The 1986 Mercantile Credit Classic was the seventh edition of the professional snooker tournament. The tournament was played at the Spectrum Arena, Warrington, Cheshire, and was televised on ITV from the last 16 round which started on 3 January 1986.
The earlier rounds (Pre last 16) were played between 8âÂÂ13 November 1985. Defending champion Willie Thorne lost at the last-64 stage to Tony Jones 3âÂÂ5.
Cliff Thorburn beat Doug Mountjoy 9âÂÂ6 in the first semi-final. Thorburn led 5âÂÂ2 after the first session and then 7âÂÂ3 before Mountjoy won two frames in a row. Thorburn won the match in the 15th frame with a break of 72. Jimmy White beat Rex Williams 9âÂÂ7 in the second semi-final, Williams having led 6âÂÂ5.
Jimmy White won his first ranking event beating Cliff Thorburn 13âÂÂ12 in the final, winning on the final . White had been 7âÂÂ8 behind at the end of the first day's play in the final, including a one frame penalty for arriving two minutes late for the start of the Saturday evening session.
The tournament had a prize fund of ã225,000, with the winner receiving ã45,000. The final attracted an average of 9.4million viewers on ITV, peaking at 14.3million.
Results are shown below.
Qualifying took place in November 1985. The leading 32 players started at the last 64 stage. Results are shown below.
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A total of nine century breaks were made during the event. White received ã1,125 for making the highest break of the pre-televised stage, 135.