PDC World Darts Championship
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The PDC World Darts Championship is one version of the World Darts Championship and was introduced following a dispute with the British Darts Organisation in 1994. It is the biggest of the PDC tournaments - traditionally beginning in late December and finishing in early January before the BDO version starts.
The tournament is currently sponsored by Ladbrokes.com and is now staged at the Alexandra Palace in London after being held the Circus Tavern in Purfleet for its first 14 years. [1]
Only 4 players have ever won this inception of the World Championships. Dennis Priestley, Phil Taylor, John Part and Raymond van Barneveld. Of these, only two have won it more than once - Taylor and Part.
Phil Taylor has dominated this tournament in particular winning 11 titles and reaching the first 14 finals. He missed out on the final for the first time in 2008, when John Part defeated Kirk Shepherd to win his third world title (second in the PDC).
Contents |
[edit] Origins
In 1994 some high profile players including all previous winners of the BDO World Darts Championship who were still active in the game formed the WDC (now PDC), and began to organise their own World Championships. Dennis Priestley won the inaugural competition.
The players who broke away were taking a significant gamble - the tournament was broadcast on satellite television rather than terrestrial and the prize fund for the early WDC World Championships were lower than the BDO version. In 2002, the PDC prize fund overtook the BDO for the first time and the PDC event now boasts the largest prize fund of any darts competition, currently at £600,000 in total with £100,000 for the winner. The PDC and sponsors Ladbrokes have announced that prize money will reach £1 million by 2010 with the winner set to collect £200,000.
There are still two versions of the World Championship and there is often dispute and debate amongst players, organisations and viewers as to which event is the more prestigious.
[edit] Sponsors
Sponsored by Skol 1994 and 1998-2002
Proton 1995
Vernons 1996
Red Band 1997
Ladbrokes.com 2003-present
[edit] Venues
1994 to 2007 Circus Tavern, Purfleet
2008 Alexandra Palace, London
[edit] Final Results and statistics
| Year | Champion (average in final)[2] | Score | Runner-Up (average in final) | Sponsor | Total Prize Money[3] |
Champion | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 |  Dennis Priestley 94.38 |
6-1 | Phil Taylor 90.62 |
Skol | £64,000 | £16,000 | £8,000 |
| 1995 | Phil Taylor 94.11 |
6-2 | Rod Harrington 87.15 |
Proton Cars | £55,000 | £12,000 | £6,000 |
| 1996 | Phil Taylor 98.52 |
6-4 | Dennis Priestley 101.49 |
Vernons | £61,000 | £14,000 | £7,000 |
| 1997 | Phil Taylor 100.92 |
6-3 | Dennis Priestley 96.78 |
Red Band | £98,000 | £45,000 | £10,000 |
| 1998 | Phil Taylor 103.98 |
6-0 | Dennis Priestley 90.75 |
Skol | £71,000 | £20,000 | £10,000 |
| 1999 | Phil Taylor 97.11 |
6-2 | Peter Manley 93.63 |
Skol | £104,000 | £30,000 | £16,000 |
| 2000 | Phil Taylor 94.42 |
7-3 | Dennis Priestley 91.80 |
Skol | £110,000 | £31,000 | £16,400 |
| 2001 | Phil Taylor 107.46 |
7-0 |  John Part 92.58 |
Skol | £124,000 | £33,000 | £18,000 |
| 2002 | Phil Taylor 98.47 |
7-0 | Peter Manley 91.35 |
Skol | £200,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 |
| 2003 | John Part 96.87 |
7-6 | Phil Taylor 99.98 |
Ladbrokes | £200,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 |
| 2004 | Phil Taylor 96.03 |
7-6 | Kevin Painter 90.48 |
Ladbrokes | £256,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 |
| 2005 | Phil Taylor 96.14 |
7-4 | Mark Dudbridge 90.66 |
Ladbrokes | £300,000 | £60,000 | £30,000 |
| 2006 | Phil Taylor 106.74 |
7-0 | Peter Manley 91.72 |
Ladbrokes | £500,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 |
| 2007 |  Raymond van Barneveld 101.07 |
7-6 | Phil Taylor 100.98 |
Ladbrokes | £500,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 |
| 2008 | John Part 92.86 |
7-2 | Kirk Shepherd 85.10 |
Ladbrokes | £605,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 |
[edit] Television Coverage
The PDC World Championship has been broadcast live and in its entirety by Sky Sports in the UK since its inception. The tournament has become more and more popular in recent years with the 2007 World Final achieving a viewing figure in excess of 1 million for the first time.
Sky Television World Final viewing figures where available.[4]
- 2008 731,000
- 2007 1,028,000
- 2006 761,000
- 2005 530,000
- 2004 820,000
- 2003 610,000
- 2002 Unavailable
- 2001 420,000
- 2000 240,000
- 1999 200,000
Dutch broadcaster SBS6, having covered the BDO World Darts Championship for many years, now also covers the event. DSF (Germany), Fox Sports (USA), TSN (Canada), Fox Sports (Australia), SuperSport (South Africa), Ten Sports (India), CCTV (China), Showtime (Middle East), Ukraine TV, Sky New Zealand, IKO (Poland), Starhub (Singapore), Sport1 (Hungary), Meersat (Malaysia), 7TV (Russia), Measat (Indonesia), J Sky Sport (Japan) now also broadcast the event. [5]
[edit] Records
Since the split in darts two versions of the world championship have existed since 1994, this record section relates specifically to achievements in the PDC version.
- Most titles: Phil Taylor 11 (additional 2 BDO titles takes total to 13)
- Most finals: Phil Taylor 14 (1994-2007, the first 14 PDC World finals)
- Most match wins: Phil Taylor 68 matches (1994 - 2008). Taylor has only lost four matches at the tournament and reached every final until the 2008 tournament when he was knocked out in the Quarter Final by Wayne Mardle.
- Longest unbeaten run: Phil Taylor 44 matches between his loss at the 1994 final and his next defeat the final of 2003.
- Most 180s in a tournament: The 2007 championship saw a record number of 180s scored. The tournament total of 503 in 1298 legs was the equivalent to one every 2½ legs.
- Most 180s in a tournament (individual): Raymond van Barneveld 51 (2007) which beat Phil Taylor's record of 49 from the previous year. This included 21 180s in the final alone.
- Most appearances: John Lowe 27 years Lowe's defeat in 2005 World Championship qualifying ended his run of 27 consecutive appearances at the world championships - he failed to qualify for the 2006, 2007 & 2008 events and was the last surviving player from the inaugural world championships in 1978.
- Most appearances (unbroken): Bob Anderson 25 Anderson would need to compete at the 2009 and 2010 championships to match Lowe's longevity record.
- Youngest player: Mitchell Clegg 16 years and 37 days Clegg qualified as a 15 year old) in 2007. He was younger than Michael van Gerwen who would set the BDO World Championship youngest player record a few weeks later.
- Youngest finalist: Kirk Shepherd 21 years and 88 days In the 2008 final, Shepherd was two days younger than when Jelle Klaasen won the BDO version. Shepherd however was runner-up.
- Record TV audience The 2007 final was the first time that Sky television achieved a viewing figure of over 1 million for a darts match. The subscription channel had an audience of 1,028,000 for the van Barneveld v Taylor classic.
- Sudden death deciders: The PDC World title has twice been decided on a final set, sudden-death leg. In 2004 Kevin Painter took Phil Taylor to 6-6 in sets and 5-5 in legs before Taylor won the match. In 2007, Taylor was on the wrong end of the sudden-death leg in his defeat by Raymond van Barneveld. There have been two finals in the BDO World Championship that have gone to a tie-break.
- Both versions of World Championship: Dennis Priestley was the first player to have won both versions of the World Championship. He won the 1991 BDO Championship and 1994 PDC Championship. Phil Taylor, John Part and Raymond van Barneveld have also matched the feat. Part's 2008 win meant he was the first player to win world titles at three different venues (Lakeside, Circus Tavern and Alexandra Palace)
- Overseas World Champions: John Part was the first player from outside the UK to win the PDC World Championship with his 2003 title, also in 2008 John Part became only the second dart player other than Phil Taylor to win the PDC world title more than once. He was also the first overseas player to win the BDO title in 1994. Raymond van Barneveld was the second overseas champion in 2007.
[edit] Averages
Since the breakaway of the PDC players, there has been much debate about the relative merits of the players within each organisation. The debate often focuses on the three-dart averages of players in matches. The averages don't necessarily reflect the quality of the players, but the figures are often analysed.
Prior to the split there had been only three occasions when players had managed to achieve an average of 100 for a match.
- 102.63 Dennis Priestley (1993, 1st Round) v Jocky Wilson
- 100.80 Phil Taylor (1990, Semi-Final) v Cliff Lazarenko
- 100.29 Keith Deller (1985, Quarter-Final) v John Lowe (lost match)
An average over 100 in a match at the Circus Tavern in the PDC World Championship has been achieved 33 times, compared to only 19 times in the BDO World Championships. This statistic is made even more remarkable by the fact that the BDO tournament has been going on twice as long as the PDC tournament. However, only 5 different men have achieved an average of over 100 in the PDC tournament, compared to 7 different men in the BDO tournament since the split in 1994.
- 111.21 Phil Taylor (2002, 2nd Round) v Shayne Burgess
- 109.00 Phil Taylor (2007, 2nd Round) v Mick McGowan
- 108.30 Phil Taylor (2006, 3rd Round) v Andy Hamilton
- 107.46 Phil Taylor (2001, Final) v John Part
- 106.74 Phil Taylor (2006, Final) v Peter Manley
- 106.23 Phil Taylor (2007, Semi-Final) v Andy Hamilton
- 105.87 Phil Taylor (2000, Quarter Final) v Alan Warriner
- 105.57 Phil Taylor (2006, Quarter Final) v Kevin Painter
- 105.15 Phil Taylor (2000, Semi Finals) v Dennis Smith
- 105.03 Phil Taylor (1999, 1st Round) v Reg Harding
- 103.98 Phil Taylor (1998, Final) v Dennis Priestley
- 103.80 Phil Taylor (2000, 2nd Round) v Graeme Stoddart
- 103.44 Phil Taylor (2003, 2nd Round) v Steve Brown
- 103.38 Richie Burnett (2001, 1st Round) v Steve Brown
- 103.26 Phil Taylor (2000, 1st Round) v Mick Manning
- 103.20 Phil Taylor (2001, Quarter Final) v Keith Deller
- 103.08 Phil Taylor (1998, Semi-Final) v Rod Harrington
- 102.87 Phil Taylor (2005, 3rd Round) v Alex Roy
- 102.75 Phil Taylor (2001, Semi-Final) v Dave Askew
- 102.48 Raymond van Barneveld (2007, 3rd Round) v Rico Vonck
- 102.39 Phil Taylor (2006, 2nd Round) v Matt Clark
- 102.00 Phil Taylor (1999, 2nd Round) v John Lowe
- 101.82 Mick McGowan (2007, 2nd Round) v Phil Taylor (lost match)
- 101.51 Phil Taylor (2007, Quarter Final) v Darren Webster
- 101.49 Dennis Priestley (1996, Final) v Phil Taylor (lost match)
- 101.07 Raymond van Barneveld (2007, Final) v Phil Taylor
- 100.98 Phil Taylor (2007, Final) v Raymond van Barneveld (lost match)
- 100.95 Phil Taylor (1996, Group Stages) v Shayne Burgess
- 100.92 Phil Taylor (1997, Final) v Dennis Priestley
- 100.77 Phil Taylor (2005, 4th Round) v Dennis Priestley
- 100.38 Phil Taylor (2003, Quarter Finals) v Dennis Smith
- 100.23 Phil Taylor (2002, Quarter Finals) v John Part
- 100.02 Phil Taylor (2004, Semi Finals) v Wayne Mardle
The 2008 World Championship was the first time since the 1995 Championship that no player achieved a single match average of 100.
[edit] Notes & References
- ^ New venue announcement
- ^ Each player's average score is based on the average for each 3-dart visit to the board (ie total points scored divided by darts thrown and multiplied by 3)
- ^ PDC World Championship prize fund dartsdatabase
- ^ BARB viewing figures
- ^ PDC v BDO - you decide Planet Darts
[edit] 2008 Event
The 2008 PDC World Championship was held between Monday December 17, 2007 and Tuesday January 1, 2008. John Part won his second PDC World title, and third in all by beating qualifier Kirk Shepherd in the final. Shepherd produced an incredible run to reach the final and almost emulated Keith Deller's surprise victory at the 1983 Embassy World Championship. Phil Taylor failed to reach the final for the first time in the 15 year history of the event when he lost to Wayne Mardle in the quarter finals.
see main article: 2008 PDC World Darts Championship
| World Darts Championship |
|---|
| World Professional Darts Championship |
| 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 |
| BDO World Championship |
| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| PDC World Championship |
| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Winners and statistics |
| List of winners from 1978 to present |
