UK Championship (snooker)
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The UK Championship is a professional snooker tournament, generally regarded as the second most prestigious tournament after the World Championship.
The UK Championship was first held in 1977 as the United Kingdom Snooker Championship, an event open only to British residents. Patsy Fagan won, beating Doug Mountjoy by 12 frames to 9, to win £2000.
The rules were changed in 1984 to allow all professionals to enter, and it was granted ranking status. It carries one and a half times as many ranking points as all other tournaments, with the exception of the World Championship.
The tournament has had many different sponsors over the years, and is currently sponsored by Travis Perkins. It is one of the tournaments televised by the BBC. The tournament is held around November each year. Prize money in 2003 was £615,000.