For the first time there were 16 players in the event. Alex Higgins, the World Champion was the number 1 seed with Steve Davis, the defending champion seeded 2. Places were allocated to the leading 8 players in the world rankings. 6 players qualified (Bill Werbeniuk (ranked 9), John Virgo (ranked 19), Dean Reynolds (ranked 22), Tony Meo (ranked 24), Joe Johnson and Mark Wildman) and there were 2 wild-card entries, Jimmy White (ranked 10) and Terry Griffiths (ranked 14). Joe Johnson, Dean Reynolds and Mark Wildman were making their debuts in the Masters.