2008 Grand Slam of Darts

The 2008 Grand Slam of Darts will be the second staging of the darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event will take place from Saturday 15th of November to Sunday 23rd November 2008 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall. As with 2007, the tournament will include players from both the PDC and BDO organisations. The players that will take part will be the ones that have performed the best in major tournaments held over the previous two years. These tournaments include all the televised PDC events, the BDO World Championships, the BDO World Masters and also some un-televised tournaments.

Prize Fund

The prize fund for the 2008 tournament will be as follows:
* Winner - £100,000
* Runner-Up - £40,000
* Losing Semi-Finalists - £20,000 each
* Losing Quarter-Finalists - £12,500 each
* Round Two Losers - £7,500 each
* Group Stage Losers - £4,000 each
* Highest Finish - £2,000

* Total Prize Fund - £356,000

Qualifying Tournaments

There are 15 tournaments that provide qualifying oppertunities to players. Most tournaments offer a qualifying position for the winner and runner-up of the tournament, however, the World Championships also offer a place in the Grand Slam of Darts to the losing semi-finalists.

The tables below show the tournaments that offer places in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts and, where appropriate, the players who have claimed the places.

PDC

Note: Players in "italics" have already qualified for the tournament.

For the second year running, Martin Adams declined his invitation to take part in the competition.

Due to the 2008 World Masters being scheduled for December, Michael van Gerwen was offered, and has accepted, an invitation to compete in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. The invitation was given as van Gerwen won the World Masters in 2006. [ [http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/GrandSlamDetail/0,,10180~1287554,00.html Michael van Gerwen accepts Grand Slam place] , additional text.]

Other Methods of Qualification

A invitation to compete in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts will also be awarded to:

* The winner of the PDC South African Open
* The top players from the PDC North American Order of Merit (Darin Young has qualified)
* The top players from the PDC European Order of Merit
* The player who has accumulated the highest amount of prize money at the conclusion of the DPA William Cross Pro-Am to be held in August
* An ITV Wildcard

PDC South African Open

The PDC South African Open was held on the 27th of September 2008. The tournament was won by Charles Losper meaning he will receive an invitation to the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.

PDC North American Order of Merit

The PDC North American Order of Merit ranks all of the North American Dart Players based on the amount of prize money that they have won from tournaments held in the USA and Canada.

Having won the inaugural North American Darts Championship and reached the second round of the Las Vegas Desert Classic which saw him pick up approximately £9,075 in PDC tournaments in North America this year DARIN YOUNG topped the 2008 North American Order of Merit.

He also won prize money in the three Players Championship events held in August and September in Kitchener, Atlanta and Chicago.

Due to this Young, from Pennsylvania, has become the North American representative at the Grand Slam of Darts 2008.

PDC European Order of Merit

The PDC European Order of Merit ranks all of the Continental European Dart Players based on the amount of prize money that they have won from tournaments held in Benelux/Germany. As of July 2008 there are three ranking competitions left before the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. They are:
* Players Championship Germany (25th October 2008)
* Players Championship (8th November 2008)
* Players Championship (9th November 2008)

William Cross Pro AM

The William Cross Pro AM was a group of four darts tournaments held in Australia from the 2nd to the 10th of August 2008. At the culmination of the four tournaments, an invitation to the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts was awarded to the Australian/New Zealand player who had accumulated the highest amount of prize money.

UK born player Paul Nicholson performed well in all four events and was runner-up in the Australian Open Players Championship. He topped the prize money table and as such was awarded a place in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. [ [http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/LatestDetail/0,,10180~1363971,00.html Nicholson wins place in 2008 Grand Slam of Darts] ]

ITV Wildcard

On the 1st of August 2008, the PDC announced that the ITV Wildcard Qualifiers will be held on Friday 17th October 2008 at the Magnum Centre in Irvine, Scotland. Any darts player is able to enter and the winner will receive an invitation to the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. The losing semi-finalists will also compete in a third-place play-off match to determine reserve qualifiers. Together with the runner-up, these qualifiers would be invited to the Grand Slam of Darts should the 32-man field remain unfilled.

The competition will be the best of 9 legs throughout. [ [http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/GrandSlamDetail/0,,10180~1354968,00.html PDC announce ITV Wildcard Qualifiers] ]

Qualified Players

As of 14th September 2008, 27 players have qualified for the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. They are:

Reserve Players

On the 13th of August 2008, the PDC announced that there would be a number of reserve players that would receive an invitation to the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts should the field be short of players once all qualifying tournaments have been played. The reserve players will be:

* Anastasia Dobromyslova - Womens World Champion (1)
* ITV Wildcard Qualifier Second Place (2)
* ITV Wildcard Qualifier Third Place (3)
* ITV Wildcard Qualifier Fourth Place (4)

The numbers in brackets are the order in which players will receive invitations. For example, if there is one place remaining it would go to the Womens Champion, Anastasia Dobromyslova. If there are two places remaining, one would go to Anastasia Dobromyslova and one would go to the runner-up of the ITV Wildcard Qualifiers and so on. [ [http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/GrandSlamDetail/0,,10180~1365279,00.html PDC announce Reserve Players for 2008 Grand Slam of Darts] ]

Television Coverage

As with 2007 the tournament will be shown by ITV sport in the UK.

External links and references