World Matchplay (darts)

The Stan James World Matchplay is a , played in a legs format, and is run by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). The tournament has been sponsored by gambling company Stan James since 2000 - which makes them the longest running sponsors of a PDC darts tournament.

The World Matchplay has been played yearly since 1994 in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. The first ever winner was Larry Butler, who beat Dennis Priestley 16-12, and the current holder is Phil Taylor. It is regarded as the second biggest PDC Tournament, status shown by the fact the whole tournament was sold out within 3 days of the tickets being on sale.

The 1995 World Matchplay turned out to be Jocky Wilson's last appearance in a major televised event. Wilson had reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural tournament in 1994 and he beat Rod Harrington in the 1st round in 1995, but a 2nd round defeat against Nigel Justice was effectively the end of his career.

The difference between this and other darts tournaments is that there is no deciding leg - players must win by two clear legs. The first round is usually played over the first to 10 legs, but if the score reaches 9-9, play continues until either player gains a 2 leg lead.

Phil Taylor is the current champion beating James Wade, and with an average of 109.47, he got the highest championship winning average on Sky Sports.

ponsors

There have been three different sponsors for the World Matchplay:
* 1994: Proton Cars
* 1995–96: Websters
* 2000–present: Stan James

Past Winners

Over the course of the tournaments 13 year existence, there have only been 6 different winners- Phil Taylor (8), Larry Butler (1), Peter Evison (1), Rod Harrington (2), Colin Lloyd (1) and James Wade (1) Dennis Priestley was also runner-up for 3 consecutive years.

Records

;Longest match in history : The finals of 1998 and 1999 both went to 36 legs as a result of the format of "2 clear legs".;Longest first round match : The longest first round match ever played was the 2002 clash between Peter Manley and Bob Anderson. Scheduled to be first to 10 legs, the match went to 32 legs with Anderson winning 17-15. A second round match in 1994 between Jim Watkins and Keith Deller scheduled for best of 17 legs ended after 34 legs with Watkins the winner 18-16.;Longest unbeaten run : Phil Taylor 28 consecutive match wins from 2000 until his defeat in the quarter finals of the 2005 event to John Part. Taylor has only lost six matches in the history of the event:;* 1994 Bob Anderson 9-11 (sudden death, 2nd Round);* 1996 Peter Evison 1-8 (2nd Round);* 1998 Ronnie Baxter 10-13 (Quarter Finals);* 1999 Peter Manley 14-17 (Semi Finals), ;* 2005 John Part 11-16 (Quarter Finals);* 2007 Terry Jenkins 11-17 (Semi Finals).;Whitewashes In a short preliminary round match in 1996, Mick Manning beat Garry Haynes 5-0. The first whitewashes in longer match came in 1997 when Steve Brown beat Sean Downes 8-0 and Phil Taylor beat Gary Mawson 8-0. Mawson was the first player to suffer two whitewashes when he lost to Rod Harrington 0-8 in 1998. Other whitewashes:;* 2002 Phil Taylor 10-0 Shayne Burgess;* 2002 John Part 10-0 Mark Walsh;* 2003 Phil Taylor 10-0 Les Fitton;* 2004 John Part 10-0 Colin Monk;* 2004 Ronnie Baxter 10-0 Peter Evison;Heaviest defeat : Phil Taylor's 16-1 thrashing of Roland Scholten in the 2007 Quarter finals is the biggest victory margin in the tournament's history.

Previous incarnation

During the 1980s, the British Darts Organisation staged an unrelated version - the MFI World Matchplay championship. It was short-lived but historic in darts as it featured the first ever televised nine dart finish on October 13, 1984 when John Lowe won £102,000 for the perfect game of darts against Keith Deller. Lowe went on to win the title that year. The tournament was broadcast on ITV and came from The Fulcrum Centre, Slough. ITV ceased coverage after the 1987 championships, and also pulled coverage of the World Masters in 1988 leaving the BBC as the only broadcaster of darts.

The complete list of final results: Dubious|July 2008|date=July 2008 [ [http://www.dartsmad.com/dartabase/darts_rollofhonour.aspx?compcode=MATCHPLAY World Matchplay roll of honour including previous version] dartsmad.com] :1984 John Lowe beat Cliff Lazarenko 5-3 (sets) :1985 Eric Bristow beat Bob Anderson 5-4:1986 Mike Gregory beat Jocky Wilson 5-1 :1987 Bob Anderson beat John Lowe 5-1 :1988 Eric Bristow beat Bob Sinnaeve 5-1

References

External links

* [http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/WorldMatchplay/0,,10180,00.html World Matchplay page on the PDC website]