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 to 23 November 2008 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England. As with 2007, the tournament included players from both the PDC and BDO organisations.

2008 PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts
Tournament information
Dates15–23 November 2008
VenueWolverhampton Civic Hall
LocationWolverhampton
Country England
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£356,000
Winner's share£100,000
Nine-dart finish James Wade
High checkout170 Gary Anderson
Champion(s)
Phil Taylor
«2007 2009»

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:

Position (num. of players) Prize Money
(Total: £356,000)
Winner (1) £100,000
Runner-up (1) £40,000
Semi-finalists (2) £20,000
Quarter-finalists (4) £12,500
Last 16 (Second round) (8) £7,500
Last 32 (Group stage) (16) £4,000
Highest finish (1) £2,000

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.

PDC
Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers
Grand Slam of Darts 2007 Winner Phil Taylor Phil Taylor
Andy Hamilton
Kevin McDine
Gary Anderson
Raymond van Barneveld
Andy Jenkins
John Part
Kirk Shepherd
Kevin Painter
Wayne Mardle
James Wade
Terry Jenkins
Vincent van der Voort
Gary Mawson
Colin Lloyd
Denis Ovens
Adrian Lewis
Runner-Up Andy Hamilton
Semi-Finalists Kevin McDine
Gary Anderson
PDC World Darts Championship 2007 Winner Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-Up Phil Taylor
Semi-Finalists Andy Jenkins
Andy Hamilton
2008 Winner John Part
Runner-Up Kirk Shepherd
Semi-Finalists Kevin Painter
Wayne Mardle
World Matchplay 2007 Winner James Wade
Runner-Up Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up James Wade
World Grand Prix 2007 Winner James Wade
Runner-Up Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up Raymond van Barneveld
Las Vegas Desert Classic 2007 Winner Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-Up Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up James Wade
UK Open 2007 Winner Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-Up Vincent van der Voort
2008 Winner James Wade
Runner-Up Gary Mawson
US Open 2007 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up Raymond van Barneveld
2008 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up Colin Lloyd
Premier League Darts 2007 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up James Wade
German Darts Championship 2007 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up Denis Ovens
European Championship 2008 Winner Phil Taylor
Runner-Up Adrian Lewis
Championship League Darts 2008 Winner Phil Taylor
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

BDO

For the second year running, Martin Adams declined his invitation to take part in the competition.

Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers
BDO World Darts Championship 2007 Winner Martin Adams Phill Nixon
Niels de Ruiter
Mervyn King
Mark Webster
Simon Whitlock
Brian Woods
Michael van Gerwen
Robert Thornton
Darryl Fitton
Runner-Up Phill Nixon
Semi-Finalists Niels de Ruiter
Mervyn King
2008 Winner Mark Webster
Runner-Up Simon Whitlock
Semi-Finalists Martin Adams
Brian Woods
World Masters 2006 Winner Michael van Gerwen
Runner-Up Martin Adams
2007 Winner Robert Thornton
Runner-Up Darryl Fitton
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Defunct Tournaments
Tournament Year Position Player
International Darts League 2007 Winner Gary Anderson
Runner-Up Mark Webster
World Darts Trophy 2007 Winner Gary Anderson
Runner-Up Phil Taylor
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Other Qualifiers

[1]

Criteria Player
PDC North America Order of Merit Leader Darin Young
William Cross Pro-Am Paul Nicholson
2008 BDO Women's World Darts Champion Anastasia Dobromyslova
ITV Wildcards Wes Newton
Colin McGarry
Alan Tabern

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.

Semi Finals   Final   Final
                   
Part/McGuigan 0  
Mardle/Le Vell 3     Mardle/Le Vell 1  
Taylor/Ruddock 3   Taylor/Ruddock 3  
Dobromyslova/Davis 1       Taylor/Ruddock 2
Wade/Backley 3       Wade/Backley 3
Manley/Ulliott 1     Wade/Backley 3
van Barneveld/Tufnell 3   van Barneveld/Tufnell 0  
Webster/Tindall 2  

Draw

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.

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.

POS Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pts Status
2 Andy Hamilton 60605602060–––265Advance to the last 16
3 Alan Tabern 602052012032020169Eliminated

Knockout stages
Second round (best of 19 legs)
19–20 November 		Quarter-finals (best of 19 legs)
21 November 		Semi-finals (best of 31 legs)
22 November 		Final (best of 35 legs)
23 November
            
A1 Phil Taylor (1) 97.37 10
B2 Andy Hamilton (8) 98.30 8
A1 Phil Taylor (1) 103.52 10
B1 Simon Whitlock (BDO) 97.73 7
B1 Simon Whitlock (BDO) 89.93 10
A2 Andy Jenkins 85.86 8
A1 Phil Taylor (1) 106.56 16
C1 Mervyn King 96.66 10
C1 Mervyn King 88.04 10
D2 Kevin McDine 90.80 9
C1 Mervyn King 100.98 10
C2 Mark Webster (BDO, 4) 94.28 8
D1 John Part (5) 83.68 2
C2 Mark Webster (BDO, 4) 91.73 10
A1 Phil Taylor (1) 106.25 18
F1 Terry Jenkins (7) 100.92 9
E1 Raymond van Barneveld (2) 95.14 10
F2 Darin Young (Q) 84.59 4
E1 Raymond van Barneveld (2) 97.18 9
F1 Terry Jenkins (7) 96.48 10
F1 Terry Jenkins (7) 93.43 10
E2 Robert Thornton 93.30 8
F1 Terry Jenkins (7) 102.30 16
H2 Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 105.65 14
G1 James Wade (3) 89.98 8
H2 Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 95.16 10
H2 Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 98.45 10
H1 Darryl Fitton (BDO) 88.80 6
H1 Darryl Fitton (BDO) 94.71 10
G2 Denis Ovens 91.89 8

Statistics
Player Played Legs Won Legs Lost 100+ 140+ 180s High Checkout 3-dart Average
Phil Taylor 7 68 40 126 99 32 151 104.10
Andy Hamilton 4 19 19 53 33 9 136 100.22
Gary Anderson 6 48 41 101 74 30 170 98.65
Raymond van Barneveld 5 34 21 73 33 19 121 98.15
Terry Jenkins 7 59 57 144 99 36 164 97.63
James Wade 4 23 17 54 34 10 141 95.09
Mervyn King 6 45 40 108 61 24 161 94.70
Simon Whitlock 5 30 24 72 32 14 109 92.84
Robert Thornton 4 21 22 56 30 12 126 92.71
Denis Ovens 4 21 17 63 25 3 122 92.10
Alan Tabern 3 11 9 26 19 4 71 92.04
Vincent van der Voort 3 10 11 30 14 5 146 91.47
Adrian Lewis 3 10 10 26 11 5 127 90.69
Darryl Fitton 5 30 27 56 44 13 117 90.58
Kevin Painter 3 9 14 25 19 5 91 90.08
Mark Webster 5 30 22 70 26 9 158 89.98
Paul Nicholson 3 11 14 29 23 5 140 88.93
Phill Nixon 3 6 13 24 15 1 68 88.36
Kevin McDine 4 20 17 40 15 10 107 88.14
Andy Jenkins 4 21 23 56 24 7 104 87.87
Darin Young 4 17 21 48 24 8 86 87.25
John Part 4 15 17 33 12 4 135 86.93
Gary Mawson 3 11 10 27 9 4 152 86.63
Kirk Shepherd 3 5 15 22 11 1 70 83.89
Colin Lloyd 3 9 15 33 13 2 90 83.38
Wayne Mardle 3 10 12 27 8 2 158 83.23
Michael van Gerwen 3 6 11 20 7 3 52 82.68
Brian Woods 3 4 15 16 9 6 120 82.19
Anastasia Dobromyslova 3 7 15 42 10 0 120 81.46
Niels de Ruiter 3 1 15 25 5 2 73 81.37
Wes Newton 3 10 12 27 10 1 100 80.85
Colin McGarry 3 9 14 32 14 0 100 79.23

Television coverage

ITV Sport 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.[2] On 26 January 2009 it was announced that there was no evidence of player collusion in the arranging of match outcomes.[3]

  1. PDC announce ITV Wildcard Qualifiers Archived 5 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine Planet Darts
  2. "PDC Statement". PDC. 28 November 2008. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
  3. "DRA Statement". PDC. 26 January 2009. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2009.
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