1994 WDC World Darts Championship

1994 Skol World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Dates 26 December 1993–2 January 1994
Venue Circus Tavern
Location Purfleet
Country  England
Organisation(s) PDC (WDC)
Format Sets
Final – best of 11
Prize fund £64,000
Winners share £16,000
Champion(s)
England Dennis Priestley
1995»

The 1994 Skol World Darts Championship 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 started on Boxing Day 1993, and finished on 2 January 1994. This started a tradition for the WDC/PDC World Championship to 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 North America and Tom Kirby of Ireland.

The Tournament and Format

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.

Dennis Priestley became the first WDC World Darts Champion, winning the final 6–1 against Phil Taylor to add to his 6–0 whitewash victory over Eric Bristow in the 1991 World Championship. This was the last time Phil Taylor would fail to win the World Championship until 2003.

Seeds

[1]

  1. England Dennis Priestley
  2. England Alan Warriner
  3. England Bob Anderson
  4. England Peter Evison
  5. England Rod Harrington
  6. England Phil Taylor
  7. England Kevin Spiolek
  8. England John Lowe

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.[2]

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. Phil Taylor eased past Jamie Harvey 3–1, and Jim Watkins 3–0 to win Group 1, while 1988 World Champion, Bob Anderson, cruised into the quarter-finals for a showdown against Taylor, after a series of 3–0 wins against Americans Gerald Verrirer and Dave Kelly. But there was room for an American to upset the odds, as Steve Brown, surprisingly, took Group 3, with wins against 1983 champion Keith Deller and Kevin Spiolek. Alan Warriner would go through to meet him after a couple of 3–1 wins against Richie Gardner and Cliff Lazarenko. Peter Evison showed no signs of discomfort, with consecutive 3–0 wins over Jerry Umberger and Kevin Burrows, and two 90-plus averages to go with it; the second of which, 97.56, would be the highest three-dart average in the tournament.[3] Rod Harrington also went through after winning group 6, though not without difficulty. After a 3–1 win over five time World Champion, Eric Bristow, he narrowly defeated Sean Downs by 3 sets to 2 to go through to the last 8. Group 7 would see three-time champion John Lowe bow out, who narrowed missed out in a tight group, which saw Tom Kirby from Ireland book a quarter-final place, despite suffering defeat in his opening match to Lowe. A 3–1 win over American Larry Butler, and Lowe's 3–2 loss to Butler, ensured the Irishmen's advancement. He would be up against Dennis Priestley, after the Yorkshireman saw off Jocky Wilson 3–2 and Graeme Stoddart 3–0 to book a quarter-final place.

Quarter-finals

In a battle of two former world champions, Phil Taylor defeated Bob Anderson 4–2. Steve Brown upset the odds again to defeat 1993 runner-up Alan Warriner 4–3 and book a meeting with Taylor in the semi-finals. Peter Evison continued his good form, recording another 90-plus three-dart average while beating Rod Harrington 4–1, while Dennis Priestley ended the run of Tom Kirby with a 4–2 win.

Semi-finals and third-place play-off

Brown's dream run finally ended in the semi-finals, as Taylor beat him 5–0 to reach his third world final. The scoreline seemed harsh on Brown, however, as both players finished with the same three-dart average (91.20). In the other semi-final, Priestley beat Evison 5–3, thus reaching his second world final. Brown capped off his impressive run in fine style, beating Evison 5–1 in the third-place play-off.

Final

The final turned out to be a one-sided affair, with Taylor rarely giving Priestley any trouble at all. Priestley raced into a 5–0 lead, and eventually won 6–1 to take his second world title.

Results

1st round – Group stages

[1][3]

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1England (6) Phil Taylor22061+54
2United States Jim Watkins21135−22
3Scotland Jamie Harvey20236−30
  • Group 2
    • England (3) Bob Anderson 86.97 3 – 0 United States Gerald Verrier 82.89
    • United States Gerald Verrier 74.43 3 – 0 United States Dave Kelly 75.39
    • England (3) Bob Anderson 83.43 3 – 0 United States Dave Kelly 72.48
Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1England (3) Bob Anderson22060+64
2United States Gerald Verrier2113302
3United States Dave Kelly20206−60
Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1United States Steve Brown22061+54
2England (7) Kevin Spiolek21134−12
3England Keith Deller20226−40
Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1England (2) Alan Warriner22062+44
2England Richie Gardner2114402
3England Cliff Lazarenko20226−40
  • Group 5
    • England (4) Peter Evison 93.39 3 – 0 United States Jerry Umberger 81.06
    • United States Jerry Umberger 81.06 3 – 0 England Kevin Burrows 77.04
    • England (4) Peter Evison 97.56 3 – 0 England Kevin Burrows 87.57
Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1England (4) Peter Evison22060+64
2United States Jerry Umberger2113302
3England Kevin Burrows20206−60
Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1England (5) Rod Harrington22063+34
2England Eric Bristow21145−12
3United States Sean Downs20246−20
Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1Republic of Ireland Tom Kirby21154+12
2England (8) John Lowe2115502
3United States Larry Butler21145−12
Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1England (1) Dennis Priestley22062+44
2England Graeme Stoddart21134−12
3Scotland Jocky Wilson20236−30

Knockout Stages

Quarter-finals[3][4] Semi-finals Final
2 January 1994
         
Group 1 Winner England (6) Phil Taylor 90.21 4
Group 2 Winner England (3) Bob Anderson 90.72 2
6 England Phil Taylor 91.20 5
United States Steve Brown 91.20 0
Group 3 Winner United States Steve Brown 90.21 4
Group 4 Winner England (2)Alan Warriner 88.29 3
6 England Phil Taylor 90.62 1
1 England Dennis Priestley 94.38 6
Group 5 Winner England (4) Peter Evison 90.15 4
Group 6 Winner England (5) Rod Harrington 89.37 1
4 England Peter Evison 82.41 3
1 England Dennis Priestley 93.74 5
Group 7 Winner Republic of Ireland Tom Kirby 84.03 2
Group 8 Winner England (1) Dennis Priestley 90.93 4

Third-place play-off: United States Steve Brown 89.28 5 – 1 England (4) Peter Evison 83.13

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

Representation from different countries

This table shows the number of players by country in the 1st WDC World Championship.

England
ENG		 United States
USA		 Scotland
SCO		 Republic of Ireland
IRL		 Total
Final 20002
Semis 31004
Quarters 61018
Group Stages 1472124


References

  1. 1 2 "Flag references all rounds + seeds". Master caller. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Prize money breakdown". dartsdatabase. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 "Averages all rounds". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "Flag Reference Quarter-finals onwards". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
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