1994 PDC World Darts Championship

The 1994 Skol World Darts Championships was held following 18 months of controversy within the sport of darts. After the 1993 Embassy World Championships, several players decided it was time to part company with the British Darts Organisation (who had always organised the World Championship) and form their own organisation. The new organisation was known as the World Darts Council (WDC). The WDC would later become the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

The WDC decided to introduce their own separate World Championship, with the inaugural tournament being staged before the BDO version. The 1994 Championship actually started on Boxing Day 1993. This started a tradition for the WDC/PDC World Championship to actually kick off before the new calendar year begins. The tournament was staged at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet, Essex.

The 16 Defectors

Originally 16 players "defected" from the BDO to form the WDC/PDC - Phil Taylor, Dennis Priestley, Rod Harrington, Alan Warriner, Peter Evison, Richie Gardner, Jocky Wilson, Eric Bristow, Keith Deller, John Lowe, Bob Anderson, Cliff Lazarenko, Kevin Spiolek, Jamie Harvey, Mike Gregory and Chris Johns.

However Johns and Gregory returned to the BDO without ever competing at the PDC World Championship. They were replaced with Graeme Stoddart and Kevin Burrows and the field was brought up to 24 by adding seven players from the United States and Tom Kirby of Ireland.

The Tournament & Format

Dennis Priestley became the first WDC World Champion, winning his second championship in the process, defeating Phil Taylor by 6 sets to 1 in the final.

There were 24 players involved and the tournament featured an unusual round-robin format. The players were put into groups of three where the order of play was thus:
*Player A v Player B
*Loser of Match 1 v Player C
*Winner of Match 1 v Player C
This was done so that there would usually always be something to play for in the last group game.

The group winner would progress to the quarter-finals (best of seven sets) and the tournament then became a straight knock-out event. The semi-finals were the best of 9 sets and the final was best of 11 sets.

Phil Taylor defeated four opponents with a set record of 15-3 (Watkins 3-0, Bravedart Jamie Harvey 3-1, Bob Anderson 4-2, and Steve Brown 5-0) to reach the final. Dennis Priestley had seen off Peter Evison in the semi-final and became a World Champion for a second time with a bang, winning the final 6-1 to add to his 6-0 whitewash victory over Eric Bristow in the BDO in 1991.

Prize money

The prize money for the tournament was £64,000 - significantly less than the 1994 BDO World Championship which featured a £136,100 prize fund. [ [http://www.teessidesoftware.no-ip.com/DartsDatabase/EventResultsPrize.aspx?EventKey=244 Prize money breakdown] dartsdatabase]

:Champion £16,000 (BDO £32,000):Runner-up £8,000 (BDO £16,000):Third place £5,000 (BDO £7,700):Fourth place £3,000 (BDO £7,700):Quarter-finals £1,500 (BDO £3,800):Group stage £1,250 (BDO last 16 £2,800 last 32 £1,900)

Tournament review

Group stage

The majority of the major players came through the group stage without trouble, though Phil Taylor would have been hopeful of a 3-0 win against Bravedart Jamie Harvey coming through by 3 sets to 1. 1988 World Champion Bob Anderson would join him after a series of 3-0 wins against Gerald Verrirer and Dave Kelly. Steve Brown though upset the odds in Group 3 in taking out 1983 champion Keith Deller, whose best days had began to go. Alan Warriner would be through to meet him after a couple of 3-1 wins against Richie Gardner and Cliff Lazarenko. Peter Evison, former no. 2 seed with the BDO also would go through to the quarter-finals after 2 wins. Rod Harrington also went through from Group 6, though not without difficulty. After a 3-1 win over five time World Champion Eric Bristow in match 1, he narrowly defeated Sean Downs by 3 sets to 2 to go through to the last 8.

Group 7 would see John Lowe bow out, in a tight group in which Tom Kirby from Ireland booked a quarter-final slot despite suffering defeat in his opening match. He would be up against Dennis Priestley after the Yorkshireman saw off Jockey Wilson and Graeme Stoddart to book a quarter-final slot

Quarter-FinalsIn the battle of two former world champions, Phil Taylor moved onto the Semi-Finals with a 4-2 win over fellow Englishman Bob Anderson, who would still be searching for his second world title. Steve Brown upset the odds to defeat 1993 World Finalist Alan Warriner 6-3 to move on into the semi-finals and a meeting with Taylor. Rod Harrington, who had struggled through his second match against Sean Downs would bow out at this stage, Peter Evison winning 4-1.

Dennis Priestley ensured that there would be at least one English Finalist, in setting up a meeting with Evison after ending the run in the event of Tom Kirby by 4 sets to 2.

Semi-FinalsAmerican interest ended at this stage, after Steve Brown's run in eliminating Deller and Warriner, he struggled against Taylor, and the Englishman would go through, a very convincing 5-0 winner to the final. He would meet Priestley - who beat him en route to his 1991 World Title after the Yorkshireman won 5-3 against Peter Evison

FinalGiven that their previous World Championship meeting had been a thriller 4-3, it came a big surprise that Priestley would win comfortably, his second world title came with a 6-1 win, adding to the 6-0 win over Eric Bristow in 1991.

Results

1st Round - Group Stages

*Group 1
**Phil Taylor flagicon|ENG - Jamie Harvey flagicon|SCO 3 - 1
**Jamie Harvey flagicon|SCO - Jim Watkins flagicon|USA 2 - 3
**Phil Taylor flagicon|ENG - Jim Watkins flagicon|USA 3 - 0

*Group 2
**Gerald Verrier flagicon|USA - Bob Anderson flagicon|ENG 0 - 3
**Gerald Verrier flagicon|USA - Dave Kelly flagicon|USA 3 - 0
**Bob Anderson flagicon|ENG - Dave Kelly flagicon|USA 3 - 0
*Group 3
**Keith Deller flagicon|ENG - Kevin Spiolek flagicon|ENG 1 - 3
**Keith Deller flagicon|ENG - Steve Brown flagicon|USA 1 - 3
**Steve Brown flagicon|USA - Kevin Spiolek flagicon|ENG 3 - 0

*Group 4
**Alan Warriner flagicon|ENG - Richie Gardner flagicon|ENG 3 - 1
**Richie Gardner flagicon|ENG - Cliff Lazarenko flagicon|ENG 3 - 1
**Alan Warriner flagicon|ENG - Cliff Lazarenko flagicon|ENG 3 - 1

*Group 5
**Peter Evison flagicon|ENG - Jerry Umberger flagicon|USA 3 - 0
**Jerry Umberger flagicon|USA - Kevin Burrows flagicon|ENG 3 - 0
**Peter Evison flagicon|ENG - Kevin Burrows flagicon|ENG 3 - 0
*Group 6
**Rod Harrington flagicon|ENG - Eric Bristow flagicon|ENG 3 - 1
**Eric Bristow flagicon|ENG - Sean Downs flagicon|USA 3 - 2
**Rod Harrington flagicon|ENG - Sean Downs flagicon|USA 3 - 2

*Group 7
**Tom Kirby flagicon|IRL - John Lowe flagicon|ENG 2 - 3
**Tom Kirby flagicon|IRL - Larry Butler flagicon|USA 3 - 1
**Larry Butler flagicon|USA - John Lowe flagicon|ENG 3 - 2

*Group 8
**Dennis Priestley flagicon|ENG - Jocky Wilson flagicon|SCO 3 - 2
**Jocky Wilson flagicon|SCO - Graeme Stoddart flagicon|ENG 1 - 3
**Dennis Priestley flagicon|ENG - Graeme Stoddart flagicon|ENG 3 - 0

Knockout Stages

8TeamBracket | RD1= Quarter Finals
RD2=Semi Finals
RD3=Final
2 January 1994
group1=
group4=

score-width=20
team-width=

RD1-seed1=Group 1 winner
RD1-team1=flagicon|ENG Phil Taylor 90.21
RD1-score1=4
RD1-seed2=Group 2 Winner
RD1-team2=flagicon|ENG Bob Anderson 90.72
RD1-score2=2

RD1-seed3=Group 3 winner
RD1-team3=flagicon|USA Steve Brown xx.xx
RD1-score3=4
RD1-seed4=Group 4 winner
RD1-team4=flagicon|ENG Alan Warriner 88.29
RD1-score4=3

RD1-seed5=Group 5 winner
RD1-team5=flagicon|ENG Peter Evison 90.15
RD1-score5=4
RD1-seed6=Group 6 winner
RD1-team6=flagicon|ENG Rod Harrington 89.37
RD1-score6=1

RD1-seed7=Group 7 winner
RD1-team7=flagicon|IRL Tom Kirby 84.03
RD1-score7=2
RD1-seed8=Group 8 winner
RD1-team8=flagicon|ENG Dennis Priestley 90.93
RD1-score8=4

RD2-seed1=
RD2-team1=flagicon|ENG Phil Taylor 91.20
RD2-score1=5
RD2-seed2=
RD2-team2=flagicon|USA Steve Brown 91.20
RD2-score2=0

RD2-seed3=
RD2-team3=flagicon|ENG Peter Evison 82.41
RD2-score3=3
RD2-seed4=
RD2-team4=flagicon|ENG Dennis Priestley 94.38
RD2-score4=5

RD3-seed1=
RD3-team1=flagicon|ENG Phil Taylor 85.62
RD3-score1=1
RD3-seed2=
RD3-team2=flagicon|ENG Dennis Priestley 94.38
RD3-score2=6

Third-place play-off Steve Brown 5-1 Peter Evison

References