The 1979 Castle Open was a pro-am

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

tournament held from late 1978 to January 1979 at the

Castle Snooker Club The Castle Snooker Club was a billiard hall at 57-59 Castle Way, Southampton, England. History It was opened in 1970 by professional snooker player Bernard Bennett. Snooker historian Clive Everton described it as "the earliest of the new-style sn ...

. It was won by

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time world champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgi ...

, who defeated Fred Davis 5–1 in the final. The promoter, snooker professional Bernard Bennett, who owned the Castle Club, provided a prize fund of £3,500, including a first prize of £750. Almost all of the professional snooker players who were in the country at the time participated, alongside many of the leading amateurs. All matches were played on level terms; no handicaps were applied. The tournament was played across two blocks. The earlier rounds featured amateurs and lower-ranked professionals, with higher-ranked professionals joining in the second block, held from 19 to 21 January 1979. Only two amateurs progressed to the second block: 16-year-old

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

and 19-year-old

Tony Meo Anthony Christian Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player. He won the 1989 British Open by defeating Dean Reynolds 13–6 in the final, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1984 Classic. He won four World Doubles C ...

. White defeated professionals

Jack Karnehm Jack Richard Horace Karnehm (18 June 1917 – 28 July 2002) was a British snooker commentator, who was regularly heard on BBC television from 1978 until 1994, and a former amateur world champion at the game of English billiards. Karnehm was al ...

and David Taylor, and Meo eliminated eight-time

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

John Pulman Herbert John Pulman (12 December 192325 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He first won the title at the 1957 Championship and retained it across seven challenges ...

Terry Griffiths Terence Martin Griffiths (16October 19471December 2024) was a Welsh professional snooker player, coach and pundit. After winning several amateur titles, including the Welsh Amateur Championship (snooker), Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 an ...

, who had turned professional that season, later wrote that, "The matches were short and the prize money not all that much but because the proprietor, Bernard Bennett, is a professional who is well liked in the snooker world, there was a good turn-out of professionals to support his tournament." Fred Davis reached the final at the age of 65, having eliminated

Willie Thorne William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13– ...

and

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

during the tournament. He won the first frame, but lost 1–5 to

Main Draw

Results from the sixth round onwards are shown below.

Earlier rounds

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle Open Snooker competitions in England 1978 in snooker 1979 in snooker 1978 in English sport 1979 in English sport