2004 PDC World Darts Championship

Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Dates 27 December 2003–4 January 2004
Venue Circus Tavern
Location Purfleet, Essex
Country England, United Kingdom
Organisation(s) PDC
Format Sets
Final – best of 13
Prize fund £256,000
Winners share £50,000
High checkout 170 England Peter Manley
170 England Ronnie Baxter
Champion(s)
England Phil Taylor
«2003 2005»

The 2004 Ladbrokes.com World Championship was the 10th anniversary of the PDC version of the World Darts Championship. An extra preliminary round was introduced bringing the total players at the televised stages to 48. Ladbrokes, who sponsored the event initially for one year in 2003, decided to extend their deal and the prize fund was increased to £256,000. Dutch television station, RTL 5 and Sky Sports both extended their deals with the PDC by three years. PDC chairman Barry Hearn announced that the tournament would be shown in Malaysia on pay-per-view.

Defending champion and number two seed, John Part suffered a surprise third round defeat to Mark Dudbridge. His first match of the 2004 campaign. It was the first time since 1995, when a round-robin format was in operation, that the defending champion had gone out in their first round at the PDC world championship.

The final became only the second ever (and first PDC) world final to go to a sudden death leg. The first time it happened was when Phil Taylor beat Mike Gregory in the 1992 final, Taylor was again involved and came out victorious against Kevin Painter. However, he had to fight from 4–1 down to win his 11th world title.

The two losing semi-finalists came from different ends of darts experience. Fifty-six-year-old Bob Anderson, a World Champion 16 years earlier lost to Painter and Wayne Mardle was making his first PDC World Championship semi-final appearance. Mardle lost to Taylor for the second year running, following a third round defeat as an unseeded player in 2003.

Seeds

Prize money

New format

To accommodate the change in the number of entries into the competition to 48, the format of the World Championship was again changed. 16 qualifiers would contest the first round, with the eight winners going through to the second round to meet players ranked between 25 and 32 inclusive in the PDC. These eight winners would go through to join the top 24 in the third round, where the tournament proceeded from the last 32 to the Final.

Tournament Review - Day 1 - Saturday 27 December

All eight first round matches would take place on the first day of the tournament as it opened up in Purfleet. In the openIng match, Richie Buckle showed excellent form in eliminated Jan van der Rassel 3-1 with an 87.15 average. Van der Rassel, a tough competitor lost two sets by 3-2 so it could have been a totally different story; Next man through was Erik Clarys, a Belgian known for success at Lakeside, he dispatched Dan Lauby 3-0, Lauby only averaging 63 and able to win two legs in the contest. - In the afternoon there were also wins for Wayne Atwood 3-0 and Colin McGarry 3-0 over Toru Sano and Rory Orvis respectively.

Arguably the best match of the first round came in the opening game in the evening, Robbie Widdows, known for his performances in the BDO played Henry O'Neill in a five set thriller, O'Neill, taking the fourth 3-2 and holding Widdows to 4-4 in the decider. Experience told and Robbie took the final two legs to sneak through 6-4 in the final set. England's Simon Whatley the next man for Widdows.

To follow that up we saw a superb recovery from Scotland's Alex Mackay against Barry Jouannet of Australia. Jouannet dominating proceedings took the first two sets 3-2 3-1 to go two-nil up. McKay replied with two 3-1 sets of his own to level the match up at 2-2 and to go favourite. Jouannet recovered from the setback however to go 2-2 in the decider and into the tie-break. However Mackay's 85.38 average would be enough to get him through 3-2. To finish the day, Steve Smith and Steve Maish would go through beating Norman Madhoo (Guyana's first ever dart qualifier) 3-1 and Tony Payne, known for his Embassy attempts 3-0 respectively.

Day 2 - Sunday 28 December

Players ranked 25-32 in the World rankings came into play as the tournament began its second round. Matches were still over best of 5 sets. The afternoon session brought a succession of 3-0 scorelines for the qualifiers from yesterday. Richie Buckle defeated Steve Brown and lost just four legs against the man who had been in the Semi-Finals here a decade earlier. Colin McGarry knocked out Mark Holden who would throw his darts away and retire after this 3-0 loss, however Holden was suffering from Dartitis. Wayne Atwood was at his best in eliminating Mick Manning 3-0. Manning lost the first two sets 3-0 before putting up resistance in the third set before losing it 3-2. Atwood averaged 87.93 and moves into a match against two time finalist and number 3 seed Peter Manley in the third round. The final match saw Mark Walsh knocked out 3-0 by Erik Clarys.

The evening session followed the form book more, however there was the prospect of lightning striking twice in the same place. Alex McKay again recovered from behind to level the match at 2-2 with Lionel Sams. The match of the round it proved to be as the pair served up a memorable contest, Each of the opening 4 sets went 3-2 making the tie-break inevitable. Sams edged the fifth set by five legs to three to go through with an 85.83 average. Following this he proposed to his girlfriend Caroline live on Sky.

Mark Dudbridge would go through 3-0 against Steven Smith however this didn't tell the full story as Smith took five legs and Mark took two deciding legs to go 2-0 up and the third by 3-1 to book his date against John Part the defending champion in the third round. Simon Whatley would start off a great week for him in a 3-1 win over Robbie Widdows who didn't score as heavily as he had in the first round. In the final match 'Big' Cliff Lazarenko went out 3-1 to Steve Maish.

Day 3 - Monday 29 December

7 third round matches as the top players entered the fray. Matches had now been extended to the best of 7 sets, so the players require 4 sets to go through.

The 1st match saw to players with an excellent pedigree in the World Championship, and not for the first time, a tremendous fightback. Dave Askew, Semi-Finalist in 2001 and 2002, took a 3-1 lead against Keith Deller. However the 1983 world champion Deller fought back, taking six of the next seven legs to level the match at 3-3 and set up a deciding set. - Deller took it in the tie-break winning the set 5-3 to go through. However both players played short of the best and Deller could qualify with a 76 average. The second match saw the number 3 seed, Peter Manley pushed the entire way by Wayne Atwood. Atwood led 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 in sets and was at one stage, just one leg away from victory before Manley sneaked the sixth set 3-2. Experience began to tell and Manley qualified with a 3-1 set victory in the decider. A 170 finish from Manley helping the 3rd seed's cause. The final match of the afternoon saw the number 6 seed, Dennis Smith go through 4-2 over Les Fitton however Fitton pushed the final set to the deciding leg, having the chance to go to the seventh set but Smith would go through.

Four matches took place in the evening, in the first Erik Clarys' run came to an end. The 2 time former world championship finalist Ronnie Baxter taking the match 4-2, however Clarys had levelled up at 2-2 from 2-0 behind. A 170 finish from Baxter began to put the pressure back on the Belgian as the match concluded. Then Bob Anderson, 16 years after his first world title began his push for a second title. In tremendous form, he took the first three sets, losing just three legs in the process to go 3-0 up on the 11th seed Andy Jenkins. Jenkins, took the fourth set 3-1 and got to 2-2 in the fifth before Anderson prevailed to book his place in the fourth round with an 84.69 average.

The big shock of the day and the entire event so far came in the third match of the evening. John Part's reign as Champion would come to an end as he lost 4-3 to Mark Dudbridge. Dudbridge, took the first two sets, 3-2 and 3-1 to open up a 2-0 lead. Part responded by showing glimpses of the form that beat Taylor a year ago to level the match up at 2-2. However Dudbridged nicked the fifth set by 3-2 to go 3-2 up and 1 leg away from the match. Part again responded, taking the sixth set 3-1 to level the match at 3 sets apiece.

The seventh set went into the tie-break when the pair became locked at 2-2 in legs. 2-2 became 3-3 as the 2nd seed tried desperately to hold onto his crown. However, Dudbridge would take the next two legs to decide the match as he went through to the fourth round. The drama of this match probably meant that another thriller was overlooked in Kevin Painter's 4-3 win over Paul Williams. Painter had gone 3-1 up playing great darts, however Williams had levelled up at 3-3. Painter would take the decider 3-1 to go through to the fourth round with an 88.62 average.

Day 4 - Tuesday 30 December

Seven more matches as the third round continued at the Circus Tavern. In the opening game of the afternoon session, Steve Beaton, the 1996 BDO World Champion knocked out Jamie Harvey 4-0. However 4-0 was a rough scoreline on Harvey, as Beaton took each set bar the opening set in deciding legs to break Bravedart's heart and go through. The next surprise in the World Championship came in the shape of the 1995 BDO World Champion Richie Burnett going out, 4-3 to Simon Whatley. Whatley holding his nerve in a tense sudden death leg, taking the final set 6-5 to knock out the 13th seed. Whatley now would face Roland Scholten or Lionel Sams in the fourth round. The final match of the afternoon would see the first of the home players in action. Colin Lloyd seeded 5 averaged 98.61 to go through 4-1 against Peter Evison. Lloyd had been particularly clinical, Evison taking the opening set 3-2, but Lloyd would take the remaining four with the loss of just one leg.

In the evening session, Steve Maish would go out to the other local hero; Dagenham's number 12 seed Wayne Mardle by four sets to two. Mardle who pushed Taylor to eight sets in their third round classic a year ago would take the final two sets after Maish had held his own. Mardle would now face Lloyd for a place in the quarter-finals. Then followed arguably the biggest surprise of the day; Roland Scholten would bow out 4-2 to Lionel Sams. Sams however would be relieved to hold on after squandering a 3 set lead and managing to take the 6 set by 3-1. Had Scholten managed to level at 3-3 then surely he would have been favourite to win the match.

The former world Champion, Phil Taylor would open up his quest to become the champion for the 11th time by quickly disposing of Colin McGarry. Taylor took the first two sets 3-0, and then the next two 3-1 to go through 4-0 dropping just two legs and averaging 98.89. - He would be now meeting old rival Dennis Priestley as the 16th seed went through with a tense 4-3 win over Richie Buckle.

Day 5 - New Year's Eve

With the increased number of days play, the tournament held two matches in the afternoon session on New Year's Eve. The first one saw a repeat of the 1993 world final, however John Lowe was unable to repeat the result. He had led 3-0 against Alan Warriner, but Warriner, quickly dropping down the rankings recovered to win the match 4-3, taking the final set with a 4-2 tie- break margin.

The final match of the third round saw the number 8 seed eliminated. Denis Ovens recovered from 2-0 and 3-1 down to level the match at 3-3. However Alex Roy would go through to the fourth round with a straight legs victory in the decider, winning through to meet Warriner in the last 16.

Day 6 - New Years Day

Following the traditional evening off for New Year's Eve, the World Championships started 2004 at the fourth round stage. In the last 16 matches were still best of 7 sets and all eight last 16 matches would be played today. Following the surprising results in the third round, just nine of the 16 seeds were remaining following the last 32 matches.

In the opening match of the day, Simon Whatley continued his run with a 4-1 win over Lionel Sams. Sams had taken the first set 3-2 but Whatley replied in kind, and then took 9 of the next 12 legs to book his place in Friday's quarter-final matches. Also heading through was Peter Manley, the highest remaining seed from the bottom half of the draw knocked out 1983 champion Keith Deller 4-2 however he had been made to work for his victory. Another 7 set thriller would be served up as Warriner moved through against Alex Roy. Warriner took the first six legs to go 2 sets up, Roy followed by taking 6 of the next 8 legs to level the match at 2-2. The tit-for-tat game continued as Warriner and Roy both took their next sets comfortably, the seventh set going to Alan by 3 legs to 0.

The 7th seed Ronnie Baxter was heading home, he lost 4-2 to Kevin Painter who hoped to reach the Semi-Finals for the second successive year. Painter, took 9 of the first 14 legs as he went 3-0 up; Baxter pinched the next two sets by 3 legs to 2 to close the gap to 1 set. However, this took a good deal out of Baxter and Painter strolled the sixth set to go through with a 91.38 average. Bob Anderson would also be going through to the quarter-finals, he was unstoppable in the early stages against Dennis Smith, taking a 3-1 lead over the number 6 seed. However Smith responded, taking the next two sets with the loss of three legs to level the match at 3 sets all. Like Baxter, Smith seemed jaded and Anderson took the decider 3-0 to go through to a match with Peter Manley.

In the Home player's duel Wayne Mardle and Colin Lloyd produced the match of the round, taking a 3-1 lead, Lloyd seemed to be cruising towards the quarter-finals, his best run in a major since the 2002 world championship. However, from 3-1 down, Mardle found a second wind, winning 9 of the last 11 legs to take him through to the quarter-finals, his first World Championship quarter-final in the PDC. In the battle of the old (and current) Masters, the top seed Taylor was given a stern test by Dennis Priestley. In a match played in a friendly spirit, Taylor bossed the first two sets before Priestley took the third. Taylor would edge the last two sets by 3 legs to 2 to win 4-1, however a 12-8 leg count doesn't do justice to the scoreline. - In the final match Part's conqueror Mark Dudbridge would go through a 4-1 winner over Steve Beaton.

Day 7 - Friday 2 January

Friday was quarter-finals day and matches had been extended to the best of 9 sets, the first men to reach 5 sets would now qualify for the last four.

The amazing run of form for Bob Anderson continued, Averaging just under 91, Anderson took the first two sets and when Manley levelled the scores took the next three to win the match 5-2 and go through to the Semi-Finals. In the other afternoon match it was the end of the road for Mark Dudbridge, Kevin Painter clinically winning 5-1 to book his match against Anderson.

In the evening session Simon Whatley would also be found out, he could take just six legs as Wayne Mardle booked his first ever PDC semi-final with a 5-1 win. His opponent would be Phil Taylor after 'The Power' took the first three sets in the grudge match against Alan Warriner, and went on to win by five sets to one averaging 98.26.

Day 8 - Saturday 3 January

A week ago 48 players lined up, now just four remained. Matches in the Semi-Finals had been extended to the best of 11 sets, however neither match went close.

In the first match, it was the end of the road for the 56 year old Bob Anderson. Kevin Painter took nine of the first 10 legs in opening up a three set lead against the man drained after impressive wins over Jenkins, Smith and Manley. Anderson recovered to 2-2 in both the 4th and 5th sets however he was unable to convert them into victories as Painter moved 5-0 up and within one of a place in the final Painter took the sixth set by 3-1 to go through to the final a 6-0 winner. Painter averaged 96.72 but Anderson could be proud of his run which had seen him eliminate three seeds and get within one match of a second world final an average of 87.69 for the tournament for the elder statesman of the game.

In the second semi-final Phil Taylor took control early on against Wayne Mardle who played well. After 4 sets Taylor was 4-0 up, however he had been fortunate as two sets had been won in deciders. Mardle got on the board in the fifth set by 3-2 and at 2-2 in the 6th was close to closing the gap to two sets. Taylor pinched the 6th however to go 5-1 up. Mardle replied by taking the 7th set but it delayed the inevitable, Taylor taking the match 6-2 with a 100.02 average.

Day 9 - Sunday 4 January

The final saw Phil Taylor up against Kevin Painter over the best of 13 sets. If the 2003 final had been a classic, this one lived up to its reputation. Painter took the opening two sets in deciding legs to go 2-0 up. At 2-2 in the third Painter had a chance to go 3-0 up but Taylor closed the gap. However Painter took the next two sets 3-1 and 3-2 meaning that like John Part a year ago he led Taylor 4-1 after five sets, at 2-2 in the sixth set Painter had his chances to lead 5-1. However Taylor recovered the sixth set and at the half way point the scoreline was 4-2 to Painter.

The 6th set possibly changed things in the context of the match. Painter, who could arguably have been 6-0 up by this point against the 10-time former world champion, now began to struggle and Taylor took the seventh set three-nil to close the gap to just the one set. Painter held onto the lead by pinching the 8th set in a deciding leg to go 5-3 up. However Taylor put on a spurt that saw him take 9 of the next 12 legs and to go in front by 6 sets to 5.

Painter responded brilliantly taking the twelfth set 3-1 to level the match up at 6-6. The match entered the tie-break in the 13th set and became the first PDC World Final to go to a sudden death leg as Painter and Taylor got level at 5-5 after almost four hours since the match began. Painter, who had thrown first in the set and twice was faced with a three-dart out-shot to win the title while leading 2-1 and 3-2, pulled his dart at the bullseye and Taylor hit the outer-bull to throw first in the deciding leg. Taylor opened up the leg with just 45, however Painter couldn't capitalise and was left on 316 after nine darts. He again rallied setting up another three-dart finish as Taylor eyed Double top. Taylor missed at Double top, then he missed at Double Ten and with unbearable tension, hit the Double five to secure his 11th world title. He then announced his retirement, but changed his mind four days later.

Results

  First Round   Second Round
 Canada Rory Orvis (81.99) 0    England Mark Holden (75.62) 0
 Northern Ireland Colin McGarry (88.59) 3    Northern Ireland Colin McGarry (86.22) 3
 England Ritchie Buckle (87.15) 3    United States Steve Brown (83.41) 0
 Netherlands Jan van der Rassel (83.76) 1    England Ritchie Buckle (91.71) 3
 United States Tony Payne (80.88) 0    England Cliff Lazarenko (80.52) 2
 England Steve Maish (89.52) 3    England Steve Maish (82.2) 3
 United States Dan Lauby (65.58) 0    England Mark Walsh (72.3) 0
 Belgium Erik Clarys (79.23) 3    Belgium Erik Clarys (79.2) 3
 Australia Barry Jouannet (75.51) 2    England Lionel Sams (85.83) 3
 Scotland Alex MacKay (85.38) 3    Scotland Alex MacKay (84.78) 2
 Wales Wayne Atwood (77.34) 3    England Mick Manning (80.61) 0
 Japan Toru Sano (66.15) 0    Wales Wayne Atwood (87.93) 3
 Guyana Norman Madhoo (81.12) 1    England Mark Dudbridge (81.99) 3
 England Steve Smith (83.25) 3    England Steve Smith (78.27) 0
 England Robbie Widdows (84.62) 2    England Simon Whatley (82.2) 3
 England Henry O'Neill (82.05) 3    England Henry O'Neill (81.87) 1
Third Round (best of 7 sets) Fourth Round (best of 9 sets) Quarter-Finals (best of 9 sets) Semi-Finals (best of 11 sets) Final (best of 13 sets)
               
1 England Phil Taylor (97.89) 4
Northern Ireland Colin McGarry (81.78) 0
1 England Phil Taylor (94.5) 4
16 England Dennis Priestley (87.06) 1
16 England Dennis Priestley (88.65) 4
England Ritchie Buckle (84.18) 3
1 England Phil Taylor (98.16) 5
9 England Alan Warriner (90.33) 1
9 England Alan Warriner (94.95) 4
England John Lowe (90.27) 3
9 England Alan Warriner (82.98) 4
England Alex Roy (85.32) 3
8 England Denis Ovens (85.71) 3
England Alex Roy (85.5) 4
1 England Phil Taylor (100.02) 6
12 England Wayne Mardle (95.88) 2
5 England Colin Lloyd (98.61) 4
England Peter Evison (78.72) 1
5 England Colin Lloyd (87.36) 3
12 England Wayne Mardle (91.2) 4
12 England Wayne Mardle (93.45) 4
England Steve Maish (87.09) 2
12 England Wayne Mardle (87.93) 5
England Simon Whatley (77.25) 1
13 Wales Richie Burnett (82.2) 3
England Simon Whatley (80.07) 4
England Simon Whatley (82.83) 4
England Lionel Sams (83.76) 1
4 Netherlands Roland Scholten (87.99) 2
England Lionel Sams (88.77) 4
1 England Phil Taylor (96.03) 7
10 England Kevin Painter (90.48) 6
3 England Peter Manley (89.34) 4
Wales Wayne Atwood (85.02) 3
3 England Peter Manley (94.02) 4
England Keith Deller (92.58) 2
14 England Dave Askew (75.33) 3
England Keith Deller (76.59) 4
3 England Peter Manley (89.88) 2
England Bob Anderson (90.9) 5
11 England Andy Jenkins (77.97) 1
England Bob Anderson (84.69) 4
England Bob Anderson (86.22) 4
6 England Dennis Smith (86.22) 3
6 England Dennis Smith (81.78) 4
England Les Fitton (82.32) 2
England Bob Anderson (88.95) 0
10 England Kevin Painter (90.27) 6
7 England Ronnie Baxter (86.85) 4
Belgium Erik Clarys (82.56) 2
7 England Ronnie Baxter (90.27) 2
10 England Kevin Painter (90.75) 4
10 England Kevin Painter (88.62) 4
England Paul Williams (82.47) 3
10 England Kevin Painter (90.27) 5
England Mark Dudbridge (83.37) 1
15 Scotland Jamie Harvey (78.99) 0
England Steve Beaton (87.57) 4
England Steve Beaton (78.33) 1
England Mark Dudbridge (85.23) 4
2 Canada John Part (90.09) 3
England Mark Dudbridge (88.98) 4

Highest three-dart checkout: 170 Peter Manley (1st Round), Ronnie Baxter (1st Round)

Tournament 180s scored: 312

Most 180s scored, individual: 32 Phil Taylor, 29 Kevin Painter, 27 Wayne Mardle, 19 Lionel Sams

External links

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