2008 Grand Slam of Darts

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 finishEngland James Wade
High checkout170 Scotland Gary Anderson
Champion(s)
England Phil Taylor
«2007 2009»

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.

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, as well as a wildcard qualifying event open to any darts player.

Qualifying tournaments

PDC

Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers
Grand Slam of Darts 2007 Winner England Phil Taylor England Phil Taylor
England Andy Hamilton
England Kevin McDine
Scotland Gary Anderson
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
England Andy Jenkins
Canada John Part
England Kirk Shepherd
England Kevin Painter
England Wayne Mardle
England James Wade
England Terry Jenkins
Netherlands Vincent van der Voort
United States Gary Mawson
England Colin Lloyd
England Denis Ovens
England Adrian Lewis
Runner-up England Andy Hamilton
Semi-finalists England Kevin McDine
Scotland Gary Anderson
PDC World Darts Championship 2007 Winner Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-up England Phil Taylor
Semi-finalists England Andy Jenkins
England Andy Hamilton
2008 Winner Canada John Part
Runner-up England Kirk Shepherd
Semi-finalists England Kevin Painter
England Wayne Mardle
World Matchplay 2007 Winner England James Wade
Runner-up England Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up England James Wade
World Grand Prix 2007 Winner England James Wade
Runner-up England Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
Las Vegas Desert Classic 2007 Winner Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-up England Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up England James Wade
UK Open 2007 Winner Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-up Netherlands Vincent van der Voort
2008 Winner England James Wade
Runner-up United States Gary Mawson
US Open 2007 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld
2008 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up England Colin Lloyd
Premier League Darts 2007 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up England Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up England James Wade
German Darts Championship 2007 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up England Denis Ovens
European Championship 2008 Winner England Phil Taylor
Runner-up England Adrian Lewis
Championship League Darts 2008 Winner England 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 England Martin Adams England Phill Nixon
Netherlands Niels de Ruiter
England Mervyn King
Wales Mark Webster
Australia Simon Whitlock
England Brian Woods
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
Scotland Robert Thornton
England Darryl Fitton
Runner-up England Phill Nixon
Semi-finalists Netherlands Niels de Ruiter
England Mervyn King
2008 Winner Wales Mark Webster
Runner-up Australia Simon Whitlock
Semi-finalists England Martin Adams
England Brian Woods
World Masters 2006 Winner Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
Runner-up England Martin Adams
2007 Winner Scotland Robert Thornton
Runner-up England Darryl Fitton
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Defunct Tournaments

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

Other qualifiers

[1]

Criteria Player
PDC North America Order of Merit Leader United States Darin Young
William Cross Pro-Am Australia Paul Nicholson
2008 BDO Women's World Darts Champion Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova
ITV Wildcards England Wes Newton
Northern Ireland Colin McGarry
England 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.

Quarter-finals Semi-finals 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 England Andy Hamilton 60 60 5 60 20 60 265 Advance to the last 16
3 England Alan Tabern 60 20 5 20 1 20 3 20 20 169 Eliminated

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 England Phil Taylor (1) 97.37 10
B2 England Andy Hamilton (8) 98.30 8
A1 England Phil Taylor (1) 103.52 10
B1 Australia Simon Whitlock (BDO) 97.73 7
B1 Australia Simon Whitlock (BDO) 89.93 10
A2 England Andy Jenkins 85.86 8
A1 England Phil Taylor (1) 106.56 16
C1 England Mervyn King 96.66 10
C1 England Mervyn King 88.04 10
D2 England Kevin McDine 90.80 9
C1 England Mervyn King 100.98 10
C2 Wales Mark Webster (BDO, 4) 94.28 8
D1 Canada John Part (5) 83.68 2
C2 Wales Mark Webster (BDO, 4) 91.73 10
A1 England Phil Taylor (1) 106.25 18
F1 England Terry Jenkins (7) 100.92 9
E1 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (2) 95.14 10
F2 United States Darin Young (Q) 84.59 4
E1 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (2) 97.18 9
F1 England Terry Jenkins (7) 96.48 10
F1 England Terry Jenkins (7) 93.43 10
E2 Scotland Robert Thornton 93.30 8
F1 England Terry Jenkins (7) 102.30 16
H2 Scotland Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 105.65 14
G1 England James Wade (3) 89.98 8
H2 Scotland Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 95.16 10
H2 Scotland Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 98.45 10
H1 England Darryl Fitton (BDO) 88.80 6
H1 England Darryl Fitton (BDO) 94.71 10
G2 England Denis Ovens 91.89 8

Statistics

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

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.