Pontins Professional


The Pontins Professional was an invitational professional non-ranking snooker tournament which ran from 1974 until 2000.

History

Top snooker professionals had regularly supplemented their income from professional events by playing exhibition matches on the holiday camp circuit, with Pontins being a regular venue for entertaining holiday-makers. Beginning in 1974, a tournament involving eight professional players began at Pontins and became a regular point in the snooker calendar, usually occurring in the summer after the World Snooker Championship. This ran in conjunction with an Open tournament, in which many young amateur players took part, and provided a springboard for future stars such as Paul Hunter and Judd Trump. There were also juniors, seniors, and ladies events.
While top professional players regularly entered in the tournament's early years, the increase in the number of events on the snooker tour led to the biggest stars choosing not to enter in later years, and the professional tournament was last held in 2000.

Winners

YearWinnerRunner-upFinal scoreSeason
1974 Ray Reardon John Spencer10–91973/74
1975 Ray Reardon John Spencer10–91974/75
1976 Ray Reardon Fred Davis10–41975/76
1977 John Spencer John Pulman7–51976/77
1978 Ray Reardon John Spencer7–21977/78
1979 Doug Mountjoy Graham Miles8–41978/79
1980 John Virgo Ray Reardon9–61979/80
1981 Terry Griffiths Willie Thorne9–81980/81
1982 Steve Davis Ray Reardon9–41981/82
1983 Doug Mountjoy Ray Reardon9–71982/83
1984 Willie Thorne John Spencer9–71983/84
1985 Terry Griffiths John Spencer9–71984/85
1986 Terry Griffiths Willie Thorne9–61985/86
1987 Neal Foulds Willie Thorne9–61986/87
1988 John Parrott Mike Hallett9–11987/88
1989 Darren Morgan Tony Drago9–21988/89
1990 Stephen Hendry Mike Hallett9–61989/90
1991 Neal Foulds Mike Hallett9–61990/91
1992 Steve James Neal Foulds9–81991/92
1993 Ken Doherty Darren Morgan9–31992/93
1994 Ken Doherty Nigel Bond9–51993/94
1995 Peter Ebdon Ken Doherty9–81994/95
1996 Ken Doherty Nigel Bond9–71995/96
1997 Martin Clark Andy Hicks9–71996/97
1998 Mark Williams Martin Clark9–61997/98
1999 Jimmy White Matthew Stevens9–51998/99
2000 Darren Morgan Jimmy White9–21999/00

Statistics

Finalists

Champions by country