| Biography: |
Perrie Mans followed his father, Peter, into the professional
ranks after many, many hours of practise at his father's club in
South Africa. Peter had been many times South African champion
and reached the quarter-finals of the 1950 world championship.
Perrie (his real name is Pierre) was South African Amateur
champion in 1960 when only 19 and his country's professional
title followed five years later - a trophy he held on nineteen
occasions. A left-handed player, Perrie was one of the best long
potters to grace the game.
He played in his first world championship in Australian in 1970
not getting beyond the round robin stage. Missing a year he
returned for the 1973 event and reached the last 16. He went one
better in 1974 losing in the quarter-finals. After an early
exit in 1975 he reached the 1976 semi-final losing to the
eventual winner, Ray Reardon, and, as a result was invited to
play in the BBC Pot Black championship which he went on to win.
In the 1978 world championship he began what has become known as
the Crucible Curse when he beat reigning champion, John Spencer
in the first round. He went on to break many hearts by beating
Fred Davis in the semi-finals before losing 25-18 to Ray Reardon
in the final. That run took him to number two in the world
rankings.
In 1979 he achieved his best win as a professional when he beat
Cliff Thorburn, Ray Reardon and Alex Higgins to win the Benson &
Hedges Masters title. That was however to prove to be the last
major success and although he played on the circuit for a few
more years he slipped down the rankings and retired from the
tour at the end of the 1986/87 season. He has since returned on
a couple of occasions to play in seniors’ events.
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Achievements:
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World Professional Championship runner-up 1978
Benson & Hedges Masters champion 1979
South African Professional champion (19 times)1965-78,
1980-1984, 1988
South African Amateur champion 1960
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