1981 Masters (snooker)
# 1981 Masters (snooker)

The 1981 Masters (officially the 1981 Benson & Hedges Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from Tuesday 27 January to Sunday 1 February 1981 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England. The number of invited players had been raised to 12, which saw Steve Davis make his Masters debut and a rise in prize money. With the increase in the number of players the tournament was extended from 5 days to 6, with a Sunday finish.

Alex Higgins reached his fourth consecutive Masters final by defeating Cliff Thorburn 6–5 in the semi-finals, despite having trailed 1–5. There he reversed the result of the 1980 final against Terry Griffiths, who had himself made a dramatic recovery to beat John Spencer 6–5 in the semi-finals, after trailing 2–5 and needing two snookers in the eighth frame. Griffiths set a new tournament record break of 136 in the final. The tournament attracted 18,742 spectators in its six days, including a new British tournament record of 2,422 for the final session.

## Main draw

| Round 1 Best of 9 frames | Round 1 Best of 9 frames | Round 1 Best of 9 frames | Quarter-finals Best of 9 frames | Quarter-finals Best of 9 frames | Quarter-finals Best of 9 frames | Semi-finals Best of 11 frames | Semi-finals Best of 11 frames | Semi-finals Best of 11 frames | Final Best of 17 frames | Final Best of 17 frames | Final Best of 17 frames |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | | | Terry Griffiths (WAL) | Terry Griffiths (WAL) | 5 | | | | | | |
| Fred Davis (ENG) | Fred Davis (ENG) | 5 | Fred Davis | Fred Davis | 2 | | | | | | |
| Kirk Stevens (CAN) | Kirk Stevens (CAN) | 4 | | | | Terry Griffiths | Terry Griffiths | 6 | | | |
| | | | | | | John Spencer | John Spencer | 5 | | | |
| | | | Ray Reardon (WAL) | Ray Reardon (WAL) | 1 | | | | | | |
| Dennis Taylor (NIR) | Dennis Taylor (NIR) | 2 | John Spencer | John Spencer | 5 | | | | | | |
| John Spencer (ENG) | John Spencer (ENG) | 5 | | | | | | | Terry Griffiths | Terry Griffiths | 6 |
| | | | | | | | | | Alex Higgins | Alex Higgins | 9 |
| | | | Alex Higgins (NIR) | Alex Higgins (NIR) | 5 | | | | | | |
| Eddie Charlton (AUS) | Eddie Charlton (AUS) | 0 | Doug Mountjoy | Doug Mountjoy | 1 | | | | | | |
| Doug Mountjoy (WAL) | Doug Mountjoy (WAL) | 5 | | | | Alex Higgins | Alex Higgins | 6 | | | |
| | | | | | | Cliff Thorburn | Cliff Thorburn | 5 | | | |
| | | | Cliff Thorburn (CAN) | Cliff Thorburn (CAN) | 5 | | | | | | |
| Perrie Mans (RSA) | Perrie Mans (RSA) | 5 | Perrie Mans | Perrie Mans | 4 | | | | | | |
| Steve Davis (ENG) | Steve Davis (ENG) | 3 | | | | | | | | | |

## Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: John Smyth Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 1 February 1981. :

| Alex Higgins Northern Ireland | 9–6 | Terry Griffiths Wales |
| - | - | - |
| First session: 117–10 (75), 38–69, 54–64, 62–47, 99–38, 58–31, 20–69, 69–10, 77–37, 75–39, 113–5, 0–136 (136), 31–97, 51–62, 85–48 |||
| 75 | Highest break | 136 |
| 0 | Century breaks | 1 |
| 1 | 50+ breaks | 1 |

## Century breaks

Total: 2

* 136 – Terry Griffiths
* 102 – Cliff Thorburn
