World Grand Prix (darts)
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The 'World Darts Grand Prix' is a PDC darts tournament held in Dublin each October. Its original venue was the Casino Rooms in Rochester, Kent in 1998 and 1999 and then for one year only in 2000 at the Crosbie Cedars Hotel in Rosslare, County Wexford. In 2001 the tournament moved further north 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.
Although he has dominated the event with seven title wins, Phil Taylor has now been knocked out of the World Grand Prix three times in the first round. In 2001, he lost 2-1 to qualifier Kevin Painter, in 2004 by 2 sets to 0 to Andy Callaby, and in 2007 he went down 2-0 in sets to Adrian Gray.
The current Champion is James Wade, who defeated Terry Jenkins 6-3 in the final on 14 October 2007
Contents |
[edit] 2007 Event
see article: 2007 World Grand Prix Darts
[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, where there were only four seeded players for the event, and all 4 reached the semi-finals - which is quite unusual in darts tournament history. The group stages were 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 | Crosbie Cedars Hotel, Rosslare |
| 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 |
| 2007 | James Wade |
6-3 (sets) | Terry Jenkins |
SkyBet | CityWest Hotel, Dublin |
[edit] World Pairs Finals
The World Pairs event which preceded the introduction of this event was held between 1995 & 1997. The winners were:-
1995 Eric Bristow & Dennis Priestley beat Keith Deller & Jamie Harvey 14-9 (in Ayr)
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) [1]
[edit] Media coverage
The World Grand Prix currently gets shown live by Sky Sports.
[edit] References
- ^ World Pairs Results Superstars of Darts
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