Grand Slam of Darts

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The PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation which was staged for the first time in 2007. The PDC also invites the best performing players from the its rival the British Darts Organisation. There have been two previous head-to-head matches between the champions of the two organisation and a few overseas tournaments have also featured BDO v PDC clashes, but this tournament is the first of its kind to be held in the UK.

The 2007 tournament was staged at the Wolverhampton Civic between November 17 and November 25 2007. Phil Taylor won the title, beating Andy Hamilton 18-11 in the final.

1 Controversy
2 2007 event
3 2008 event
4 Previous BDO v PDC tournaments
5 External links and references

[edit] Controversy

Controversy hit the tournament in May 2007 when it was confirmed by the BDO that the Winmau World Masters had been moved from its original dates of October 26-28 to a new date of November 16-18 ^[1] clashing directly with the Grand Slam. This meant that players from the BDO were forced into a direct choice between competing at the Masters for valuable ranking points or taking their place at the Grand Slam for better prize money. BDO World Champion Martin Adams almost immediately confirmed that he would participate in the Masters. ^[2] Adams went out in the quarter finals of the 2007 Masters meaning his pay cheque of £1,250 was significantly less than the £4,000 he would have received simply for turning up at the Grand Slam.

[edit] 2007 event

Main article: 2007 Grand Slam of Darts

[edit] 2008 event

This article or section contains information about a future sporting event or team.
It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

The tournament has been provisionally confirmed for 2008 ^[3] and is pencilled in to the PDC calendar between November 15 to November 23. However, the date and venue have yet to be officially confirmed by organiser Barry Hearn.^[4]

The prize fund has been increased by £50,000 to £356,000

Winner £100,000
Runner-Up £40,000
Semi-finalists £20,000
Quarter-finalists £12,500
Last 16 £7,500
Group stages £4,000
High Finish £2,000

The qualifiers so far are thus:

[edit] Qualifiers from BDO/WDF tournaments

		Lakeside	International Darts League	World Darts Trophy	Winmau World Masters
2007	Winner	Martin Adams*	Gary Anderson	Gary Anderson	Robert Thornton
	Runner-up	Phill Nixon	Mark Webster	Phil Taylor	Darryl Fitton
	Semi-finalists	Mervyn King Niels de Ruiter
2008	Winner	Mark Webster	TBC	TBC	Michael van Gerwen (2006)
	Runner-up	Simon Whitlock	TBC	TBC	Martin Adams (2006)
	Semi-finalists	Brian Woods Martin Adams

*Martin Adams has rejected his invite to compete at the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.^[5]

[edit] Qualifiers from PDC tournaments

		Ladbrokes	Premier League	World Series of Darts / US Open	UK Open	Desert Classic	World Matchplay	World Grand Prix
2007	Winner	Raymond van Barneveld	Phil Taylor	Phil Taylor	Raymond van Barneveld	Raymond van Barneveld	James Wade	James Wade
	Runner-up	Phil Taylor	Terry Jenkins	Raymond van Barneveld	Vincent van der Voort	Terry Jenkins	Terry Jenkins	Terry Jenkins
	Semi-finalists	Andy Hamilton Andy Jenkins
2008	Winner	John Part	Phil Taylor	Phil Taylor	James Wade	TBC	TBC	TBC
	Runner-up	Kirk Shepherd	James Wade	Colin Lloyd	Gary Mawson	TBC	TBC	TBC
	Semi-finalists	Kevin Painter Wayne Mardle

[edit] Additional qualifiers

The four semi-finalists from the 2007 event receive invites meaning Kevin McDine has also secured a place at the 2008 Grand Slam.

Places remain on offer from the inaugural European Championship, as well as for an ITV Wildcard Qualifier. The PDC are also inviting the top player from the DPA William Cross Pro-Am Order of Merit from events staged in Australia in early August, the winner of the PDC South African Open, along with the top players from the PDC North American Order of Merit and the European Order of Merit.

In the event of more than 32 players qualifying, the PDC will introduce a Preliminary Round. Should there be less than 32 players, the PDC would then revert to the highest placed non-qualified player(s) from the PDC Order of Merit following the European Championship.

[edit] Previous BDO v PDC tournaments

There have been previous tournaments in which players from both the PDC and BDO have competed. Between 1998 and 2001 several BDO players competed in the World Matchplay - this was as a result of a 1997 Tomlin Order which allowed freedom of players to enter more events. This was later restricted when eligibility rules allowed only Professional Dart Players Association members to compete in the tournament.

The 2005 Masters of Darts was the first tournament to feature the top players from each organisation, and in 2006 and 2007 the Dutch organisers of the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy invited some PDC players to compete alongside BDO players.