2008 Grand Slam of Darts


The 2008 PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts was the second staging of the darts tournament, the Grand Slam of Darts organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place from 15–23 November 2008 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England. As with 2007, the tournament included players from both the PDC and BDO organisations.
Phil Taylor successfully defended the title after defeating Terry Jenkins 18–9 in the final.
James Wade also hit the first nine-dart finish in the history of this tournament, during his second round defeat by Gary Anderson.

Prize Fund

The prize fund for the 2008 tournament was as follows:

Qualifying

There were 15 tournaments that provided qualifying opportunities to players. Most tournaments offered a qualifying position for the winner and runner-up of the tournament, however the World Championships and the 2007 Grand Slam also offered a place in the tournament to the losing semi-finalists. There were also various other ways of qualifying for overseas players, including those from Australia and the United States of America, as well as a wildcard qualifying event open to any darts player.

Qualifying tournaments

PDC

BDO

Defunct Tournaments

TournamentYearPositionPlayer
International Darts League2007Winner Gary Anderson
International Darts League2007Runner-Up Mark Webster
World Darts Trophy2007Winner Gary Anderson
World Darts Trophy2007Runner-Up Phil Taylor

Note: Players in italics have already qualified for the tournament.
For the second year running, Martin Adams declined his invitation to take part in the competition.
Due to the 2008 World Masters being scheduled for December, Michael van Gerwen was offered an invitation to compete in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. The invitation was given as van Gerwen won the World Masters in 2006.

Other Methods of Qualification

An invitation to compete in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts was also awarded to:
The PDC North American Order of Merit ranks all of the North American dart players based on the amount of prize money that they have won from tournaments held in the United States and Canada.
Having won the inaugural North American Darts Championship and reaching the second round of the 2008 Las Vegas Desert Classic, as well as reaching the later stages of some North American events on the PDC Pro Tour, Darin Young picked up approximately £9,075 in PDC tournaments in North America, meaning he topped the North American Order of Merit and was selected for inclusion the Grand Slam.

William Cross Pro AM

The William Cross Pro AM was a group of four darts tournaments held in Australia from 2 to 10 August 2008. At the culmination of the four tournaments, an invitation to the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts was awarded to the Australian/New Zealand player who had accumulated the highest amount of prize money.
UK born player Paul Nicholson performed well in all four events and was runner-up in the Australian Open Players Championship. He topped the prize money table and as such was awarded a place in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.

Women's World Championship

The PDC also invited the winner of the BDO Women's World Championship this year. The winner of the 2008 event was the Russian Anastasia Dobromyslova, who defeated Trina Gulliver in the final. She was entered as a reserve player should the field remain unfulfilled, and with Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, and James Wade dominating most televised finals, she was invited to the event.

ITV Wildcard

On 1 August 2008, the PDC announced that the ITV Wildcard qualifier was to be held on Friday 17 October 2008 at the Magnum Centre in Irvine, Scotland. Any darts player was able to enter and the winner received an invitation to the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. The losing semi-finalists also competed in a third-place play-off match to determine reserve qualifiers. Together with the runner-up, these qualifiers would be invited to the Grand Slam of Darts should the 32-man field remain unfilled.
Winner: Wes Newton

Runner Up: Colin McGarry

3rd Place: Alan Tabern

4th Place: Jamie Caven
Newton, McGarry, and Tabern all qualified though Caven was the unlucky player to miss out – he was provisionally in the tournament until Adrian Lewis reached the final of the 2008 European Championship, the last qualifying event before the Grand Slam.

Qualified Players

The 32 qualified players were:

Professional Darts Corporation

This table shows the number of players from each country in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.
: 18 : 2 : 1 : 4
: 1 : 2 : 1 : 2
: 1

* In darts, as in many other sports, some non-sovereign sub-national entities of the United Kingdom are treated as separate countries for sport governance purposes.

Pro Celebrity Challenge

As a curtain-raiser for the main Grand Slam of Darts, a competition involving eight celebrities and eight of the professionals taking part in the Grand Slam took place on the Friday before the tournament. The winners of the tournament collected a first prize of £8,000. In a closely fought final, James Wade and Steve Backley won a final-leg decider over Phil Taylor and Neil Ruddock, with Backley's double two checkout sealing the victory. Those involved were:

Draw and results

all matches first-to-3/best of 5.

Draw and results

Group Stages

All matches first-to-5/best of 9.
NB in Brackets: Number = Seeds; BDO = BDO Darts player; Q = Qualifier

NB: P = Played; W = Won; L = Lost; LF = Legs For; LA = Legs Against; +/- = Plus/Minus Record, in relation to legs; Average – 3-dart average; Pts = Points.

Group A

DatePlayerLegsPlayer
15 November Phil Taylor 5 – 0 Phill Nixon
15 November4 – 5 Andy Jenkins
16 November5 – 1 Phill Nixon
16 November Phil Taylor 4 – 5 Andy Jenkins
17 November Andy Jenkins 3 – 5 Phill Nixon
17 November1 – 5 Phil Taylor

Group B

DatePlayerLegsPlayer
15 November Andy Hamilton 5 – 3 Brian Woods
15 November Alan Tabern 5 – 3 Simon Whitlock
16 November Brian Woods 0 – 5 Simon Whitlock
16 November Andy Hamilton 5 – 1 Alan Tabern
17 November Alan Tabern 5 – 1 Brian Woods
17 November Simon Whitlock 5 – 1 Andy Hamilton
Nine dart shootout
With Andy Hamilton and Alan Tabern finishing level on points and leg difference, a piece of history was made, with a nine-dart shootout between the two to see who would play Phil Taylor in the second round. The match took place after the conclusion of Tuesday's second round matches.
POSPlayer123456789PtsStatus
2 Andy Hamilton60605602060–––265Advance to the last 16
3 Alan Tabern602052012032020169Eliminated

Group C

DatePlayerLegsPlayer
15 November Mark Webster 4 – 5 Colin McGarry
15 November Mervyn King 5 – 1 Michael van Gerwen
16 November Mark Webster 5 – 0 Michael van Gerwen
16 November Colin McGarry 3 – 5 Mervyn King
17 November5 – 1 Colin McGarry
17 November Mervyn King 5 – 3 Mark Webster

Group D

DatePlayerLegsPlayer
15 November John Part 5 – 1 Anastasia Dobromyslova
15 November Wayne Mardle 0 – 5 Kevin McDine
16 November Wayne Mardle 5 – 4
16 November John Part 5 – 1 Kevin McDine
17 November Wayne Mardle 5 – 3 John Part
17 November Kevin McDine 5 – 2 Anastasia Dobromyslova

Group E

DatePlayerLegsPlayer
15 November Robert Thornton 5 – 3 Gary Mawson
15 November5 – 1 Kirk Shepherd
16 November Gary Mawson 5 – 0 Kirk Shepherd
16 November5 – 3 Robert Thornton
18 November5 – 3 Gary Mawson
18 November Kirk Shepherd 4 – 5 Robert Thornton

Group F

DatePlayerLegsPlayer
15 November Terry Jenkins 4 – 5 Darin Young
15 November Colin Lloyd 4 – 5 Wes Newton
16 November Terry Jenkins 5 – 3 Colin Lloyd
16 November Darin Young 3 – 5 Wes Newton
18 November Wes Newton 0 – 5 Terry Jenkins
18 November Darin Young 5 – 2 Colin Lloyd

Group G

DatePlayerLegsPlayer
15 November Adrian Lewis 2 – 5 Denis Ovens
15 November James Wade 5 – 1 Niels de Ruiter
16 November Adrian Lewis 5 – 0 Niels de Ruiter
16 November Denis Ovens 3 – 5 James Wade
18 November Niels de Ruiter 0 – 5 Denis Ovens
18 November James Wade 5 – 3 Adrian Lewis

Group H

DatePlayerLegsPlayer
15 November Kevin Painter 2 – 5 Darryl Fitton
15 November Gary Anderson 4 – 5 Paul Nicholson
16 November Kevin Painter 2 – 5 Gary Anderson
16 November Darryl Fitton 5 – 2 Paul Nicholson
18 November Gary Anderson 5 – 4 Darryl Fitton
18 November Paul Nicholson 4 – 5 Kevin Painter

Knockout Stages

Nine dart finish

In the seventh second round match, James Wade recorded his first televised nine dart finish against Gary Anderson, during the twelfth leg of Anderson's 10–8 win. Wade hit consecutive maximums, before checking out with treble 20, treble 19 and double 12. It was the first ever nine-darter at the Grand Slam and the first UK televised nine-dart finish in which the player achieving it eventually lost the match. In 2007 Michael van Gerwen recorded a nine dart finish during the semi-finals of the Masters of Darts but ended up losing the match to Raymond van Barneveld.

Statistics

PlayerPlayedLegs WonLegs Lost100+140+180sHigh Checkout3-dart Average
Phil Taylor768401269932151104.10
Andy Hamilton4191953339136100.22
Gary Anderson64841101743017098.65
Raymond van Barneveld5342173331912198.15
Terry Jenkins75957144993616497.63
James Wade4231754341014195.09
Mervyn King64540108612416194.70
Simon Whitlock5302472321410992.84
Robert Thornton4212256301212692.71
Denis Ovens421176325312292.10
Alan Tabern3119261947192.04
Vincent van der Voort310113014514691.47
Adrian Lewis310102611512790.69
Darryl Fitton5302756441311790.58
Kevin Painter3914251959190.08
Mark Webster530227026915889.98
Paul Nicholson311142923514088.93
Phill Nixon3613241516888.36
Kevin McDine4201740151010788.14
Andy Jenkins421235624710487.87
Darin Young41721482488687.25
John Part415173312413586.93
Gary Mawson31110279415286.63
Kirk Shepherd3515221117083.89
Colin Lloyd3915331329083.38
Wayne Mardle31012278215883.23
Michael van Gerwen361120735282.68
Brian Woods3415169612082.19
Anastasia Dobromyslova37154210012081.46
Niels de Ruiter311525527381.37
Wes Newton310122710110080.85
Colin McGarry39143214010079.23

Television coverage

again broadcast coverage throughout the championship, in the UK. Again, Matt Smith presented the coverage on ITV4, with analysis from Chris Mason and Alan Warriner-Little, commentary from Peter Drury, Stuart Pyke and John Rawling and reports from Ned Boulting and Janie Omorogbe.

Match fixing allegations

Five days after the tournament concluded, the PDC revealed that the organisation had received complaints concerning the Group H match between Darryl Fitton and Gary Anderson, and forwarded those complaints to the Darts Regulation Authority. On 26 January 2009 it was announced that there was no evidence of player collusion in the arranging of match outcomes.