on a challenge basis, with defending champion John Pulman featuring in the first match. Pulman retained the title in several challenges from 1964 to 1968. The 1969 championship, when the tournament reverted to a knockout format, is regarded as the first of the modern snooker era, and was won by John Spencer. From 1972, the championship was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), which was the renamed PBPA. For 1973, the tournament was sponsored by Park Drive. The defending champion was Alex Higgins, who had defeated Spencer 37–31 in the 1972 final. Tournament Format The 1973 competition took place over two weeks, rather than the months it had taken to complete previous championships in the preceding years. It was promoted by Peter West and Patrick Nally, and sponsored by tobacco brand Park Drive, with £8,000 prize money. There were 24 entrants, a new championship record. The venue was City Exhibition Halls, Manchester, initially with concurrent play across eight different snooker tables in different parts of the Halls. s were scheduled at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm each day. In order to break even, the event required 15,000 paying spectators across the matches; the actual attendance was 25,000. For the first time, a major bookmaker, Ladbrokes, offered odds on a snooker tournament. At the start of the tournament, the bookmakers rated Spencer as the favourite to win, at odds of 9–4, with Higgins second at 3–1. Prize fund The winner of the event received £1,500 from a total prize fund of £8,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below. Winner: £1,500 Runner-up: £1,000 Third: £750 Fourth: £600 Quarter-finalists: £400 Second round losers: £200 First round losers: £100 £100 was allocated for the winner of the plate competition between losers in the first two rounds, with £50 for the runner-up. John Pulman won the plate competition. First round First round matches were scheduled as best-of-17 frames, taking place on 16 April 1973. Jackie Rea had the cue he had used since he was 9 stolen a few days before the match against Pat Houlihan, and it was returned to him only near the end of their contest. Houlihan took a 2–0 lead. Rea drew level at 2–2 but lost the next seven frames and was eliminated. Bernard Bennett led 7–2 against David Greaves before the match went to a won by Greaves. Graham Miles