UK Championship: A short history of snooker’s second most prestigious event - Part 4 (1983-1984)
The UK Championship was continuously becoming famous in Europe due to its standard of play, playing format and the number of players, which kept increasing annually. The host arena, Guildhall, in Preston, had become a constant home for the championship,
where BBC televised the whole tournament.
In the early 80’s, the UK Championship featured top dogs of the game, like Terry Griffiths and Alex Higgins as champions along with a new face, Steve Davis, who played outstandingly in these events and stunned his opponents.
1983 - Alex Higgins wins finally
The seventh consecutive event of UK Championship commenced from November 26 and concluded on December 4 at its old home, Guildhall.
One of the key features was the amount of prize money for the champion and runner-up, which was increased from £11,000 to £12,000 and from £6,000 to £6,500 respectively, this year. With the increased prize money for players, the total amount of prize money
reached £60,000.
For the past couple of years at Guildhall, in Preston, the legendary Alex Higgins had come very close to become a champion but luck did not favour him. He even reached the final encounters of 1980 UK Championship and 1982 UK Championship but could not win
any of them.
In the 1983 Coral UK Championship, Higgins finally made his dream come true when he beat England’s Steve Davis in a best-of-31 frames thrilling final encounter by the score line of 16-15. Alex cruised into the final clash, playing impressively right from
the beginning, ousting Paul Medati, Tony Knowles and Terry Griffiths in the previous rounds.
The final match-up of 1983 UK Championship was a marvellous contest. Davis grabbed an early lead of 0-7 potting brilliantly in the opening session. After tumbling a whitewash 0-7 down at the end of first session, Higgins started playing a more cautious and
tactical game. He started taking advantage of mistakes made by Davis and moved eight frames up to pull level at 8-8.
The final match turned into a topsy-turvy display, where Davis grabbed a lead by 9-11 but Higgins soon capitalised with 14-12 until the score reached at 14-15. At this point, Higgins showed some classy display of his snooker skills, taking back-to-back frames,
and claimed his first UK title by the score line of 16-15.
1984 – Steve Davis snatches UK title
The 1984 Coral UK Championship was yet another exciting tournament, where the emerging star, Steve Davis, dominated again to start his four-year-reign over the second most prestigious event. Davis ousted his arch rival, Alex Higgins, 16-8, to claim the title.
The eighth edition of UK Championship was organised at the same arena, Guildhall, in Preston and began on November 24 and concluded on December 2. Due to the entrance of more players from around the world, the event was being played as a major ranking tournament.
Along with many other changes like more overseas potters, the prize money of the event was also increase. The total prize money for the winner rose from £12,000 to £20,000, while the prize for highest break was increased to £2,000. The accumulative prize
money of the championship was £101,800.
The defending champion, Alex Higgins, played impressively from the start and raced into the final encounter after defeating Rex Williams, Willie Thorne and Cliff Thorburn. On the other hand, England’s Steve Davis made his way to the ultimate clash against
Higgins, after he trashed Tony Meo, young Jimmy White and Kirk Stevens in the first three rounds.
The final encounter of 1984 UK Championship proved to be an easy victory for Davis, as he played tremendously against Higgins to claim his third UK title by the score of 16-8.
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