1997 WDC World Darts Championship

October 2017 October 2017 1997 WDC World Darts Championship 29 December 1996 – 5 January 1997 Circus Tavern Purfleet PDC (WDC) SetsFinal – best of 11 £99,500 £45,000 170 Peter Evison(2x) Steve Raw Dennis Priestley Phil Taylor 1996 1998 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.Darts Database. Database of Darts Results Players and Statistics http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/AboutUs.aspx www.dartsdatabase.co.uk 28 December 2017 21 October 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181021190817/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/AboutUs.aspx dead 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) £45,000Runner-Up (1) £10,000Third place (1) £5,000Fourth place (1) £4,000Quarter-finalists (4) £3,000Group stage runners-up (8) £1,500Group stage 3rd place (8) £1,250Highest finish bonus (1) £1,500 Results Preliminary round A best of five sets preliminary round match took place between the players who were tied on the rankings. Av. Three dart average Player Score Player Av. Three dart average 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 PosPlayerPWLSFSA+/−Pts1 ENG Eric Bristow 2 1 1 4 4 0 22 ENG (3) Bob Anderson 2 1 1 4 4 0 23 USA Gary Mawson 2 1 1 4 4 0 2 Bristow qualified with a higher tournament average. 29 December–1 January 85.10 (3) Bob Anderson ENG1 – 3 ENG Eric Bristow 87.47 80.06 (3) Bob Anderson ENG3 – 1 USA Gary Mawson 78.63 81.17 Eric Bristow ENG1 – 3 USA Gary Mawson 80.96 Group B PosPlayerPWLSFSA+/−Pts1 ENG (6) Alan Warriner 2 2 0 6 2 +4 42 ENG Graeme Stoddart 2 1 1 4 4 0 23 USA Larry Butler 2 0 2 2 6 –4 0 29 December–1 January 86.01 (6) Alan Warriner ENG3 – 1 USA Larry Butler 80.73 87.89 Graeme Stoddart ENG3 – 1 USA Larry Butler 80.58 91.07 (6) Alan Warriner ENG3 – 1 ENG Graeme Stoddart 86.96 Group C PosPlayerPWLSFSA+/−Pts1 ENG (7) Keith Deller 2 2 0 6 2 +4 42 ENG Dennis Smith 2 1 1 5 3 +2 23 ENG Kevin Spiolek 2 0 2 0 6 −6 0 29 December–1 January 83.49 (7) Keith Deller ENG3 – 0 ENG Kevin Spiolek 75.97 82.18 Dennis Smith ENG3 – 0 ENG Kevin Spiolek 69.06 83.79 (7) Keith Deller ENG3 – 2 ENG Dennis Smith 85.71 Group D PosPlayerPWLSFSA+/−Pts1 ENG (2) Phil Taylor 2 2 0 6 0 +6 42 USA Gerald Verrier 2 1 1 3 4 −1 23 ENG Chris Mason 2 0 2 1 6 −5 0 29 December–1 January 90.18 (2) Phil Taylor ENG3 – 0 ENG Chris Mason 79.96 84.54 Gerald Verrier USA3 – 1 ENG Chris Mason 80.04 87.83 (2) Phil Taylor ENG3 – 0 USA Gerald Verrier 76.10 Group E PosPlayerPWLSFSA+/−Pts1 ENG (4) Peter Evison 2 2 0 6 1 +5 42 ENG Steve Raw 2 1 1 4 4 0 23 ENG Cliff Lazarenko 2 0 2 1 6 −5 0 29 December–1 January 88.77 (4) Peter Evison ENG3 – 1 ENG Steve Raw 82.07 81.76 Cliff Lazarenko ENG1 – 3 ENG Steve Raw 78.75 92.02 (4) Peter Evison ENG3 – 0 ENG Cliff Lazarenko 73.49 Group F PosPlayerPWLSFSA+/−Pts1 SCO (5) Jamie Harvey 2 2 0 6 4 +2 42 ENG John Lowe 2 1 1 5 4 +1 23 USA Paul Lim 2 0 2 3 6 −3 0 29 December–1 January 87.34 (5) Jamie Harvey SCO3 – 2 USA Paul Lim 87.75 83.45 John Lowe ENG3 – 1 USA Paul Lim 82.73 82.00 (5) Jamie Harvey SCO3 – 2 ENG John Lowe 81.18 Group G PosPlayerPWLSFSA+/−Pts1 ENG (8) Rod Harrington 2 1 1 5 4 +1 22 USA Sean Downs 2 1 1 4 4 0 23 ENG Shayne Burgess 2 1 1 4 5 −1 2 29 December–1 January 85.62 (8) Rod Harrington ENG2 – 3 ENG Shayne Burgess 83.82 80.54 (8) Rod Harrington ENG3 – 1 USA Sean Downs 76.52 86.76 Shayne Burgess ENG1 – 3 USA Sean Downs 82.85 Group H PosPlayerPWLSFSA+/−Pts1 ENG (1) Dennis Priestley 2 2 0 6 1 +5 42 USA Steve Brown 2 1 1 3 5 –2 23 ENG Ritchie Gardner 2 0 2 3 6 −3 0 29 December–1 January 90.98 (1) Dennis Priestley ENG3 – 0 USA Steve Brown 84.33 77.60 Ritchie Gardner ENG2 – 3 USA Steve Brown 80.19 88.41 (1) Dennis Priestley ENG3 – 1 ENG Ritchie Gardner 81.26 Knockout stages Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets)2–3 January Semi-finals (best of 9 sets)4 January Final (best of 11 sets)5 January Third place play-off (best of 7 sets) 20 200px A1 ENG Eric Bristow 85.78 5 B1 ENG Alan Warriner (6) 88.81 3 C1 ENG Keith Deller (7) 87.39 1 D1 ENG Phil Taylor (2) 98.58 5 E1 ENG Peter Evison (4) 91.39 5 F1 SCO Jamie Harvey (5) 83.96 3 G1 ENG Rod Harrington (8) 94.50 2 H1 ENG Dennis Priestley (1) 94.73 5 A1 ENG Eric Bristow 86.97 4 D1 ENG Phil Taylor (2) 93.73 5 E1 ENG Peter Evison (4) 91.32 4 H1 ENG Dennis Priestley (1) 94.34 5 D1 ENG Phil Taylor (2) 100.91 6 H1 ENG Dennis Priestley (1) 96.79 3 A1 ENG Eric Bristow 83.23 2 E1 ENG Peter Evison (4) 83.25 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 2 0 0 0 0 2 Semis 4 0 0 0 0 4 Quarters 7 0 0 1 0 8 Group Stages 18 5 1 1 1 26 References Category:PDC World Darts Championships Category:1990s in Essex WDC World Darts Championship 1997 WDC World Darts Championship WDC World Darts Championship WDC World Darts Championship WDC World Darts Championship WDC World Darts Championship Category:Purfleet Category:Sport in Essex