Grand Slam of Darts

Grand Slam of Darts
Tournament information
Venue Civic Hall (2007–17)
Aldersley Leisure Village (2018–present)
Location Wolverhampton
Country England
Established 2007
Organisation(s) PDC
BDO
Format Legs
Prize fund £450,000 (2017)
Month(s) Played November
Current champion(s)
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen

The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the bwin Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invites the best performing players from its rival, the British Darts Organisation. There have been two previous head-to-head matches between the champions of the two organisation and a few overseas tournaments have also featured BDO v PDC clashes, but this tournament is the first of its kind to be held in the United Kingdom.

Since the 2015 edition the tournament is classified as a ranking-tournament, being a non-ranking event at previous editions.

The tournament has been staged each November at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall since it began in 2007. Phil Taylor won the first three finals against Andy Hamilton in 2007, Terry Jenkins in 2008 and Scott Waites in 2009. Taylor did not reach the final in 2010, losing to Steve Beaton in the quarter-finals.[1] Scott Waites won that year, beating James Wade 16–12 in the final having trailed 8–0, making him the only BDO player to win the title, as of 2016. Taylor reclaimed the title in 2011, defeating Gary Anderson 16–4. Raymond van Barneveld defeated Michael van Gerwen 16–14 in the 2012 final, but Taylor regained the trophy in 2013, retained it in 2014, before losing to van Gerwen in 2015. Van Gerwen then retained it in 2016 and again in 2017.

In 2018, with renovations being done to the Civic Hall, the Grand Slam is to move to a new venue, the Aldersley Leisure Village, just outside Wolverhampton.

Grand Slam of Darts finals

[2]

Year Champion (average in final) Champion's Organization Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
2007 England Phil Taylor (101.75) PDC 18–11 England Andy Hamilton (100.97) £300,000 £80,000 £35,000 PartyBets.com Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
2008 England Phil Taylor (106.25) PDC 18–9 England Terry Jenkins (100.92) £356,000 £100,000 £40,000 PartyPoker.com
2009 England Phil Taylor (103.94) PDC 16–2 England Scott Waites (94.16) £400,000 £50,000
2010 England Scott Waites (99.86) BDO 16–12 England James Wade (92.79) Daily Mirror
2011 England Phil Taylor (109.04) PDC 16–4 Scotland Gary Anderson (98.92) William Hill
2012 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (95.79) PDC 16–14 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (98.55)
2013 England Phil Taylor (98.14) PDC 16–6 Scotland Robert Thornton (97.02)
2014 England Phil Taylor (102.45) PDC 16–13 England Dave Chisnall (98.02) Singha Beer
2015 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (100.94) PDC 16–13 England Phil Taylor (102.53)
2016 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (98.74) PDC 16–8 England James Wade (90.73)
2017 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (102.18) PDC 16–12 Scotland Peter Wright (97.71) £450,000 £110,000 £55,000 Bwin
2018 Aldersley Leisure Village, Wolverhampton

Records and statistics

As of 20 November 2017.

Total finalist appearances

Player Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
England Phil Taylor61711
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen31410
England Scott Waites1126
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld10111
England James Wade02211
Scotland Gary Anderson01111
England Dave Chisnall0117
England Andy Hamilton0116
England Terry Jenkins0118
Scotland Robert Thornton0118
Scotland Peter Wright0115

Nine-dart finishes

Three nine-darters have been thrown at the World Championship. The first one was in 2008.

Player Year (+ Round) Method Opponent Result
England James Wade 2008, 2nd Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Scotland Gary Anderson Lost
Belgium Kim Huybrechts 2014, Quarter-Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen Won
England Dave Chisnall 2015, Group stage 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Scotland Peter Wright Won

High averages

Ten highest Grand Slam of Darts one-match winning averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
114.65 England Phil Taylor 2014, 1st Round Netherlands Christian Kist 5–1
113.86 Belgium Geert De Vos 2015, 1st Round Wales Jonny Clayton 5–0
112.37 England Phil Taylor 2011, 2nd Round England Wes Newton 10–3
112.16 England Phil Taylor 2013, 1st Round England Stuart Kellett 5–0
111.80 Scotland Gary Anderson 2013, 1st Round Scotland Peter Wright 5–1
111.79 Scotland Gary Anderson 2017, 1st Round Netherlands Berry van Peer 5–1
111.17 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2016, Semi-Final Scotland Peter Wright 16–10
111.05 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2015, Quarter-Final Belgium Kim Huybrechts 16–4
111.03 England James Wade 2008, 1st Round England Denis Ovens 5–3
110.99 England Adrian Lewis 2013, Semi-Final England Phil Taylor 9–16
Five highest one-match losing averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
110.99 England Adrian Lewis 2013, Semi-Final England Phil Taylor 9–16
108.68 England Adrian Lewis 2016, Group stage England Chris Dobey 3–5
106.50 Belgium Kim Huybrechts 2015, Group stage Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 1–5
105.65 Scotland Gary Anderson 2008, Semi-Final England Terry Jenkins 1–5
104.70 England Rob Cross 2017, Group stage Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 4–5
Five highest tournament averages
Average Player Year
105.42 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2015
105.12 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2017
104.91 England Phil Taylor 2014
104.89 Scotland Gary Anderson 2013
104.20 England Phil Taylor 2013

Previous BDO v PDC tournaments

There have been previous tournaments in which players from both the PDC and BDO have competed. Between 1997 and 2001, several BDO players competed in the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix – this was as a result of a 1997 Tomlin Order which allowed freedom of players to enter more events. This was later restricted from the start of 2002 onwards, when eligibility rules allowed only Professional Dart Players Association members to compete in the tournaments.

The 2005 Masters of Darts was the first tournament to feature the top players from each organisation. In 2006 and 2007, following Raymond van Barneveld's move to the PDC, the Dutch organisers of the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy invited some top PDC players to compete alongside BDO players.

Perennial participants

As the Grand Slam is an invitational tournament for players who have reached major finals and semi-finals, or been the top of their countries' respective rankings, there is a certain degree of prestige attached to qualifying for the tournament, and even more for entrants who qualify multiple times. Four players have appeared in all eleven tournaments so far.

Television coverage

ITV screened the first four Grand Slam of Darts, which ended their 19-year absence from regular darts coverage (although they did show a one-off Clash of Champions match between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld in 1999).[3] The inaugural event saw selected first round games, the semi-finals, and the final all screened live on ITV1 and the rest of the tournament live on ITV4 but the live coverage was moved entirely to ITV4 in subsequent years, with highlights packages being the only coverage of the event on ITV1.

The tournament proved popular on ITV4, with the 2009 event achieving nine out of the top ten places in the channel's output for that week. Viewing figures ranged from 208,000 to 435,000 with the final itself watched by 454,000.[4] ITV extended their contract with the PDC to show the tournament until at least 2010.[5]

The presenting team consisted of lead presenter Matt Smith, and analysts Alan Warriner-Little and Chris Mason (who replaced Steve Beaton in 2008). The commentating team included Stuart Pyke, who also commentates on darts for Sky Sports, boxing commentator John Rawling, and Peter Drury. Janie Omorogbe provided reporting duties and player interviews.

On 25 January 2011, it was announced that Sky Sports would broadcast the event until 2018.[6][7]

Sponsorship

On 23 September 2014, the PDC announced a three-year partnership with Singha Beer as the new title sponsors of the Grand Slam of darts starting with the 2014 event.[8]

Jaturon Zane Himathongkom, International Sports Marketing Director at Singha Beer, said: "We are delighted to be a title sponsor for the Singha Beer Grand Slam of Darts and also an Official Beer partner of the PDC during 2014-2016. This is a fantastic event and also a splendid opportunity for us to be involved. I hope everyone will enjoy Singha Beer during the event." PDC Chairman Barry Hearn said: "It gives me great pleasure to welcome Singha Beer into the PDC family as our new sponsors for the SINGHA Beer Grand Slam of Darts and an Official Partner for the next three years. Their brand is recognised worldwide as a beer of leading quality, and with this sponsorship they'll be associated with the leading players in world darts, including a host of World Champions and other major tournament winners."

On 14 March 2017, it was announced that bwin was to take over as the sponsor of the event beginning with the 2017 tournament.

Previous sponsors were William Hill (2011–13) PartyBets.com (2007) and PartyPoker.com (2008–09), websites operated by Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, and the Daily Mirror newspaper (2010).

References

  1. ↑ "Taylor beaten by Beaton". Sky Sports. British Sky Broadcasting. 20 November 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  2. ↑ "Grand Slam Of Darts Winners". Darts Database. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  3. ↑ ITV agree to cover Grand Slam This is London
  4. ↑ Weekly Top 10 Programmes Archived 2014-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. Broadcasters' Audience Research Board
  5. ↑ ITV signs deal with PDC for three more years Archived 2008-10-22 at the Wayback Machine. ITV
  6. ↑ Sky Sports Snap Up Grand Slam Archived 2011-01-28 at the Wayback Machine. PDC
  7. ↑ "Sky Sports and PDC agree new five-year deal". Sky Sports. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "SINGHA Beer Sponsor Grand Slam". PDC. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
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