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1997 WDC World Darts Championship
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| tournament_name | 1997 WDC World Darts Championship |
| dates | 29 December 1996 – |
| 5 January 1997 | |
| venue | Circus Tavern |
| location | Purfleet |
| country | |
| organisation | PDC (WDC) |
| format | Sets |
| Final – best of 11 | |
| prize_fund | £99,500 |
| winners_share | £45,000 |
| high_checkout | |
| winner | **** |
| prev | 1996 |
| next | 1998 |
5 January 1997 Final – best of 11 The 1997 WDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 1997 Red Band World Darts Championship) was held between 29 December 1996 and 5 January 1997 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex. It was the fourth World Championship organised by the World Darts Council, which had acrimoniously split from the British Darts Organisation in 1992–93. As a result of an ongoing legal battle, this would be the last time that the WDC name would be used – an out-of-court settlement (Tomlin Order) in June 1997 meant that the organisation had to change its name to the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
Paul Lim, who famously hit a nine dart finish at the 1990 BDO World Darts Championship appeared at his first WDC World Championship – he had only managed to qualify once for the BDO World Championship since the split, losing a second round match to John Part in 1994.
The Championship saw two tight semi-finals, the most memorable of which was the clash between mentor and protégé – Eric Bristow and Phil Taylor. Taylor emerged victorious 5–4 in sets to reach the final. He matched his mentor's feat of five World Championship titles when he beat Dennis Priestley 6–3 in the final. They were now level as the most successful players of all-time.
Seeds
- ENG Dennis Priestley
- ENG Phil Taylor
- ENG Bob Anderson
- ENG Peter Evison
- SCO Jamie Harvey
- ENG Alan Warriner
- ENG Keith Deller
- ENG Rod Harrington
Prize money
The prize fund was £99,500.
| Position (num. of players) | Prize money |
|---|---|
| (Total: £99,500) | |
| Winner | (1) |
| Runner-Up | (1) |
| Third place | (1) |
| Fourth place | (1) |
| Quarter-finalists | (4) |
| Group stage runners-up | (8) |
| Group stage 3rd place | (8) |
| Highest finish bonus | (1) |
Results
Preliminary round
A best of five sets preliminary round match took place between the players who were tied on the rankings.
| Av. | Player | Score | Player | Av. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85.89 | Ritchie Gardner ENG | 3 – 1 | USA Dave Kelly | 78.20 |
| 90.00 | Paul Lim USA | 3 – 2 | IRL Tom Kirby | 83.00 |
| 95.05 | Chris Mason ENG | 3 – 0 | ENG Peter Manley | 89.10 |
| 101.89 | Gary Mawson USA | 3 – 1 | ENG Harry Robinson | 87.33 |
| 75.21 | Graeme Stoddart ENG | 3 – 1 | ENG Paul Knighton | 51.83 |
| 79.44 | Steve Raw ENG | 3 – 2 | USA Jason Lucas | 60.10 |
| 93.99 | Dennis Smith ENG | 3 – 0 | USA Jerry Umberger | 50.01 |
| 73.45 | Sean Downs USA | 3 – 2 | CAN Tony Holyoake | 69.47 |
Group Stages
Group A
| Pos | Player | P | W | L | SF | SA | +/− | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ENG Eric Bristow | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | ENG (3) Bob Anderson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | USA Gary Mawson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
:Bristow qualified with a higher tournament average.
29 December–1 January
| 81.17 Eric Bristow ENG | 1 – 3 | USA Gary Mawson 80.96 |
|---|
Group B
| Pos | Player | P | W | L | SF | SA | +/− | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ENG (6) Alan Warriner | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 4 |
| 2 | ENG Graeme Stoddart | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | USA Larry Butler | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | –4 | 0 |
29 December–1 January
| 91.07 (6) Alan Warriner ENG | 3 – 1 | ENG Graeme Stoddart 86.96 |
|---|
Group C
| Pos | Player | P | W | L | SF | SA | +/− | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ENG (7) Keith Deller | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 4 |
| 2 | ENG Dennis Smith | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 2 |
| 3 | ENG Kevin Spiolek | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0 |
29 December–1 January
| 83.79 (7) Keith Deller ENG | 3 – 2 | ENG Dennis Smith 85.71 |
|---|
Group D
| Pos | Player | P | W | L | SF | SA | +/− | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ENG (2) Phil Taylor | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 4 |
| 2 | USA Gerald Verrier | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 |
| 3 | ENG Chris Mason | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 |
29 December–1 January
| 87.83 (2) Phil Taylor ENG | 3 – 0 | USA Gerald Verrier 76.10 |
|---|
Group E
| Pos | Player | P | W | L | SF | SA | +/− | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ENG (4) Peter Evison | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 4 |
| 2 | ENG Steve Raw | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | ENG Cliff Lazarenko | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 |
29 December–1 January
| 92.02 (4) Peter Evison ENG | 3 – 0 | ENG Cliff Lazarenko 73.49 |
|---|
Group F
| Pos | Player | P | W | L | SF | SA | +/− | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SCO (5) Jamie Harvey | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 4 |
| 2 | ENG John Lowe | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 2 |
| 3 | USA Paul Lim | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 0 |
29 December–1 January
| 82.00 (5) Jamie Harvey SCO | 3 – 2 | ENG John Lowe 81.18 |
|---|
Group G
| Pos | Player | P | W | L | SF | SA | +/− | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ENG (8) Rod Harrington | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 2 |
| 2 | USA Sean Downs | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | ENG Shayne Burgess | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 |
29 December–1 January
| 86.76 Shayne Burgess ENG | 1 – 3 | USA Sean Downs 82.85 |
|---|
Group H
| Pos | Player | P | W | L | SF | SA | +/− | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ENG (1) Dennis Priestley | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 4 |
| 2 | USA Steve Brown | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | –2 | 2 |
| 3 | ENG Ritchie Gardner | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 0 |
29 December–1 January
| 88.41 (1) Dennis Priestley ENG | 3 – 1 | ENG Ritchie Gardner 81.26 |
|---|
Knockout stages
2–3 January 4 January 5 January | score-width=20 | team-width=200px | RD1-seed1=A1 | RD1-team1=ENG Eric Bristow 85.78 | RD1-score1=5 | RD1-seed2=B1 | RD1-team2=ENG Alan Warriner (6) 88.81 | RD1-score2=3 | RD1-seed3=C1 | RD1-team3=ENG Keith Deller (7) 87.39 | RD1-score3=1 | RD1-seed4=D1 | RD1-team4=ENG Phil Taylor (2) 98.58 | RD1-score4=5 | RD1-seed5=E1 | RD1-team5=ENG Peter Evison (4) 91.39 | RD1-score5=5 | RD1-seed6=F1 | RD1-team6=SCO Jamie Harvey (5) 83.96 | RD1-score6=3 | RD1-seed7=G1 | RD1-team7=ENG Rod Harrington (8) 94.50 | RD1-score7=2 | RD1-seed8=H1 | RD1-team8=ENG Dennis Priestley (1) 94.73 | RD1-score8=5 | RD2-seed1=A1 | RD2-team1=ENG Eric Bristow 86.97 | RD2-score1=4 | RD2-seed2=D1 | RD2-team2=ENG Phil Taylor (2) 93.73 | RD2-score2=5 | RD2-seed3=E1 | RD2-team3=ENG Peter Evison (4) 91.32 | RD2-score3=4 | RD2-seed4=H1 | RD2-team4=ENG Dennis Priestley (1) 94.34 | RD2-score4=5 | RD3-seed1=D1 | RD3-team1=ENG Phil Taylor (2) 100.91 | RD3-score1=6 | RD3-seed2=H1 | RD3-team2=ENG Dennis Priestley (1) 96.79 | RD3-score2=3
| RD3b-seed1=A1 | RD3b-team1=ENG Eric Bristow 83.23 | RD3b-score1=2 | RD3b-seed2=E1 | RD3b-team2=ENG Peter Evison (4) 83.25 | RD3b-score2=4
Representation from different countries
This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship. Four countries were represented in the World Championship, one less than in the previous championship.
| ENG | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENG | USA | ||||||||
| USA | CAN | ||||||||
| CAN | SCO | ||||||||
| SCO | IRL | ||||||||
| IRL | Total | Final | Semis | Quarters | Group Stages | ||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||||
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||||
| 18 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26 |
References
References
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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