The 2007 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2007 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship) was the fourteenth World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The tournament took place between 18 December 2006 – 1 January 2007. The championship was once again held at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex, where it had been staged since the first PDC World Championship in 1994. However, it would turn out to be the last time the tournament would be held at the Tavern: in April 2007, the PDC announced that the event would be moving to Alexandra Palace from 2008.
This was the fifth year of Ladbrokes' sponsorship deal, with the tournament prize fund now at a record £500,000. The PDC had introduced a bonus for a nine-dart finish at the 2006 World Matchplay, which started at £5,000 and rolled over to the next Premier tour event if not won; for this tournament, the bonus stood at £15,000, as a nine-darter had not been achieved at the Matchplay or the World Grand Prix. The bonus was not won, so it rolled over again, to the 2007 UK Open.
Raymond van Barneveld became the first player in the history of the sport to play in the BDO World Championship final and the PDC World Championship final in consecutive years, having decided to switch organisations on 15 February 2006. Barneveld was close to defeat against top seed Colin Lloyd in the second round, but then never dropped another set on his way to the final, which was much anticipated between the best players of the current era. Barneveld and Phil Taylor had 17 World Championships between them and in one of the greatest matches in darts history, Barneveld came back from 3–0 down in sets to win 7–6 after a sudden-death leg. It was Barneveld's fifth world title overall.
Taylor maintained his record of reaching every single PDC World Championship final to date, but the defeat ended a 21-match unbeaten run at the Tavern, as well as his three-year reign as World Champion.
Qualifiers In addition to the top 32 ranked PDC players, 32 places were awarded to qualifiers. 16 players progressed from a Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) qualifying event and 16 qualifiers were determined by the PDC in consultation with the PDPA. This involved various qualifying tournaments across the world in territories where television coverage of the PDC is broadcast, plus some wildcards awarded by international broadcasters and the PDC.
The full list of the 16 players who made it to the Circus Tavern as an International Qualifier are: Bill Davis – won a playoff of four American players in Las Vegas, Nevada John Kuczynski – best American player in World Series of Darts Warren French – won the New Zealand National Singles Championship Mitchell Clegg – won Oceanic Masters Tony Fleet – won the Australian Grand Prix Brian Cyr Ron Miller Gerry Convery - Second-ranked Canadian Wynand Havenga – won South African Masters Tetsuya Wada – won Japanese qualifying event Shi Yongsheng – won Chinese qualifying event Per Laursen – won Danish qualifying event Rico Vonck – via Dutch Darts Foundation (DDF) Rankings (finished second to Michael van Gerwen who opted to play in the BDO championship) Josephus Schenk – SBS-6 Wildcard (third in DDF rankings) Tomas Seyler – DSF Wildcard Anton Pein – won a 128-man play off comprising German, Austrian and Swiss players
Mitchell Clegg, from New South Wales, Australia was the youngest ever qualifier for a World Darts Championship (BDO or PDC). In October 2006, he won the Oceanic Masters at the age of 15 to earn a place at the Circus Tavern in January. He celebrated his 16th birthday in November 2006. He lost to eventual champion Raymond van Barneveld in the 1st round – ironically both players were making their Circus Tavern debuts despite their vastly different levels of experience.
It is the only World Darts Championship to date (PDC, BDO or WDF) to not have a qualifier from Scotland.
PDPA Qualifying tournament 172 players lined up at the Holte Suite, Villa Park, Birmingham for the qualifiers for the World Championship on 2 December 2006. They included four former World Champions, Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Richie Burnett and Keith Deller. Former World Matchplay winners Peter Evison and Rod Harrington also attempted to qualify alongside two-time World Grand Prix finalist Shayne Burgess and former World finalist, Dave Whitcombe
They were all faced with a minimum of three matches (4 for Evison and Burnett) to qualify. Harrington and Evison both went at the first hurdle. Bristow, Lowe and Deller all managed to win their first matches, but then all fell in their second games (Lowe 4–5 to Ian Branks, Bristow 0–5 to Dennis Smith and Deller 4–5 to Dave Ladley). Burgess and Whitcombe also fell two matches short of qualification.
Richie Burnett managed to win four qualifying rounds to qualify for the first round proper at the Circus Tavern. He was joined by Alan Green, Alan Tabern, Steve Smith, Wayne Atwood, Ian Branks, Adrian Gray, Martin Burchell, Colin Osborne, Darren Webster, Alan Caves, Dave Ladley, Gary Welding, Dave Jowett, Mick McGowan and Mark Lawrence.
The draw for the main tournament was made after the qualifiers were completed.
Order of Merit
Order of Merit Colin Lloyd (second round) Phil Taylor (runner-up) Dennis Priestley (third round) Roland Scholten (third round) Adrian Lewis (third round) Terry Jenkins (quarter-finals) Peter Manley (second round) Wayne Mardle (first round) Denis Ovens (second round) Ronnie Baxter (first round) James Wade (third round) Kevin Painter (first round) Andy Jenkins (semi-finals) Mark Dudbridge (second round) Chris Mason (third round) Mark Walsh (first round) Barrie Bates (first round) John Part (second round) Andy Hamilton (semi-finals) Wes Newton (second round) Andy Smith (second round) Lionel Sams (first round) Bob Anderson (first round) Alan Warriner-Little (first round) Dave Askew (third round) Steve Maish (first round) Steve Beaton (second round) Wayne Jones (second round) Alex Roy (second round) Colin Monk (first round) Matt Clark (first round) Raymond van Barneveld (champion)
PDPA Qualifiers Richie Burnett (first round) Alan Green (first round) Alan Tabern (quarter-finals) Steve Smith (first round) Wayne Atwood (first round) Ian Branks (first round) Adrian Gray (second round) Martin Burchell (first round) Colin Osborne (quarter-finals) Darren Webster (quarter-finals) Alan Caves (second round) Dave Ladley (second round) Gary Welding (first round) Dave Jowett (first round) Mick McGowan (second round) Mark Lawrence (first round)
International Qualifiers Bill Davis (first round) John Kuczynski (first round) Warren French (first round) Mitchell Clegg (first round) Tony Fleet (first round) Brian Cyr (second round) Ron Miller (first round) Gerry Convery (first round) Wynand Havenga (third round) Tetsuya Wada (first round) Shi Yongsheng (first round) Per Laursen (second round) Tomas Seyler (first round) Rico Vonck (third round) Josephus Schenk (first round) Anton Pein (first round)
Prize money The total prize fund for the 2007 World Championship was £500,000.
Position (num. of players) Prize money(Total: £500,000)Winner (1) £100,000Runner-Up (1) £50,000Semi-finalists (2) £20,000Quarter-finalists (4) £12,500Third round losers (8) £8,500Second round losers (16) £5,000First round losers (32) £3,500Nine-dart finish (0) £15,000
Draw http://www.pdc.tv/world-darts-championship/article/g6r3io2igdun1fbk7d1gza6wy/title/barney-wins-ladbrokescom-world-darts-championship PDC official website Finals
Rounds 1-4
Scores after player's names are three-dart averages (total points scored divided by darts thrown and multiplied by 3)
Statistics Highest three-dart checkout: 170 ( Raymond van Barneveld, Final) Tournament 180s scored: 503 (in 1298 legs thrown)
Top 180 scorers RankPlayer180s Darts statistics (German site)1 Raymond van Barneveld512 Andy Hamilton463 Phil Taylor284 Colin Osborne25 Adrian Lewis6 Andy Jenkins217 Dennis Priestley18 Mark Dudbridge Terry Jenkins Alan Tabern
Representation from different countries This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship.
ENG NED WAL IRL CAN RSA GER AUS NZL USA CHN AUT JPN DEN Total Final 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Semis 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Quarters 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 Round 3 12 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Round 2 24 3 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 32 Round 1 41 4 3 1 4 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 64 Total 41 4 3 1 4 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 64
Television coverage The following television stations broadcast the 2007 PDC World Championships. Sky Sports in the UK SBS6 in the Netherlands Sports 1 in the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Hungary DSF in Germany Supersport in South Africa Ten Sports in India (quarter finals onwards)
The UK television ratings for the World Championship included the following highlights BARB – UK television ratings 409,000 viewers Thursday 28 December (Taylor v Mason QF) 6th highest rated programme on Sky Sports 1 that week. 354,000 viewers Saturday 30 December (semi-finals) highest rated programme on Sky Sports 2 that week.
The viewing figures for the final were 1,028,000. The Newcastle United v Manchester United game which immediately preceded the darts on Sky Sports 1 achieved viewing figures of 1,761,000 – (also known as the "lead-in" audience for the darts).
Dutch television audience 1,339,000 viewers watched the final on Monday 1 January on the Dutch SBS6 channel
Tournament review Day One – Monday 18 December Phil Taylor opened the defence of his title with a comfortable 3–0 victory over Austrian qualifier Anton Pein, without dropping a single leg during the match and only allowing Pein three darts on a double in the final leg of the final set. Number seven seed Peter Manley also had little trouble in despatching Dave Jowett with the loss of only one leg.
The big upset came when Ronnie Baxter, twice a finalist in the BDO World Championship went out in the first round for the second year running. He lost 2–3 to 25-year-old Sussex player, Adrian Gray who was never behind in the entire match.
Former World Champion John Part struggled through to the second round against Merseyside debutant Alan Green 3–2, when the final set went right down to the wire. The Canadian only just avoided going down to a tie-break leg clinching the final set 6 legs to 4. Wynand Havenga, the first ever South African at the PDC World Darts Championship reached the second round by eliminating 26th seed Steve Maish.
Elsewhere, 6th seed Terry Jenkins dispatched Mark Lawrence 3–1, Mick McGowan defeated 31st seed Matt Clark who produced the highest checkout of the tournament thus far with a 161 finish, and Chris Mason cruised through against Wayne Atwood 3–0.
Day Two – Tuesday 19 December The afternoon session provided a series of shocks as three of the four seeded players in action were toppled. Bob Anderson lost to 38-year-old Darren Webster, from Norfolk 1–3. Anderson was always in trouble, having dropped the first five legs of the match. The Limestone Cowboy had been struggling with a trapped nerve in his neck, but battled back to win the third set, but Webster closed out the match with two 14-dart legs.
Canadian debutant, Bryan Cyr put out Barrie Bates, who had been an in-form player in 2006. Cyr took the first two sets before Bates fought back to level, but Cyr was strongest on the doubles to clinch the final set. Dutch teenager, Rico Vonck had earlier defeated world number 16 Mark Walsh, who it seemed may be struggling with dartitis.