1981 BDO World Darts Championship

The 1981 Embassy World Darts Championship was the fourth year that the British Darts Organisation had staged a world championship. The field was expanded from 24 to 32 players, the format which would remain for many years. For the third successive year the tournament was staged at Jollees Cabaret Club in Stoke-on-Trent.

Eric Bristow was back to defend his title and would face John Lowe the champion of two years previously in the final. The final was the best of nine sets, but there was a break scheduled after three sets where the third-fourth place play-off match would be held.

Lowe ran away with the first two sets without dropping a leg and took the first leg in the third set before Bristow finally got onto the scoreboard. The "Crafty Cockney" held on to take that third set to go into the break just one set behind. As in the previous year's final, Bristow edged ahead to lead 4-3 in sets and Lowe (as Bobby George did in 1980) had darts to take the match into a final set. However Lowe missed three attempts at double ten and Bristow took out double four to win the title for the second year running.

The Results

World Snooker Championship Rounds
|flagicon|England Eric Bristow|2|flagicon|Australia Terry O'Dea|0
|flagicon|England Dave Whitcombe|2|flagicon|England Charlie Ellix|0
|flagicon|United States Nicky Virachkul|2|flagicon|England Tony Sontag|1
|flagicon|Scotland Rab Smith|2|flagicon|Wales Wayne Lock|1
|flagicon|England Cliff Lazarenko|2|flagicon|Canada Alan Hudson|0
|flagicon|United States Jerry Umberger|2|flagicon|United States Len Heard|0
|flagicon|England Bobby George|2|flagicon|Scotland Alistair Forrester|0
|flagicon|Wales Tony Clark|2|flagicon|England Bill Lennard|1
|flagicon|England John Lowe|2|flagicon|Scotland Angus Ross|0
|flagicon|Canada Allan Hogg|2|flagicon|England Les Capewell|0
|flagicon|Wales Ceri Morgan|2|flagicon|England Doug McCarthy|1
|flagicon|Wales Leighton Rees|2|flagicon|Australia Tim Brown|0
|flagicon|Scotland Jocky Wilson|2|flagicon|New Zealand Gordon Allpress|0
|flagicon|Australia Kevin White|2|flagicon|Sweden Stefan Lord|1
|flagicon|Belgium Luc Marreel|2|flagicon|Denmark Jan Larsen|1
|flagicon|England Tony Brown|2|flagicon|England Paul Gosling|1
|flagicon|England Eric Bristow|2|flagicon|England Dave Whitcombe|0
|flagicon|United States Nicky Virachkul|2|flagicon|Scotland Rab Smith|0
|flagicon|England Cliff Lazarenko|2|flagicon|United States Jerry Umberger|0
|flagicon|England Bobby George|2|flagicon|Wales Tony Clark|0
|flagicon|England John Lowe|2|flagicon|Canada Allan Hogg|1
|flagicon|Wales Ceri Morgan|2|flagicon|Wales Leighton Rees|1
|flagicon|Scotland Jocky Wilson|2"'|flagicon|Australia Kevin White|1
|flagicon|England Tony Brown|2|flagicon|Belgium Luc Marreel|0
|flagicon|England Eric Bristow|4|flagicon|United States Nicky Virachkul|0
|flagicon|England Cliff Lazarenko|4|flagicon|England Bobby George|0
|flagicon|England John Lowe|4|flagicon|Wales Ceri Morgan|3
|flagicon|England Tony Brown|4|flagicon|Scotland Jocky Wilson|2
|flagicon|England Eric Bristow|4|flagicon|England Cliff Lazarenko|1
|flagicon|England John Lowe|4|flagicon|England Tony Brown|1
("Best of 9 sets") Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke-on-Trent, 17 January 1981).
flagicon|England Eric Bristow
5-3
John Lowe flagicon|England
Set scores (Bristow first)
0-3 0-3 3-2 3-0 3-0 3-2 2-3 3-2|
flagicon|England Eric Bristow wins the 1981 Embassy World Darts Championship
"Best of 3 sets"
"Best of 3 sets"
"Best of 7 sets"
"Best of 7 sets"

THIRD PLACE MATCH (Best of 3 sets)

flagicon|England Cliff Lazarenko beat Tony Brown flagicon|England 2-1