000
1994	Guild Hall, Preston	Royal Liver Assurance	Stephen Hendry	Ken Doherty	10-5	£70,000
1995	Guild Hall, Preston	Royal Liver Assurance	Stephen Hendry	Peter Ebdon	10-9	£70,000
1996	Guild Hall, Preston	none	Stephen Hendry	John Higgins	10-9	£70,000
1997	Guild Hall, Preston	Liverpool Victoria	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	10-6	£75,000
1998	Bournemouth International Centre	Liverpool Victoria	John Higgins	Matthew Stevens	10-6	£75,000
1999	Bournemouth International Centre	Liverpool Victoria	Mark J. Williams	Matthew Stevens	10-8	£78,000
2000	Bournemouth International Centre	Liverpool Victoria	John Higgins	Mark J. Williams	10-4	£78,000
2001	Barbican Centre, York	none	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Ken Doherty	10-1	£100,000
2002	Barbican Centre, York	Powerhouse	Mark J. Williams	Ken Doherty	10-9	£84,500
2003	Barbican Centre, York	Travis Perkins	Matthew Stevens	Stephen Hendry	10-8	£84,500
2004	Barbican Centre, York	Travis Perkins	Stephen Maguire	David Gray	10-1	£70,000
2005	Barbican Centre, York	Travis Perkins	Ding Junhui	Steve Davis	10-6	£70,000
2006	Barbican Centre, York	Maplin Electronics	Peter Ebdon	Stephen Hendry	10-6	£77,000
2007	Telford International Centre	Maplin Electronics	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Maguire	10-2	£100,000
2008	Telford International Centre	Maplin Electronics	Shaun Murphy	Marco Fu	10-9	£100,000
2009	Telford International Centre	Pukka Pies	Ding Junhui	John Higgins	10-8	£100,000
2010	Telford International Centre	12BET.com	John Higgins	Mark J. Williams	10-9	£100,000

Maximum Breaks

Final Stage
Willie Thorne	1987	Last 32 v. Tommy Murphy
Peter Ebdon	1992	Last 64 v. Ken Doherty
Stephen Hendry	1995	Last 16 v. Gary Wilkinson
Stephen Hendry	1999	Last 16 v. Paul Wykes
David Gray	2004	Last 32 v. Mark Selby
Ronnie O'Sullivan	2007	Semi Final v. Mark Selby
Ding Junhui	2008	Last 16 v. John Higgins
Qualifying Rounds
Nick Dyson	2000	Qual Rd 2 v Robert Milkins