World Grand Prix (darts)

World Grand Prix
Tournament information
Venue Citywest Hotel
Location Dublin
Country Republic of Ireland
Established 1998
Organisation(s) PDC
Format Sets
"double in, double out"
Prize fund £400,000 (2014)
Month(s) Played October
Current champion(s)
Scotland Robert Thornton

The World Grand Prix is a PDC darts tournament held in Dublin each October. Its original venue was the Casino Rooms in Rochester, Kent in 1998 and 1999 and then for one year only in 2000 at the Crosbie Cedars Hotel in Rosslare, County Wexford. In 2001 the tournament moved further north to its current home at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin. The event replaced the earlier World Pairs tournament which ran from 1995 to 1997.

The Grand Prix was originally sponsored by bookmakers Paddy Power before Sky Bet took over in 2004. The subsidiary Sky Poker followed as the tournament's sponsor in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, online gambling company Bodog became the event's title sponsor and in 2011 PartyPoker.com took over as sponsor.

Although he has dominated the event with eleven title wins, Phil Taylor has been knocked out of the World Grand Prix four times in the first round. In 2001, he lost 2–1 to qualifier Kevin Painter, in 2004 by 2 sets to 0 to Andy Callaby, in 2007 by 2–0 in sets to Adrian Gray, and in 2015 by 2-0 in sets to Vincent van der Voort.

The current champion is Robert Thornton of Scotland, who defeated Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands 5–4 in the final on 10 October 2015.

Tournament format

The tournament is unusual in that it is the only televised event in which players must commence and finish each leg on a double including the bullseye.

There have been several different formats for the tournament. The first event in 1998 event was a straight knock-out tournament played in a setplay format with each set being contested over the best of three legs. The following year this changed to the best of five legs per set. Furthermore, a group stage was introduced in 1999, with there only being four seeded players for the event, all of whom reached the semi-finals. In 2000, the tournament reverted to being a straight knock-out and has remained so ever since.

World Grand Prix Finals

The list of finals:[1]

Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-Up (average in final) Prize Money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-Up
1998 England Phil Taylor 13–8 England Rod Harrington £38,000 £9,000 £5,000 None Casino Rooms, Rochester, Kent
1999 England Phil Taylor (92.59) 6–1 England Shayne Burgess (81.26)
2000 England Phil Taylor (91.32) 6–1 England Shayne Burgess (81.48) £70,000 £15,000 £7,500 Crosbie Cedars Hotel, Rosslare
2001 England Alan Warriner (83.52) 8–2 Netherlands Roland Scholten (81.84) £78,000 £15,000 £7,500 Citywest Hotel, Dublin
2002 England Phil Taylor (100.17) 7–3 Canada John Part (88.62) £70,000 £14,000 £7,000 Paddy Power
2003 England Phil Taylor (94.80) 7–2 Canada John Part (83.25) £76,000 £15,000 £7,500
2004 England Colin Lloyd (85.29) 7–3 England Alan Warriner (77.91) £100,000 £20,000 £10,000 Sky Bet
2005 England Phil Taylor (90.74) 7–1 England Colin Lloyd (82.05) £100,000 £20,000 £10,000
2006 England Phil Taylor (88.24) 7–4 England Terry Jenkins (82.51) £130,000 £25,000 £12,500
2007 England James Wade (86.03) 6–3 England Terry Jenkins (84.58) £200,000 £50,000 £20,000
2008 England Phil Taylor (97.81) 6–2 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (90.42) £250,000 £50,000 £25,000 Sky Poker
2009 England Phil Taylor (97.07) 6–3 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (86.62) £350,000 £100,000 £40,000
2010 England James Wade (88.92) 6–3 England Adrian Lewis (89.33) Bodog
2011 England Phil Taylor (90.29) 6–3 Northern Ireland Brendan Dolan (84.68) PartyPoker.com
2012 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (87.53) 6–4 England Mervyn King (81.96)
2013 England Phil Taylor (97.67) 6–0 England Dave Chisnall (81.29)
2014 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (90.81) 5–3 England James Wade (89.26) £400,000 £100,000 £45,000
2015 Scotland Robert Thornton (90.79) 5–4 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (96.79)
2016 Unibet

Finalists

Player Won Runner-up
England Phil Taylor110
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen21
England James Wade21
England Colin Lloyd11
England Alan Warriner11
Scotland Robert Thornton10
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld02
England Shayne Burgess02
England Terry Jenkins02
Canada John Part02
England Dave Chisnall01
Northern Ireland Brendan Dolan01
England Rod Harrington01
England Mervyn King01
England Adrian Lewis01
Netherlands Roland Scholten01

World Pairs winners

The World Pairs event which preceded the introduction of this event was held between 1995 and 1997.[2]

Year Winners Score Runners Up Venue
1995 England Eric Bristow
England Dennis Priestley
14–9 (legs) England Keith Deller
Scotland Jamie Harvey
Butlin's Wonder West World, Ayr
1996 England Bob Anderson
England Phil Taylor
18–15 (legs) England Chris Mason
England Steve Raw
Willows Variety Centre, Salford
1997 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
Netherlands Roland Scholten
18–15 (legs) Wales Richie Burnett
England Rod Harrington
Butlin's South Coast World, Bognor Regis

Media coverage

The World Grand Prix has been broadcast in the UK by Sky Sports since the first tournament.

References

  1. "World Grand Prix". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  2. "PDC World Pairs Winners". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2011.

External links

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