Cliff Thorburn made history in the competition, when he became the first player to retain the title by defeating Jimmy White 9–5 in the final.

[1] Earlier in the tournament the last 16 match between Eddie Charlton and Kirk Stevens, which took place on the afternoon of 28 January, had to stop play at 19:20 when the players were level at 4–4 to make way for that day's evening match between Jimmy White and Tony Meo, which was due to start at 19:30.

The White/Meo ended 5–4 to the Whirlwind and then the Charlton/Stevens match resumed just after midnight with Charlton taking the last frame to a 5–4 win, taking him to play Tony Knowles in the quarter-finals, which he lost in another final frame decider 4–5.

This was to be Charlton's last Masters appearance as he lost his top 16 place at the end of the season.

[2] The remaining places were allocated to the top 16 players in the world rankings.