2005 Masters of Darts
The 2005 Masters of Darts was a unique darts tournament as it was the first televised confrontation between the of the two rival organisations, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). There had been two "champion versus champion" matches held, but this tournament was the first major event featuring players from each organisation. This inaugural Masters of Darts took place between February 7 and February 13, 2005 at the ExpoCenter in Hengelo, The Netherlands. The best four players from both federations were invited. The tournament was arranged by PenH Events, who managed  to secure a three-year contract with Raymond van Barneveld, a BDO player at the time, taking part in the tournament. The host broadcaster was RTL5 in the Netherlands, who had also secured a three-year deal to broadcast the event. However, the tournament was not held in 2006 and by the time it was revived for 2007, SBS6 took over as Dutch broadcasters for the event. This event made the best post-match interview of all time after Co Stompe defeated Wayne Mardle 4-1 on day 3. Mardle swore in his interview without knowing that it was live . He found out when he said to the interview "these are the questions you should be asking when we're live" and the interview responded "oh we're live now, there you are on television" with Mardle sheepishly responding "why wasn't I told". The question is WHY WASN'T WAYNE TOLD! Prize Fund. Total prize money for the event was €395,000 with the tournament winner securing €150,000 making it one of the richest prizes in darts. Andy Fordham 1 - Phil Taylor 7