1997 WDC World Darts Championship

 Peter Evison (2x)
  •  Steve Raw
  •  Dennis Priestley
    • Champion(s) Phil Taylor
    «1996 1998»
    Darts tournament

    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 Embassy Championship appeared at his first WDC World Championship – he had only managed to qualify once for the Embassy 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.[1] They were now level as the most successful players of all-time.

    Seeds

    1. England Dennis Priestley
    2. England Phil Taylor
    3. England Bob Anderson
    4. England Peter Evison
    5. Scotland Jamie Harvey
    6. England Alan Warriner
    7. England Keith Deller
    8. England Rod Harrington

    Prize money

    The prize fund was £99,500.

    Position (num. of players) Prize money
    (Total: £99,500)
    Winner (1) £45,000
    Runner-Up (1) £10,000
    Third place (1) £5,000
    Fourth place (1) £4,000
    Quarter-finalists (4) £3,000
    Group stage runners-up (8) £1,500
    Group stage 3rd place (8) £1,250
    Highest finish bonus (1) £1,500

    Results

    Preliminary round

    A best of five sets preliminary round match took place between they were tied on the rankings.

    Av. Player Score Player Av.
    85.89 Ritchie Gardner England 3 – 1 United States Dave Kelly 78.20
    90.00 Paul Lim Singapore 3 – 2 Republic of Ireland Tom Kirby 83.00
    95.05 Chris Mason England 3 – 0 England Peter Manley 89.10
    101.89 Gary Mawson Canada 3 – 1 England Harry Robinson 87.33
    75.21 Graeme Stoddart England 3 – 1 England Paul Knighton 91.83
    79.44 Steve Raw England 3 – 2 England Kevin Burrows 59.10
    93.99 Dennis Smith England 3 – 0 United States Jerry Umberger 50.01
    73.45 Sean Downs United States 3 – 2 Canada Tony Holyoake 69.47

    Group Stages

    Group A

    Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts
    1 England Eric Bristow 2 1 1 4 4 0 2
    2 England (3) Bob Anderson 2 1 1 4 4 0 2
    3 Canada 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 England 1 – 3 England Eric Bristow 87.47
    80.06 (3) Bob Anderson England 3 – 1 Canada Gary Mawson 78.63
    81.17 Eric Bristow England 1 – 3 Canada Gary Mawson 80.96


    Group B

    Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts
    1 England (6) Alan Warriner 2 2 0 6 2 +4 4
    2 England Graeme Stoddart 2 1 1 4 4 0 2
    3 United States Larry Butler 2 0 2 2 6 –4 0

    29 December–1 January

    86.01 (6) Alan Warriner England 3 – 1 United States Larry Butler 80.73
    87.89 Graeme Stoddart England 3 – 1 United States Larry Butler 80.58
    91.07 (6) Alan Warriner England 3 – 1 England Graeme Stoddart 86.96

    Group C

    Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts
    1 England (7) Keith Deller 2 2 0 6 2 +4 4
    2 England Dennis Smith 2 1 1 5 3 +2 2
    3 England Kevin Spiolek 2 0 2 0 6 −6 0

    29 December–1 January

    83.49 (7) Keith Deller England 3 – 0 England Kevin Spiolek 75.97
    82.18 Dennis Smith England 3 – 0 England Kevin Spiolek 69.06
    83.79 (7) Keith Deller England 3 – 2 England Dennis Smith 85.71


    Group D

    Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts
    1 England (2) Phil Taylor 2 2 0 6 0 +6 4
    2 United States Gerald Verrier 2 1 1 3 4 −1 2
    3 England Chris Mason 2 0 2 1 6 −5 0

    29 December–1 January

    90.18 (2) Phil Taylor England 3 – 0 England Chris Mason 79.96
    84.54 Gerald Verrier United States 3 – 1 England Chris Mason 80.04
    87.83 (2) Phil Taylor England 3 – 0 United States Gerald Verrier 76.10

    Group E

    Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts
    1 England (4) Peter Evison 2 2 0 6 1 +5 4
    2 England Steve Raw 2 1 1 4 4 0 2
    3 England Cliff Lazarenko 2 0 2 1 6 −5 0

    29 December–1 January

    88.77 (4) Peter Evison England 3 – 1 England Steve Raw 82.07
    81.76 Cliff Lazarenko England 1 – 3 England Steve Raw 78.75
    92.02 (4) Peter Evison England 3 – 0 England Cliff Lazarenko 73.49


    Group F

    Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts
    1 Scotland (5) Jamie Harvey 2 2 0 6 4 +2 4
    2 England John Lowe 2 1 1 5 4 +1 2
    3 United States Paul Lim 2 0 2 3 6 −3 0

    29 December–1 January

    87.34 (5) Jamie Harvey Scotland 3 – 2 Singapore Paul Lim 87.75
    83.45 John Lowe England 3 – 1 Singapore Paul Lim 82.73
    82.00 (5) Jamie Harvey Scotland 3 – 2 England John Lowe 81.18

    Group G

    Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts
    1 England (8) Rod Harrington 2 1 1 5 4 +1 2
    2 United States Sean Downs 2 1 1 4 4 0 2
    3 England Shayne Burgess 2 1 1 4 5 −1 2

    29 December–1 January

    85.62 (8) Rod Harrington England 2 – 3 England Shayne Burgess 83.82
    80.54 (8) Rod Harrington England 3 – 1 United States Sean Downs 76.52
    86.76 Shayne Burgess England 1 – 3 United States Sean Downs 82.85


    Group H

    Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts
    1 England (1) Dennis Priestley 2 2 0 6 1 +5 4
    2 United States Steve Brown 2 1 1 3 5 –2 2
    3 England Ritchie Gardner 2 0 2 3 6 −3 0

    29 December–1 January

    90.98 (1) Dennis Priestley England 3 – 0 United States Steve Brown 84.33
    77.60 Ritchie Gardner England 2 – 3 United States Steve Brown 80.19
    88.41 (1) Dennis Priestley England 3 – 1 England 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
             
    A1 England Eric Bristow 85.78 5
    B1 England Alan Warriner (6) 88.81 3
    A1 England Eric Bristow 86.97 4
    D1 England Phil Taylor (2) 93.73 5
    C1 England Keith Deller (7) 87.39 1
    D1 England Phil Taylor (2) 98.58 5
    D1 England Phil Taylor (2) 100.91 6
    H1 England Dennis Priestley (1) 96.79 3
    E1 England Peter Evison (4) 91.39 5
    F1 Scotland Jamie Harvey (5) 83.96 3
    E1 England Peter Evison (4) 91.32 4 Third place play-off (best of 7 sets)
    H1 England Dennis Priestley (1) 94.34 5
    G1 England Rod Harrington (8) 94.50 2 A1 England Eric Bristow 83.23 2
    H1 England Dennis Priestley (1) 94.73 5 E1 England 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.

    England
    ENG     		United States
    USA     		Canada
    CAN     		Scotland
    SCO     		Republic of Ireland
    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

    1. ^ "Darts Database. Database of Darts Results Players and Statistics". www.dartsdatabase.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
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