1997 WDC World Darts Championship explained

Seeds

Prize money

Results

Representation from different countries

References

Preliminary round

Group Stages

Knockout stages

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Tournament Name:	1997 Red Band World Darts Championship
Dates:	29 December 1996 – 5 January 1997
Venue:	Circus Tavern
Location:	Purfleet
Organisation:	PDC (WDC)
Format:	Sets Final – best of 11
Prize Fund:	£99,500
Winners Share:	£45,000
Winner:
Prev:	1996
Next:	1998

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.

The prize fund was £99,500.

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

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

width=35px		Player	Score	Player	width=35px
align=center	85.89	align=right	Ritchie Gardner	align=center	3 – 1	Dave Kelly	align=center	78.20
align=center	90.00	align=right	Paul Lim	align=center	3 – 2	Tom Kirby	align=center	83.00
align=center	95.05	align=right	Chris Mason	align=center	3 – 0	Peter Manley	align=center	89.10
align=center	101.89	align=right	Gary Mawson	align=center	3 – 1	Harry Robinson	align=center	87.33
align=center	75.21	align=right	Graeme Stoddart	align=center	3 – 1	Paul Knighton	align=center	51.83
align=center	79.44	align=right	Steve Raw	align=center	3 – 2	Jason Lucas	align=center	60.10
align=center	93.99	align=right	Dennis Smith	align=center	3 – 0	Jerry Umberger	align=center	50.01
align=center	73.45	align=right	Sean Downs	align=center	3 – 2	Tony Holyoake	align=center	69.47

width=20	Pos	width=168	Player	width=3	P	width=3	W	width=3	L	width=20	SF	width=20	SA	width=20	+/−	width=20	Pts
1		2	1	1	4	4	0	2
2		2	1	1	4	4	0	2
3		2	1	1	4	4	0	2

Bristow qualified with a higher tournament average.

29 December–1 January

width=223		width=100	width=223
	1 – 3	Eric Bristow 87.47
80.06 (3) Bob Anderson	3 – 1	Gary Mawson 78.63
	1 – 3	Gary Mawson 80.96

width=20	Pos	width=168	Player	width=3	P	width=3	W	width=3	L	width=20	SF	width=20	SA	width=20	+/−	width=20	Pts
1		2	2	0	6	2	+4	4
2		2	1	1	4	4	0	2
3		2	0	2	2	6	–4	0

29 December–1 January

width=223		width=100	width=223
86.01 (6) Alan Warriner	3 – 1	Larry Butler 80.73
87.89 Graeme Stoddart	3 – 1	Larry Butler 80.58
91.07 (6) Alan Warriner	3 – 1	Graeme Stoddart 86.96

width=20	Pos	width=168	Player	width=3	P	width=3	W	width=3	L	width=20	SF	width=20	SA	width=20	+/−	width=20	Pts
1		2	2	0	6	2	+4	4
2		2	1	1	5	3	+2	2
3		2	0	2	0	6	−6	0

29 December–1 January

width=223		width=100	width=223
83.49 (7) Keith Deller	3 – 0	Kevin Spiolek 75.97
82.18 Dennis Smith	3 – 0	Kevin Spiolek 69.06
83.79 (7) Keith Deller	3 – 2	Dennis Smith 85.71

width=20	Pos	width=168	Player	width=3	P	width=3	W	width=3	L	width=20	SF	width=20	SA	width=20	+/−	width=20	Pts
1		2	2	0	6	0	+6	4
2	Gerald Verrier	2	1	1	3	4	−1	2
3		2	0	2	1	6	−5	0

29 December–1 January

width=223		width=100	width=223
90.18 (2) Phil Taylor	3 – 0	Chris Mason 79.96
84.54 Gerald Verrier	3 – 1	Chris Mason 80.04
87.83 (2) Phil Taylor	3 – 0	Gerald Verrier 76.10

width=20	Pos	width=168	Player	width=3	P	width=3	W	width=3	L	width=20	SF	width=20	SA	width=20	+/−	width=20	Pts
1		2	2	0	6	1	+5	4
2	Steve Raw	2	1	1	4	4	0	2
3		2	0	2	1	6	−5	0

29 December–1 January

width=223		width=100	width=223
88.77 (4) Peter Evison	3 – 1	Steve Raw 82.07
	1 – 3	Steve Raw 78.75
92.02 (4) Peter Evison	3 – 0	Cliff Lazarenko 73.49

width=20	Pos	width=168	Player	width=3	P	width=3	W	width=3	L	width=20	SF	width=20	SA	width=20	+/−	width=20	Pts
1		2	2	0	6	4	+2	4
2		2	1	1	5	4	+1	2
3		2	0	2	3	6	−3	0

29 December–1 January

width=223		width=100	width=223
87.34 (5) Jamie Harvey	3 – 2	Paul Lim 87.75
83.45 John Lowe	3 – 1	Paul Lim 82.73
82.00 (5) Jamie Harvey	3 – 2	John Lowe 81.18

width=20	Pos	width=168	Player	width=3	P	width=3	W	width=3	L	width=20	SF	width=20	SA	width=20	+/−	width=20	Pts
1		2	1	1	5	4	+1	2
2		2	1	1	4	4	0	2
3		2	1	1	4	5	−1	2

29 December–1 January

width=223		width=100	width=223
	2 – 3	Shayne Burgess 83.82
80.54 (8) Rod Harrington	3 – 1	Sean Downs 76.52
	1 – 3	Sean Downs 82.85

width=20	Pos	width=168	Player	width=3	P	width=3	W	width=3	L	width=20	SF	width=20	SA	width=20	+/−	width=20	Pts
1		2	2	0	6	1	+5	4
2		2	1	1	3	5	–2	2
3		2	0	2	3	6	−3	0

29 December–1 January

width=223		width=100	width=223
90.98 (1) Dennis Priestley	3 – 0	Steve Brown 84.33
	2 – 3	Steve Brown 80.19
88.41 (1) Dennis Priestley	3 – 1	Ritchie Gardner 81.26

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.

Group Stages

Web site: Darts Database. Database of Darts Results Players and Statistics. www.dartsdatabase.co.uk. 28 December 2017. 21 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181021190817/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/AboutUs.aspx. dead.