‘I felt unbeatable at the Guild Hall’published at 15:07 GMT
15:07 GMT
Steve Davis’ victory in Preston in 1980 was the first of his six UK Championships and began a decade of dominance, which also including six World Championship titles at the Crucible.
“It [the 1980 UK win] stamped my name on the trophy but also on what was going to happen for the rest of the 1980s,” said Davis. “That was me, all of a sudden, going ‘here I am’.
“The game was starting to feel very easy for me. Any time I got left a long ball, I fancied it and I knocked it in. I made significant breaks and started to be scoring heavier than anyone else.
“Word was out among the players that this guy is starting to play some strong stuff, in the same way as when Stephen Hendry started to do in the 1990s.
“The place where it started for me was that UK Championship and I used that as a springboard. After that, I felt like I was unbeatable at the Guild Hall. I felt like that was my office, more so than the Worlds.”