2008 Grand Slam of Darts

Darts tournamentTemplate:SHORTDESC:Darts tournament
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 15–23 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 was the defending champion after defeating Andy Hamilton 18–11 in the 2007 final, and he 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 grew to £356,000, with the winners' prize growing to £100,000.

It was as follows:

## 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

#### BDO

For the second year running, Martin Adams declined his invitation to take part in the competition.

## Draw

The draw was made on 5 November by Wolverhampton Wanderers legend Steve Bull.

### Pools

The pools were sorted out using a weighted system based on the successes in the qualifying tournaments.

  Phil Taylor  **(1)**
 Raymond van Barneveld  **(2)**
 James Wade  **(3)**
 Mark Webster  **(4)**
 John Part  **(5)**
 Gary Anderson  **(6)**
 Terry Jenkins  **(7)**
 Andy Hamilton  **(8)**
 Adrian Lewis
 Colin Lloyd
 Wayne Mardle
 Kevin Painter
 Alan Tabern
 Robert Thornton
 Vincent van der Voort
 Andy Jenkins
 Gary Mawson
 Kevin McDine
 Wes Newton
 Denis Ovens
 Michael van Gerwen
 Simon Whitlock
 Anastasia Dobromyslova
 Colin McGarry
 Paul Nicholson
 Phill Nixon
 Kirk Shepherd
 Brian Woods
 Darin Young

### 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.

### Knockout stages

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## 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.

## References

1. ↑ Taylor Wins PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts (25 November 2007).
2. ↑ Superb Taylor Retains Grand Slam Title (23 November 2008).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Final Grand Slam Line-Up Confirmed (3 November 2008).
4. ↑ PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts Draw (5 November 2008).
5. ↑ PDC Statement (28 November 2008).
6. ↑ DRA Statement (27 January 2009).
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