1985 UK Championship


The 1985 UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 15 November and 1 December 1985 at the Guild Hall in Preston, England. The last-16 televised stages were shown on the BBC from 23 November through to the end of the championship. The event was sponsored by sports betting company Coral.
Steve Davis won his fourth UK Championship title by defeating Willie Thorne 16–14 in the final. Thorne had led 12–6 and 13–8, but the match turned after Thorne missed a straightforward blue off its spot which would have given him a 14–8 lead. Davis subsequently won the frame and seven of the next eight to clinch the title. Stephen Hendry made his debut in the tournament, aged sixteen, but lost his first qualifying round match 2–9 to Omprakesh Agrawal.
The highest break of the tournament was a 140 made by Willie Thorne during the non-televised stages; the highest break of the televised stages was a 135 made by Neal Foulds.
The final attracted an average of 10.8million viewers on BBC1, peaking at 13.6million.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
  • Winner £24,000
  • Runner-up £14,000
  • Total £120,000

    Main draw

Final

Century breaks