| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 10–21 October 1983 (1983-10-10 –1983-10-21) |
| Venue | Redwood Lodge |
| City | Bristol |
| Country | England |
| Organisation | WPBSA |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £60,000 |
| Winner's share | £12,500 |
| Highest break |  Joe Johnson (ENG) (135) |
| Final | |
| Champion | Tony Knowles (ENG) |
| Runner-up | Joe Johnson (ENG) |
| Score | 9–8 |
←1982 1984 → | |
The1983Professional Players Tournament was a professionalrankingsnooker tournament which took place between 3 September and 21 October 1983.
In a change fromthe previous year, the event was hosted at one venue, the 600-seater Redwood Lodge inBristol. The following year, it would be renamed as theGrand Prix.[1]
The event started on 10 October, the day after the finish of theInternational Open atNewcastle-upon-Tyne.Cliff Thorburn, a finalist in the International Open, had to travel overnight toBristol for his first match the following morning, but won againstVic Harris 5–1.[2] World number oneSteve Davis was beaten 5–2 at the last-32 stage byMike Hallett.[3]
Willie Thorne reached his first major semi-final after beatingEugene Hughes 5–2 in the quarter-finals.[4] Hughes had reached the quarter-finals after beatingBill Werbeniuk 5–0 and thenTerry Griffiths 5–2 at the last-16 stage.[5][6]
Joe Johnson reached the first ranking final of his four-year professional career, defeating Pascal Burke,Jimmy White,Eddie Charlton,Cliff Thorburn andTony Meo. His opponentTony Knowles reached his second ranking final, overcoming Paul Medati,Rex Williams,Silvino Francisco,John Campbell andWillie Thorne.[7]
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.[8]
| Final: Best of 17 frames. Redwood Lodge,Bristol,England, 21 October 1983. | ||
| Tony Knowles England | 9–8 | Joe Johnson England |
| 92–22,80–16,67–41, 26–81,84–17,82–18,62–17, 0–135 (135), 58–61, 28–63,78–32, 17–100,76–0, 39–90, 9–76, 14–93,73–33 | ||
| 75 | Highest break | 135 |
| 0 | Century breaks | 1 |
