1994 PDC World Darts Championship

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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 stage their inaugural World Championship before the BDO version and the 1994 Championship actually started before the New Year - 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.

Contents 1 The 16 Defectors 2 The Tournament & Format 3 Results 3.1 1st Round - Group Stages 3.2 Knockout Stages

[edit] The 16 Defectors

Originally 16 players "defected" from the BDO to form the 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.

[edit] The Tournament & Format

Dennis Priestley became the first Skol 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.

[edit] Results

[edit] 1st Round - Group Stages

• Group 1
  • Phil Taylor - Jamie Harvey 3 - 1
  • Jamie Harvey - Jim Watkins 2 - 3
  • Phil Taylor - Jim Watkins 3 - 0

• Group 2
  • Gerald Verrier - Bob Anderson 0 - 3
  • Gerald Verrier - Dave Kelly 3 - 0
  • Bob Anderson - Dave Kelly 3 - 0

• Group 3
  • Keith Deller - Kevin Spiolek 1 - 3
  • Keith Deller - Steve Brown 1 - 3
  • Steve Brown - Kevin Spiolek 3 - 0

• Group 4
  • Alan Warriner - Ritchie Gardner 3 - 1
  • Ritchie Gardner - Cliff Lazarenko 3 - 1
  • Alan Warriner - Cliff Lazarenko 3 - 1

• Group 5
  • Peter Evison - Jerry Umberger 3 - 0
  • Jerry Umberger - Kevin Burrows 3 - 0
  • Peter Evison - Kevin Burrows 3 - 0

• Group 6
  • Rod Harrington - Eric Bristow 3 - 1
  • Eric Bristow - Sean Downs 3 - 2
  • Rod Harrington - Sean Downs 3 - 2

• Group 7
  • Tom Kirby - John Lowe 2 - 3
  • Tom Kirby - Larry Butler 3 - 1
  • Larry Butler - John Lowe 3 - 2

• Group 8
  • Dennis Priestley - Jocky Wilson 3 - 2
  • Jocky Wilson - Graeme Stoddart 1 - 3
  • Dennis Priestley - Graeme Stoddart 3 - 0

[edit] Knockout Stages

Quarter Finals

Semi Finals

Final 2 January 1994

Group 1 winner

Phil Taylor 90.21

4

Group 2 Winner

Bob Anderson 90.72

2

Phil Taylor 91.20

5

Steve Brown 91.20

0

Group 3 winner

Steve Brown xx.xx

4

Group 4 winner

Alan Warriner 88.29

3

Phil Taylor 85.62

1

Dennis Priestley 94.38

6

Group 5 winner

Peter Evison 90.15

4

Group 6 winner

Rod Harrington 89.37

1

Peter Evison 82.41

3

Dennis Priestley 94.38

5

Group 7 winner

Tom Kirby 84.03

2

Group 8 winner

Dennis Priestley 90.93

4

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