Editing Ray Reardon (section)

=== Later professional career ===
Toward the end of 1978, Reardon beat [[Patsy Fagan]] 6–1 and Higgins 11–9 to win the one-off "[[1978 Champion of Champions|Champion of Champions]]" event, sponsored by the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' and held at the [[Wembley Conference Centre]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Give him the money! Reardon too good again |magazine=Snooker Scene |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Birmingham |date=December 1978 |page=7}}</ref> He also won the [[1979 Forward Chemicals Tournament]].{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|pp=834–836}}

Reardon regained his ''Pot Black'' title in [[1979 Pot Black|1979]] by defeating Mountjoy 2–1 in the final. This was Reardon's first win since he won the inaugural event in 1969, although he was runner-up in [[1970 Pot Black|1970]], [[1972 Pot Black|1972]] and [[1980 Pot Black|1980]].{{sfn|Perrin |1983|pp=21–22}} At the [[1979 World Snooker Championship|1979 World Championship]], he lost to Dennis Taylor in the quarter-finals, and was eliminated by [[David Taylor (snooker player)|David Taylor]] at the same stage in [[1980 World Snooker Championship|1980]]. He progressed one stage further in [[1981 World Snooker Championship|1981]], beating Spencer 13–11 and Werbeniuk 13–10 before being defeated by Mountjoy in the semi-finals. Mountjoy scored a championship record break of 145 during the match, which he won 16–10.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Embassy world snooker championship |magazine=Snooker Scene |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Birmingham |date=June 1981 |pages=10–15}}</ref>

In 1979, Reardon joined with Mountjoy and the reigning World Champion, [[Terry Griffiths]], to win the first [[1979 World Challenge Cup|World Challenge Cup]] for Wales, defeating England (Fred Davis, Spencer and Miles) in the final, 14–3. The same Wales team retained the title in [[1980 World Challenge Cup|1980]].{{sfn|Morrison|1989|pages=98–99}}

At the [[1982 Highland Masters]], Reardon eliminated [[Steve Davis]] in the semi-finals before winning the event by defeating Spencer 11–4 in the final.<ref name="HM82">{{cite news |title=Reardon on cue |newspaper=Aberdeen Press and Journal |date=19 April 1982 |page=13}}</ref><!--Snooker Scene (June 1982) has "whitewash" against Davis; Aberdeen Press and Journal has the score as 6–1-->He reached the final of the [[1982 World Snooker Championship|1982 World Championship]], losing to Higgins 15–18. En route to the final, he defeated [[Jim Donnelly (snooker player)|Jim Donnelly]] 10–5, [[John Virgo]] 13–8, [[Silvino Francisco]] 13–8, and Charlton, in the semi-finals, by 16–11 after winning five successive frames from 11-all.{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|pp=834–836}}<ref name="GRAUN15MAY">{{cite news |last=Everton |first=Clive |title=Higgins and Reardon the finalists|date=15 May 1982 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |page=22}}</ref> In the final, Reardon built a 5–3 lead, but was behind 7–10 at the end of the first day. He later levelled the match at 15–15, but Higgins won the last three frames to claim the title.{{sfn|Morrison|1989|pp=38–39}}

For the [[1982–83 snooker season|1982–83 season]], Reardon returned to number one in the world rankings, which at the time was only based on performances at the World Championships over previous years.{{sfn|Morrison|1987|p=108}} He won the [[1982 Professional Players Tournament|Professional Players Tournament]] in late 1982, beating [[Jimmy White]] 10–5 in the final,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Final |magazine=Snooker Scene |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Birmingham |date=November 1982 |page=22}}</ref> reached the final of the Benson & Hedges Masters, losing 7–9 to [[Cliff Thorburn]],{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|pp=834–836}} and won the [[1983 International Masters]], where he defeated Davis 2–1 in the semi-final group stages, before prevailing 9–6 against White in the final, having trailed 3–5.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Yamaha tunes Reardon for world title attempt – final |magazine=Snooker Scene |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Birmingham |date=April 1983 |page=9}}</ref> At the Professional Players Tournament, Reardon set a record as the oldest winner of a ranking tournament at the age of 50 years and 14 days.<ref name="CTREC" /> He also regained the [[1983 Welsh Professional Championship|Welsh Professional Title]], eliminating Griffiths 9–4 and Mountjoy 9–1 in the semi-final and final respectively.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Ray Reardon regains Woodpecker Welsh title |magazine=Snooker Scene |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Birmingham |date=April 1983 |pages=12–13}}</ref> At the [[1983 World Snooker Championship|1983 World Championship]], he lost 12–13 in the second round to [[Tony Knowles (snooker player)|Tony Knowles]]; he reached the quarter-finals in [[1984 World Snooker Championship|1984]] but was eliminated 2–13 by [[Kirk Stevens]].{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|pp=834–836}}

Reardon first wore spectacles in a match at the [[1985 British Open]], which he lost 4–5 to [[Dave Martin (snooker player)|Dave Martin]] after leading 4–1.<ref>{{cite news |last=Friskin |first=Sydney |title=Thorne and White lose |work=The Times |date=20 February 1985 |page=22 }}</ref> He reached the semi-finals of the [[1985 World Snooker Championship|1985 World Championship]] (playing with unassisted vision), where he lost 5–16 to Davis.<ref name="RAYMBE">{{cite magazine |title=Ray Reardon M.B.E. |magazine=Snooker Scene |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Birmingham |date=July 1985 |page=3}}</ref>  He lost to [[John Campbell (snooker player)|John Campbell]] in the first round of the [[1986 World Snooker Championship|1986 World Championship]], and to Davis in the second round in [[1987 World Snooker Championship|1987]].{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|pp=834–836}}

After dropping out of the top-16 rankings in 1987,{{sfn|Hayton|Dee|2004|pp=119–120}} Reardon whitewashed Davis 5–0 in the third round of the 1988 [[British Open (snooker)|British Open]], using his old cue (encouraged to rebuild it by Davis) with which he had won his world titles. In the next round, playing under TV lighting, he suffered a drying of contact lenses (which he started using in 1987) and lost 2–5 to [[David Roe]], having led 2–1.{{sfn|Morrison|1988|p=89}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Davis falls at first fence and Hendry canters home |magazine=Snooker Scene |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Birmingham |date=April 1988 |pages=9–13}}</ref>

In 1985, Reardon left his wife Sue, with whom he had two children, to live with Carol Covington.<ref name="INC">{{cite news |first1=John |last1=Jackson |first2=Alister |last2=Martin |title=I'm no cheat, says Dracula |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=22 November 1985 |page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Reardon surprises snooker world |newspaper=Aberdeen Press and Journal |date=22 November 1985 |page=14}}</ref> He told reporters from the ''Daily Mirror'' that Sue had been "fully informed" of his eight-year affair with Covington.<ref name="INC"/> The Reardons divorced in December 1986, and Reardon married Covington in June 1987.<ref>{{cite news| title=Snooker star Ray takes a break – to get married |newspaper=Staffordshire Sentinel |date=6 June 1987 |page=1}}</ref>