2007 Grand Slam of Darts

Darts tournamentTemplate:SHORTDESC:Darts tournament
The **2007 PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts** was the inaugural staging of the darts tournament, the Grand Slam of Darts, held by the Professional Darts Corporation, was staged at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England from 17–25 November 2007.

The tournament invited the best performing players from the PDC and its rival the British Darts Organisation. There had been two previous head-to-head matches between the champions of the two organisations and a few tournaments have also featured BDO v PDC clashes. This tournament was the first of its kind to be held in the United Kingdom.

Phil Taylor won the title, beating Andy Hamilton 18–11 in the final.

In one of the early group matches which may not have stood out at the time, John Part narrowly beat Mark Webster 5–4 and less than two months later, the two players became the World Champions of their respective organisations.

## Prize money

PartyPoker.net increased the prize fund for the event from the original announcement of £250,000 to £300,000, making it the second richest tournament in 2007 – ahead of both the Premier League and the BDO World Championship.

 **Last 32 (Group stage)** | (16) | £4,000

## Format

The 32 players were split into eight groups of four players with the top two from each group qualifying for the last 16 knockout stages. Each player was therefore guaranteed three matches in the competition. Two points were awarded for a win. All group games were best of 9 legs, the second-round games were extended to best of 19 legs, the semi-finals best of 25 legs, and the final best of 35 legs.

## Controversy

Controversy hit the tournament in May when it was confirmed by the BDO that the 2007 World Masters had been moved from its original dates of 26–28 October to a new date of 16–18 November, clashing directly with the Grand Slam. This meant that players from the BDO were forced into a direct choice between competing at the Masters for valuable ranking points or taking their place at the Grand Slam for better prize money. BDO World Champion Martin Adams almost immediately confirmed that he would participate in the Masters, though he was the only BDO player to do so. Adams went out in the quarter-finals of the World Masters, meaning his pay cheque of £1,250 was significantly less than the £4,000 he would have received simply for turning up at the Grand Slam. Adams also declined the chance to compete in 2008, even though the two tournaments did not clash as the Masters was moved to December. He would keep on declining invites to the tournament, until eventually making his debut in the 2015 event.

## Qualifiers

The PDC Chairman Barry Hearn announced on 21 February 2007 that all major tournament finalists for the past two years from both the BDO and PDC will be invited to the event. Also World Championship semi-finalists from the same period would receive an invite.

The tournaments used for the qualifying criteria were the two World Championships, the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and World Masters (2006 only), UK Open, Las Vegas Desert Classic, Premier League, World Series of Darts, International Darts League and the World Darts Trophy with the field set at 32 players.

BDO players Gary Anderson, Mark Webster, Shaun Greatbatch, Niels de Ruiter, Phill Nixon and Scott Waites all accepted invites to the event leaving Martin Adams (the BDO World Champion) as the only player to have rejected the opportunity to play. He participated in the 2007 Winmau World Masters instead, losing at the quarter-finals stage.

## Draw

The draw took place on 22 October, and was done by Steve Beaton and Tommy Cox.

### Pools

The pools were sorted out using a weighted system based on the successes in the qualifying tournaments, with the as yet undetermined qualifiers in 31st and 32nd place.

  Raymond van Barneveld  **(1)**
 Phil Taylor  **(2)**
 Gary Anderson  **(3)**
 James Wade  **(4)**
 Jelle Klaasen  **(5)**
 Michael van Gerwen  **(6)**
 John Part  **(7)**
 Terry Jenkins  **(8)**
 Adrian Lewis
 Colin Lloyd
 Peter Manley
 Phill Nixon
 Roland Scholten
 Vincent van der Voort
 Mark Webster
 Shaun Greatbatch
 Andy Hamilton
 Andy Jenkins
 Wayne Jones
 Mervyn King
 Wayne Mardle
 Dennis Priestley
 Kevin McDine
 Chris Mason
 Gary Mawson
 Pat Orreal
 Scott Waites
 Ronnie Baxter
 Kevin Painter

### Group stages

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

NB in Brackets: Number = Seeds; BDO = BDO Darts player; RQ = Ranking qualifier; 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

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 PDC Launch Grand Slam of Darts (21 February 2007).
2. ↑ Taylor Wins PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts (25 November 2007).
3. ↑ PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts Competitors (3 October 2007).
4. ↑ Orreal To Replace Power.
5. ↑ PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts Draw (22 October 2007).
6. ↑ PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts - Draw & Seedings (19 October 2007).

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