Terry Griffiths

Griffiths was born in Llanelli. A former postman,[2] insurance salesman, miner and bus conductor, he had a long amateur career, winning the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 and the English Amateur Championship in 1977 and 1978 before turning professional.

In his first professional match, at the 1978 UK Championship, Griffiths lost 8–9 to Rex Williams after leading 8–1.[3] However, he could hardly have expected what would come in the 1979 World Championship. After qualifying, he defeated Perrie Mans in the first round and Alex Higgins in the quarter-finals. Interviewed after beating Eddie Charlton in a long semi-final, it suddenly occurred to him what he had done, and he said "I'm in the final now, you know!" in his broad Welsh accent.[4] He eventually beat Dennis Taylor 24–16 in the final, becoming world champion at the first attempt.[5] In the same year he was part of the Welsh team that won the inaugural World Cup of snooker: Ray Reardon, Doug Mountjoy and Griffiths defeated England 14–3 in the final. However, at the end of 1979, he lost 13–14 to John Virgo in the 1979 UK Championship final.

1980 started well for Griffiths as he won the Masters, beating Alex Higgins 9–5 in front of 2,323 spectators at the Wembley Conference Centre. It was his first appearance at the Masters and turned out to be his only win there. He then won the Irish Masters also at the first attempt, defeating Doug Mountjoy 9–8, but the Crucible curse struck at the World Championship that year, as he lost to Steve Davis in his second round match (which was that year a "first round" for the top eight players, who had byes through to round 2). He and his team-mates retained the World Cup later on in 1980 for Wales, and he again won the Irish Masters in 1981 before losing to eventual winner Steve Davis again in the World Championship.

Griffiths lost 3–16 to Davis in the 1981 UK Championship final in 1981, beginning a six-month period in which he and Davis faced each other in almost every major tournament final. Although Davis had the better of their exchanges, winning three finals, Griffiths triumphed twice, in the Classic in early 1982 and later the Irish Masters (becoming the first player to win three consecutive titles), beating Davis on both occasions (the Classic 9–8 and the Irish Masters 9–5). Unsurprisingly, after Davis was sensationally defeated by Tony Knowles in the first round of the World Championship that year, Griffiths was immediately installed as the bookmakers' favourite for the title. However, a second surprise followed when he lost, also in the first round, to Willie Thorne. At the end of 1982, he won the 1982 UK Championship (which was still a non-ranking event at the time), beating Alex Higgins in a classic 16–15 final.

He never again won a ranking event, although he won several major invitational events: the 1984 Malaysian Masters, where he topped a round robin group (Tony Meo was the runner-up); the 1984 Singapore Masters, where he also topped a round robin group (Davis was the runner-up); the 1985 Hong Kong Masters, where he defeated Davis 4–2; and the 1986 Belgian Classic, where he beat Kirk Stevens 9–7 in the final, in an event featuring eight of the top nine players in that season's world rankings.

Griffiths took the Pot Black title in 1984 and won the Welsh Professional Championship in 1985, 1986 and 1988. He again reached the final of the World Snooker Championship in 1988, defeating Steve Longworth, Willie Thorne, Neal Foulds and Jimmy White, but he lost to old rival Steve Davis 11–18. During the final session of the championship, he accidentally knocked over a globe on the Crucible set, denting part of it with his foot; he was awarded the globe at the end of the match.

By the 1990s, Griffiths had begun to struggle in the rankings, but he still reached the semi-final of the 1992 World Championship, with victories over Bob Chaperon, Neal Foulds and Peter Ebdon before losing to Stephen Hendry. Having lost at the Crucible in 1996 against his old rival Steve Davis (whom he never defeated at the Crucible in seven attempts) in the last 16 (after beating the young Scottish player Jamie Burnett in a final frame decider 10–9 in the first round, having trailed 0–6 and 5–9), he immediately announced his retirement from the game.

Unusually for a snooker player, Griffiths retired whilst still inside the top 32 and 23rd in the rankings,[6] despite only entering the 1997 World Championship qualifiers in his final season as a professional.[7] He won his qualifying match to play in the main tournament at the Crucible one last time, where he lost in the first round to fellow countryman and debutant Mark Williams, in another final-frame decider, 9–10. During his professional snooker career, Griffiths played a total of 999 frames at the Crucible.[8]

Griffiths is well known as a coach and has coached many top players. Having retired from professional play in 1997, he currently coaches top players such as Mark Williams, Marco Fu, Mark Allen, Ali Carter, Joe Perry, Barry Hawkins and Ding Junhui,[9] and in the past has coached Stephen Hendry and Stephen Maguire. He is the Director of Coaching at the South West Snooker Academy.[10] He also frequently commentates on snooker for the BBC.

• Profile at World Snooker
• Terry Griffiths' Official Site
• http://www.worldsnooker.com/players/terry-griffiths/