PDC World Grand Prix Darts
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The SkyBet World Grand Prix is a PDC darts tournament now held in Dublin each October. Its original venue was the Casino Rooms in Rochester, Kent between 1998 and 2000, before moving in 2001 to its current home at the CityWest Hotel in Dublin. The event replaced the earlier World Pairs tournament which ran from 1995 to 1997.
The Grand Prix was originally sponsored by bookmakers, Paddy Power. Fellow bookmakers, SkyBet took over from 2004 - and announced in October 2006 that they have extended their contract to sponsor the event until 2009.
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[edit] Tournament Format
This tournament has shorter opening rounds, which can lead to some surprise results, and players must commence and finish each leg on a double including the option of the bull.
There have been several different formats for the competition, the 1998 event was played in a matchplay format of legs rather than sets. The following year a group stage was introduced, but replaced again with straight knock-out for 2000. The present format has been in place since 2003, when the 2nd round was extended from best-of-3 to best-of-5 sets.
[edit] Final Results
| Year | Winner (average in final) | Score | Runner-Up (average in final) | Sponsors | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 |  Phil Taylor |
13-8 (legs) | Rod Harrington |
PDC | Casino Rooms, Rochester |
| 1999 | Phil Taylor |
6-1 (sets) | Shayne Burgess |
PDC | Casino Rooms, Rochester |
| 2000 | Phil Taylor |
6-1 (sets) | Shayne Burgess |
PDC | Casino Rooms, Rochester |
| 2001 | Alan Warriner |
8-2 (sets) |  Roland Scholten |
PDC | CityWest Hotel, Dublin |
| 2002 | Phil Taylor |
7-3 (sets) | John Part |
Paddy Power | CityWest Hotel, Dublin |
| 2003 | Phil Taylor |
7-2 (sets) | John Part |
Paddy Power | CityWest Hotel, Dublin |
| 2004 | Colin Lloyd |
7-3 (sets) | Alan Warriner |
SkyBet | CityWest Hotel, Dublin |
| 2005 | Phil Taylor |
7-1 (sets) | Colin Lloyd |
SkyBet | CityWest Hotel, Dublin |
| 2006 | Phil Taylor |
7-4 (sets) | Terry Jenkins |
SkyBet | CityWest Hotel, Dublin |
[edit] Trivia
- The World Pairs event which preceded the introduction of this event was held between 1995 & 1997. The winners were:-
1995 Eric Bristow & Dennis Priestley
1996 Phil Taylor & Bob Anderson beat Chris Mason & Steve Raw 18-15 (at the Willows Variety Centre, Salford)
1997 Raymond van Barneveld & Roland Scholten beat Rod Harrington and Richie Burnett 18-15 (at Butlin's South Coast World, Bognor Regis)
- The 1999 Grand Prix was held with a group phase before the knock-out stages. There were only 4 seeded players for the event, and all 4 reached the semi-finals - which is quite unusual in dart tournament history. (The top two seeds were then eliminated in the semis)
- Phil Taylor has twice been beaten in the first round of this event. In 2001, he lost 2-1 to qualifier Kevin Painter and in 2004 by 2 sets to 0 to Andy Callaby. On the other seven occasions, Taylor has won the tournament.
[edit] 2006 Event
see article: 2006 World Grand Prix Darts
| Major PDC Darts Tournaments |
|---|
| PDC World Championship |
| see main article PDC World Darts Championship |
| World Matchplay Championship |
| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| World Grand Prix |
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Las Vegas Desert Classic |
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| UK Open |
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Premier League |
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
