The 1985 UK Championship (officially the 1985 Coral 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 Final: Best of 31 frames. Referee: Jim ThorpeThe Guild Hall, Preston, England, 30 November and 1 December 1985. Steve Davis 16–14 Willie Thorne First session: 76–25, 23–112 (112), 84–47, 0–90, 34–98 (70), 6–83 (69), 78–1Second session: 85–4, 0–122 (121), 121–5 (104), 11–95 (87), 30–101 (66), 71–67 (Thorne 67), 39–75 (63)Third session: 59–88, 56–69 (Davis 56, Thorne 68), 0–135 (115), 30–75 (61), 80–0 (76), 89–25 (64), 0–98Fourth session: 68–59, 63–1 (63), 70–13, 71–10, 69–41, 12–96 (96), 129–1 (86), 64–19, 70–19104 Highest break 121 1 Century breaks 3 6 50+ breaks 12
Century breaks 140, 121, 115, 112, 112, 104, 102 Willie Thorne 137, 101 Alex Higgins 136, 130, 105 Neal Foulds 135 Dennis Taylor 134, 103 Peter Francisco 130 Mario Morra 128, 115 Cliff Thorburn 128, 111, 109 Terry Griffiths 127, 122, 115, 106, 104, 102 Steve Davis 122 Steve Newbury 119, 108, 104, 103 John Virgo 110 Omprakesh Agrawal 109 John Spencer 109 Kirk Stevens 107, 107, 101, 100 Jimmy White 106 John Campbell 105 Joe Johnson 101 Ray Edmonds 101 Warren King
References