2008 World Grand Prix (darts)

Sky Poker World Grand Prix
Tournament information
Dates October 6–12
Venue Citywest Hotel
Location Dublin
Country Republic of Ireland
Organisation(s) PDC
Format

Sets

"double in, double out"
Prize fund £250,000
Winners share £50,000
High checkout 170 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
Champion(s)
England Phil Taylor
«2007 2009»

The 2008 Sky Poker World Grand Prix was the eleventh instance of the darts tournament held by the Professional Darts Corporation, the World Grand Prix. It was held from October 6 to October 12. As usual it was staged at the Citywest Hotel in Saggart, Dublin.[1] The event featured a tournament record prize fund of £250,000 with £50,000 going to the winner.[2][3]

Phil Taylor won his eighth Grand Prix title with a 6-2 victory over Raymond van Barneveld in the final, an impressive 355,000 viewers tuned in to watch it. James Wade was the defending champion, however he suffered a 2-1 defeat to Tony Eccles in the first round.

Format

The tournament's usual format was in play with the usual 501 legs double-in double-out format (the World Grand Prix remains the only televised darts tournament to use the double-in format). The first round's games were best of 3 sets - the quickfire nature of this round means shocks are frequent in this round, not least involving eight-time champion Phil Taylor who, three times, has gone out the in first round here. Second round games were best of 5 sets, the quarter finals best of 7 sets, the semi finals best of 9 sets, and the final was best of 11 sets. All sets were best of 5 legs/first to three legs.[4]

Prize money

A tournament record prize fund of £250,000 was available to the participants, divided based on the following performances:[3]

Champion - £50,000
Runner-up - £25,000
Semi-finalists - £14,500
Quarter-finalists - £10,000
Second round losers - £6,750
First round losers - £3,250

Nine-dart jackpot - £15,000

Qualification

The field of 32 players was mostly made up from the top 16 players in the PDC Order of Merit on September 21, following the two Players Championship events at the Newport Center in Newport, Wales. The top 8 from these rankings were also the seeded players. The remaining 16 places went to the top 12 non-qualified players from the 2008 Players Championship Order of Merit, and then to the top 4 non-qualified residents of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland from the 2008 Players Championship Order of Merit who have competed in at least six Players Championship events.[3]

PDC Top 16
  1. England Phil Taylor
  2. Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
  3. England James Wade
  4. Canada John Part
  5. England Terry Jenkins
  6. England Wayne Mardle
  7. England Colin Lloyd
  8. England Andy Hamilton
  9. England Adrian Lewis
  10. England Alan Tabern
  11. Netherlands Roland Scholten
  12. England Dennis Priestley
  13. England Peter Manley
  14. England Ronnie Baxter
  15. England Colin Osborne
  16. England Mervyn King
PDPA Players Championship qualifiers
  1. England Chris Mason
  2. England Denis Ovens
  3. Scotland Robert Thornton
  4. England Kevin Painter
  5. England Mark Walsh
  6. Netherlands Vincent van der Voort
  7. England Wayne Jones
  8. England Mark Dudbridge
  9. England Andy Smith
  10. England Tony Eccles
  11. Northern Ireland Felix McBrearty
  12. England Steve Beaton
Irish qualifiers
  1. Republic of Ireland Mick McGowan
  2. Northern Ireland John MaGowan
  3. Northern Ireland Brendan Dolan
  4. Republic of Ireland Jacko Barry

Draw

Draw and schedule of play was as follows:[4]

Round One
Best of 3 sets
Round Two
Best of 5 sets
Quarter Finals
Best of 7 sets
Semi Finals
Best of 9 sets
Final
Best of 11 sets
               
1 England Phil Taylor 96.72 2
England Ronnie Baxter 84.62 0
1 England Phil Taylor 100.20 3
England Colin Osborne 77.98 0
  Northern Ireland John MaGowan 78.47 1
England Colin Osborne 89.01 2
1 England Phil Taylor 98.60 4
8 England Andy Hamilton 91.35 1
8 England Andy Hamilton 85.09 2
England Andy Smith 86.36 1
8 England Andy Hamilton 85.10 3
Scotland Robert Thornton 79.21 2
  Scotland Robert Thornton 89.36 2
England Peter Manley 81.16 0
1 England Phil Taylor 99.17 5
5 England Terry Jenkins 83.35 0
5 England Terry Jenkins 80.44 2
Republic of Ireland Mick McGowan 73.20 0
5 England Terry Jenkins 92.72 3
England Mark Walsh 79.71 0
  England Mark Walsh 85.84 2
England Steve Beaton 79.84 1
5 England Terry Jenkins 81.89 4
4 Canada John Part 85.35 2
4 Canada John Part 79.63 2
England Chris Mason 74.46 0
4 Canada John Part 80.47 3
Republic of Ireland Jacko Barry 77.87 0
  Republic of Ireland Jacko Barry 82.44 2
Northern Ireland Brendan Dolan 79.53 1
1 England Phil Taylor 97.81 6
2 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 90.42 2
2 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 93.00 2
England Alan Tabern 88.06 1
2 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 90.72 3
England Adrian Lewis 88.38 2
  England Adrian Lewis 75.86 2
Netherlands Roland Scholten 78.57 1
2 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 85.27 4
7 England Colin Lloyd 75.83 1
7 England Colin Lloyd 79.77 2
Netherlands Vincent van der Voort 77.07 1
7 England Colin Lloyd 80.90 3
England Kevin Painter 80.57 2
  England Mark Dudbridge 74.08 0
England Kevin Painter 78.57 2
2 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 89.12 5
England Mervyn King 73.18 0
6 England Wayne Mardle 83.36 2
Northern Ireland Felix McBrearty 71.07 0
6 England Wayne Mardle 77.11 2
England Dennis Priestley 78.52 3
  England Dennis Priestley 81.87 2
England Denis Ovens 80.29 0
  England Dennis Priestley 85.26 2
England Mervyn King 83.88 4
3 England James Wade 80.71 1
England Tony Eccles 85.68 2
  England Tony Eccles 84.10 2
England Mervyn King 83.34 3
  England Mervyn King 80.62 2
England Wayne Jones 83.96 1

Scores after player's names are three-dart averages (total points scored divided by darts thrown and multiplied by 3)

NB: Due to the double-in format of the tournament, the averages were lower than would normally be expected meaning player performance can not be as accurately inferred.

Television coverage and sponsorship

As usual and since its inception the tournament was screened by Sky Sports.

The sponsorship for the tournament also stayed with Sky Bet who sponsored the event since 2004, however one of its brands, Sky Poker, was the new title sponsor.[2]

References

  1. PDC website report - Irish Fans Show Record Support from the Professional Darts Corporation, obtained 15-08-2008
  2. 1 2 PDC website report - Sky Poker sponsors World Grand Prix from the Professional Darts Corporation, obtained 15-08-2008
  3. 1 2 3 PDC Order of Merit Explanation from the Professional Darts Corporation, obtained 15-08-2008
  4. 1 2 PDC website report - Sky Poker World Grand Prix Schedule of Play from the Professional Darts Corporation, obtained 23-09-2008

External links

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