2008 Grand Slam of Darts

Grand Slam of Darts
Tournament information
Dates	15–23 November
Venue	Civic Hall
Location	Wolverhampton
Country	England
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs
Prize fund	£356,000
Winners share	£100,000
Nine dart finish	James Wade
High checkout	170 Gary Anderson
Champion(s)
Phil Taylor
«2007 2009»

The 2008 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. 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.

Prize Fund

The prize fund for the 2008 tournament was as follows:

• Winner – £100,000
• Runner-Up – £40,000
• Losing Semi-Finalists – £20,000 each
• Losing Quarter-Finalists – £12,500 each
• Round Two Losers – £7,500 each
• Group Stage Losers – £4,000 each
• Highest Finish – £2,000

• Total Prize Fund – £356,000

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.

Qualifying tournaments

PDC

Tournament	Year	Position	Player
Grand Slam of Darts	2007	Winner	Phil Taylor
		Runner-Up	Andy Hamilton
		Semi-Finalist 1	Kevin McDine
		Semi-Finalist 2	Gary Anderson
World Championship	2007	Winner	Raymond van Barneveld
		Runner-Up	Phil Taylor
		Semi-Finalist 1	Andy Jenkins
		Semi-Finalist 2	Andy Hamilton
	2008	Winner	John Part
		Runner-Up	Kirk Shepherd
		Semi-Finalist 1	Kevin Painter
		Semi-Finalist 2	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	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

BDO

Tournament	Year	Position	Player
World Championship	2007	Winner	Martin Adams
		Runner-Up	Phill Nixon
		Semi-Finalist 1	Niels de Ruiter
		Semi-Finalist 2	Mervyn King
	2008	Winner	Mark Webster
		Runner-Up	Simon Whitlock
		Semi-Finalist 1	Martin Adams
		Semi-Finalist 2	Brian Woods
World Masters	2006	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
		Runner-Up	Martin Adams
	2007	Winner	Robert Thornton
		Runner-Up	Darryl Fitton

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 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

A invitation to compete in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts was also awarded to:

• The top player from the PDC North American Order of Merit
• The player who accumulated the highest amount of prize money at the conclusion of the DPA William Cross Pro-Am
• The BDO Women's World Champion
• An ITV Wildcard

PDC North American Order of Merit

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 USA 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 the 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

• Raymond van Barneveld
• Colin McGarry
• Michael van Gerwen
• Andy Hamilton
• Andy Jenkins
• Terry Jenkins
• Mervyn King
• Adrian Lewis
• Colin Lloyd
• Wayne Mardle
• Gary Mawson
• Kevin McDine
• Wes Newton
• Paul Nicholson
• Denis Ovens
• Kevin Painter
• John Part
• Kirk Shepherd
• Alan Tabern
• Phil Taylor
• Robert Thornton
• Vincent van der Voort
• James Wade
• Darin Young

British Darts Organisation

• Gary Anderson
• Anastasia Dobromyslova
• Darryl Fitton
• Phill Nixon
• Niels de Ruiter
• Mark Webster
• Simon Whitlock
• Brian Woods

International representatives

This table shows the number of players from each country in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.

England : 18	Scotland : 2	Wales : 1	Netherlands : 4
Canada : 1	Australia : 2	Russia : 1	United States : 2
Northern Ireland : 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:

John Part Raymond van Barneveld Anastasia Dobromyslova Wayne Mardle Phil Taylor James Wade Peter Manley Mark Webster

Barry McGuigan – former world boxing champion Phil Tufnell – former cricketer Steve Davis – six-time world snooker champion Michael Le Vell – actor Neil Ruddock – former footballer Steve Backley – former athlete Dave Ulliott – poker player Mike Tindall – rugby player

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 and results

Group Stages

All matches first-to-5/best of 9.

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

POS	Player	P	W	L	LF	LA	+/-	Pts	Status
1	Phil Taylor	3	2	1	14	6	+8	4	Advance to the last 16
2	Andy Jenkins	3	2	1	13	13	0	4
3	Vincent van der Voort	3	1	2	10	11	−1	2	Eliminated
4	Phill Nixon	3	1	2	6	13	−7	2

Date	Player	Legs	Player
November 15	(107.36) Phil Taylor	5 – 0	Phill Nixon (92.91)
	(85.30) Vincent van der Voort	4 – 5	Andy Jenkins (85.39)
November 16	(85.33) Phill Nixon	1 – 5	Vincent van der Voort (99.98)
	(102.94) Phil Taylor	4 – 5	Andy Jenkins (96.89)
November 17	(85.05) Andy Jenkins	3 – 5	Phill Nixon (87.79)
	(92.21) Vincent van der Voort	1 – 5	Phil Taylor (104.51)

Group B

POS	Player	P	W	L	LF	LA	+/-	Pts	Status
1	Simon Whitlock	3	2	1	13	6	+7	4	Advance to the last 16
2	Andy Hamilton	3	2	1	11	9	+2	4	Face off in a nine dart shootout
2	Alan Tabern	3	2	1	11	9	+2	4
4	Brian Woods	3	0	3	4	15	−11	0	Eliminated

Date	Player	Legs	Player
November 15	(105.64) Andy Hamilton	5 – 3	Brian Woods (88.67)
	(91.21) Alan Tabern	5 – 3	Simon Whitlock (89.73)
November 16	(82.83) Brian Woods	0 – 5	Simon Whitlock (84.44)
	(95.94) Andy Hamilton	5 – 1	Alan Tabern (94.57)
November 17	(90.61) Alan Tabern	5 – 1	Brian Woods (73.03)
	(98.86) Simon Whitlock	5 – 1	Andy Hamilton (103.04)

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	60	60	5	60	20	60	–	–	–	265	Advance to the last 16
3	Alan Tabern	60	20	5	20	1	20	3	20	20	169	Eliminated

Group C

POS	Player	P	W	L	LF	LA	+/-	Pts	Status
1	Mervyn King	3	3	0	15	7	+8	6	Advance to the last 16
2	Mark Webster	3	1	2	12	10	+2	2
3	Colin McGarry	3	1	2	9	14	−5	2	Eliminated
4	Michael van Gerwen	3	1	2	6	11	−5	2

Date	Player	Legs	Player
November 15	(85.80) Mark Webster	4 – 5	Colin McGarry (80.14)
	(92.93) Mervyn King	5 – 1	Michael van Gerwen (86.74)
November 16	(93.93) Mark Webster	5 – 0	Michael van Gerwen (75.62)
	(80.23) Colin McGarry	3 – 5	Mervyn King (89.81)
November 17	(84.51) Michael van Gerwen	5 – 1	Colin McGarry (76.55)
	(97.14) Mervyn King	5 – 3	Mark Webster (92.21)

Group D

POS	Player	P	W	L	LF	LA	+/-	Pts	Status
1	John Part	3	2	1	13	7	+6	4	Advance to the last 16
2	Kevin McDine	3	2	1	11	7	+4	4
3	Wayne Mardle	3	2	1	10	12	−2	4	Eliminated
4	Anastasia Dobromyslova	3	0	3	7	15	−8	0

Date	Player	Legs	Player
November 15	(78.22) John Part	5 – 1	Anastasia Dobromyslova (75.91)
	(70.80) Wayne Mardle	0 – 5	Kevin McDine (81.68)
November 16	(86.07) Anastasia Dobromyslova	4 – 5	Wayne Mardle (79.28)
	(92.11) John Part	5 – 1	Kevin McDine (80.10)
November 17	(95.44) Wayne Mardle	5 – 3	John Part (94.47)
	(92.44) Kevin McDine	5 – 2	Anastasia Dobromyslova (80.30)

Group E

POS	Player	P	W	L	LF	LA	+/-	Pts	Status
1	Raymond van Barneveld	3	3	0	15	7	+8	6	Advance to the last 16
2	Robert Thornton	3	2	1	13	12	+1	4
3	Gary Mawson	3	1	2	11	10	+1	2	Eliminated
4	Kirk Shepherd	3	0	3	5	15	−10	0

Date	Player	Legs	Player
November 15	(84.02) Robert Thornton	5 – 3	Gary Mawson (81.72)
	(100.38) Raymond van Barneveld	5 – 1	Kirk Shepherd (82.73)
November 16	(81.68) Gary Mawson	5 – 0	Kirk Shepherd (74.90)
	(97.82) Robert Thornton	3 – 5	Raymond van Barneveld (101.38)
November 18	(94.63) Gary Mawson	3 – 5	Raymond van Barneveld (93.25)
	(89.66) Kirk Shepherd	4 – 5	Robert Thornton (93.49)

Group F

POS	Player	P	W	L	LF	LA	+/-	Pts	Status
1	Terry Jenkins	3	2	1	14	8	+6	4	Advance to the last 16
2	Darin Young	3	2	1	13	11	+2	4
3	Wes Newton	3	2	1	10	12	−2	4	Eliminated
4	Colin Lloyd	3	0	3	9	15	−6	0

Date	Player	Legs	Player
November 15	(92.95) Terry Jenkins	4 – 5	Darin Young (92.43)
	(83.38) Colin Lloyd	4 – 5	Wes Newton (79.51)
November 16	(85.61) Terry Jenkins	5 – 3	Colin Lloyd (84.38)
	(85.30) Darin Young	3 – 5	Wes Newton (82.38)
November 18	(80.83) Wes Newton	0 – 5	Terry Jenkins (98.88)
	(88.15) Darin Young	5 – 2	Colin Lloyd (82.25)

Group G

POS	Player	P	W	L	LF	LA	+/-	Pts	Status
1	James Wade	3	3	0	15	7	+8	6	Advance to the last 16
2	Denis Ovens	3	2	2	13	7	+6	4
3	Adrian Lewis	3	1	2	10	10	0	2	Eliminated
4	Niels de Ruiter	3	0	3	1	15	−14	0

Date	Player	Legs	Player
November 15	(83.40) Adrian Lewis	2 – 5	Denis Ovens (89.48)
	(86.10) James Wade	5 – 1	Niels de Ruiter (74.91)
November 16	(89.46) Adrian Lewis	5 – 0	Niels de Ruiter (84.38)
	(95.83) Denis Ovens	3 – 5	James Wade (111.03)
November 18	(86.12) Niels de Ruiter	0 – 5	Denis Ovens (90.54)
	(97.39) James Wade	5 – 3	Adrian Lewis (97.83)

Group H

POS	Player	P	W	L	LF	LA	+/-	Pts	Status
1	Darryl Fitton	3	2	1	14	9	+5	4	Advance to the last 16
2	Gary Anderson	3	2	1	14	11	+3	4
3	Paul Nicholson	3	1	2	11	14	−3	2	Eliminated
4	Kevin Painter	3	1	2	9	14	−5	2

Date	Player	Legs	Player
November 15	(84.50) Kevin Painter	2 – 5	Darryl Fitton (86.08)
	(92.32) Gary Anderson	4 – 5	Paul Nicholson (86.91)
November 16	(85.40) Kevin Painter	2 – 5	Gary Anderson (96.40)
	(96.92) Darryl Fitton	5 – 2	Paul Nicholson (93.90)
November 18	(90.72) Gary Anderson	5 – 4	Darryl Fitton (84.08)
	(87.11) Paul Nicholson	4 – 5	Kevin Painter (98.05)

Knockout Stages

	Second Round (best of 19) Wednesday 19 & Thursday 20 November					Quarter Finals (best of 19) Friday 21 November					Semi Finals (best of 31) Saturday 22 November					Final (best of 35) Sunday 23 November
	1	Phil Taylor 97.37	10
	8	Andy Hamilton 98.30	8
						1	Phil Taylor 103.52	10
							Simon Whitlock 97.73	7
	Simon Whitlock 89.93		10
	Andy Jenkins 85.86		8
											1	Phil Taylor 106.56	16
												Mervyn King 96.66	10
	Mervyn King 88.04		10
	Kevin McDine 90.80		9
							Mervyn King 100.98	10
						4	Mark Webster 94.28	8
	5	John Part 83.68	2
	4	Mark Webster 91.73	10
																1	Phil Taylor 106.25	18
																7	Terry Jenkins 100.92	9
	2	R. van Barneveld 95.14	10
		Darin Young 84.59	4
						2	R. van Barneveld 97.18	9
						7	Terry Jenkins 96.48	10
	7	Terry Jenkins 93.43	10
		Robert Thornton 93.30	8
											7	Terry Jenkins 102.30	16
											6	Gary Anderson 105.65	14
	3	James Wade 89.98	8
	6	Gary Anderson 95.16	10
						6	Gary Anderson 98.45	10
							Darryl Fitton 88.80	6
	Darryl Fitton 94.71		10
	Denis Ovens 91.89		8

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 (a tournament that was shown on Dutch TV) but ended up losing the match to Raymond van Barneveld.

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. On 26 January 2009 it was announced that there was no evidence of player collusion in the arranging of match outcomes.