The 1983 Professional Players Tournament was a professional

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

snooker tournament which took place between 3 September and 21 October 1983. In a change from the previous year, the event was hosted at one venue, the 600-seater Redwood Lodge in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. The following year, it would be renamed as the Grand Prix. The event started on 10 October, the day after the finish of the International Open at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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 ...

, a finalist in the International Open, had to travel overnight to

for his first match the following morning, but won against Vic Harris 5–1. World number one

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

was beaten 5–2 at the last-32 stage by

Mike Hallett Mike Hallett (born 6 July 1959) is an English former professional snooker player and commentator. Career Hallett was born in Grimsby on 6 July 1959. Having won the national under-16 title in 1975, he turned professional in 1979. His world ran ...

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 13–8 ...

reached his first major semi-final after beating Eugene Hughes 5–2 in the quarter-finals. Hughes had reached the quarter-finals after beating

Bill Werbeniuk William Alexander Werbeniuk ( ; 14 January 1947 – 20 January 2003) was a Canadian professional snooker and pool player. Recognisable for his girth, he was nicknamed "Big Bill". Werbeniuk was a four-time World Championship quarter-finalist and ...

5–0 and then

Terry Griffiths Terence Martin Griffiths (born 16 October 1947) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. In his second professional tournament, he became world champion when he won the 1979 World Snooker Champions ...

5–2 at the last-16 stage. Joe Johnson reached the first ranking final of his four-year professional career, defeating Pascal Burke,

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

Eddie Charlton Edward Francis Charlton, (31 October 1929 – 8 November 2004) was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winn ...

and

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 Cham ...

. His opponent Tony Knowles reached his second ranking final, overcoming Paul Medati,

Rex Williams Desmond Rex Williams (born 20 July 1933) is a retired English professional snooker and billiards player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the Wo ...

Silvino Francisco Silvino Francisco (born 3 May 1946) is a South African former professional snooker player, most notable for winning the 1985 British Open. Snooker career Francisco comes from a snooker-playing family. His brother Manuel and nephew Peter both ...

, John Campbell and

. In the final, Knowles dominated most of the match, building a 6–1 lead. Johnson then made the highest break of the tournament, a 135, in recovering to a score of 5–7 and eventually levelled the match at 8–8. Knowles won the deciding frame on the colours, to prevail 9–8, winning the first prize of £12,500. Johnson won £7,500 as runner-up and £1,000 for the high break prize.

Main draw

Final

Century breaks

* 135, 117, 111 Joe Johnson * 122 John Campbell * 112, 100 Eugene Hughes * 102 Tony Knowles

References

{{Snooker season 1983/1984

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

Professional Players Tournament Professional Players Tournament Professional Players Tournament Professional Players Tournament