1994 WDC World Darts Championship

 Dennis Priestley Champion(s) Dennis Priestley
1995»
Darts tournament

The 1994 Skol World Darts Championship was held following 18 months of controversy within the sport of darts. After the 1993 Embassy World Championships, several players decided it was time to part company with the British Darts Organisation (who had always organised the World Championship) and form their own organisation. The new organisation was known as the World Darts Council (WDC). The WDC would later become the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

The WDC decided to introduce their own separate World Championship, with the inaugural tournament being staged before the BDO version. The 1994 Championship started on 28 December 1993, and finished on 2 January 1994.[1] This started a tradition for the WDC/PDC World Championship to kick off before the new calendar year begins. The tournament was staged at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet, Essex.

Dennis Priestley became the first WDC World Darts Champion, winning the final 6–1 against Phil Taylor to add to his 6–0 whitewash victory over Eric Bristow in the 1991 World Championship.[2] 1994 was the last time that Phil Taylor would fail to win the World Championship until 2003.

The 16 defectors

Originally 16 players "defected" from the BDO to form the WDC/PDC – Phil Taylor, Dennis Priestley, Rod Harrington, Alan Warriner, Peter Evison, Richie Gardner, Jocky Wilson, Eric Bristow, Keith Deller, John Lowe, Bob Anderson, Cliff Lazarenko, Kevin Spiolek, Jamie Harvey, Mike Gregory and Chris Johns.

However, Johns and Gregory returned to the BDO without ever competing at the PDC World Championship. They were replaced with Graeme Stoddart and Kevin Burrows and the field was brought up to 24 by adding eight players who are Larry Butler, Sean Downs, Gerald Verrier, Jerry Umberger, Jim Watkins, Dave Kelly and Steve Brown from North America and Tom Kirby of Ireland.

Tournament and format

There were 24 players involved and the tournament featured an unusual round-robin format. The players were put into groups of three where the order of play was thus:

  • Player A v player B
  • Loser of match 1 v player C
  • Winner of match 1 v player C

This was done so that there would usually always be something to play for in the last group game.

The group winner would progress to the quarter-finals (best of seven sets) and the tournament then became a straight knock-out event. The semi-finals were the best of 9 sets and the final was best of 11 sets.

Seeds

  1. England Dennis Priestley
  2. England Alan Warriner
  3. England Bob Anderson
  4. England Peter Evison
  5. England Rod Harrington
  6. England Phil Taylor
  7. England Kevin Spiolek
  8. England John Lowe

Prize money

The prize money for the tournament was £64,000 – significantly less than the 1994 BDO World Championship which featured a £136,100 prize fund.[3]

Position (num. of players) Prize money
(Total: £64,000) 		BDO equivalent
prize money
(Total: £136,000)
Winner (1) £16,000 £32,000
Runner-Up (1) £8,000 £16,000
Third place (1) £5,000 £7,700
Fourth place (1) £3,000 £7,700
Quarter-finalists (4) £2,500 £3,800
Second place in group (8) £1,500 £2,800 (Last 16)
Third place in group (8) £1,250 £1,900 (Last 32)

Tournament review

Group stage

The majority of the major players came through the group stage without trouble. Phil Taylor eased past Jamie Harvey 3–1, and Jim Watkins 3–0 to win Group 1, while 1988 World Champion, Bob Anderson, cruised into the quarter-finals for a showdown against Taylor, after a series of 3–0 wins against Americans Gerald Verrier and Dave Kelly. But there was room for an American to upset the odds, as Steve Brown, surprisingly, took Group 3, with wins against 1983 champion Keith Deller and Kevin Spiolek. Alan Warriner would go through to meet him after a couple of 3–1 wins against Richie Gardner and Cliff Lazarenko. Peter Evison showed no signs of discomfort, with consecutive 3–0 wins over Jerry Umberger and Kevin Burrows, and two 90-plus averages to go with it; the second of which, 97.56, would be the highest three-dart average in the tournament.[4] Rod Harrington also went through after winning group 6, though not without difficulty. After a 3–1 win over five time World Champion, Eric Bristow, he narrowly defeated Sean Downs by 3 sets to 2 to go through to the last 8. Group 7 would see three-time champion John Lowe bow out, who narrowed missed out in a tight group, which saw Tom Kirby from Ireland book a quarter-final place, despite suffering defeat in his opening match to Lowe. A 3–1 win over American Larry Butler, and Lowe's 3–2 loss to Butler, ensured the Irishmen's advancement. He would be up against Dennis Priestley, after the Yorkshireman saw off Jocky Wilson 3–2 and Graeme Stoddart 3–0 to book a quarter-final place.

Quarter-finals

In a battle of two former world champions, Phil Taylor defeated Bob Anderson 4–2. Steve Brown upset the odds again to defeat 1993 runner-up Alan Warriner 4–3 and book a meeting with Taylor in the semi-finals. Peter Evison continued his good form, recording another 90-plus three-dart average while beating Rod Harrington 4–1, while Dennis Priestley ended the run of Tom Kirby with a 4–2 win.

Semi-finals and third-place play-off

Brown's dream run finally ended in the semi-finals, as Taylor beat him 5–0 to reach his third world final. The scoreline seemed harsh on Brown, however, as both players finished with the same three-dart average (91.20). In the other semi-final, Priestley beat Evison 5–3, thus reaching his second world final. Brown capped off his impressive run in fine style, beating Evison 5–1 in the third-place play-off.[5]

Final

The final turned out to be a one-sided affair, with Taylor rarely giving Priestley any trouble at all. Priestley raced into a 5–0 lead, and eventually won 6–1 to take his second world title.

Results

Group stage

Group A

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1 England (1) Dennis Priestley 2 2 0 6 2 +4 4
2 England Graeme Stoddart 2 1 1 3 4 −1 2
3 Scotland Jocky Wilson 2 0 2 3 6 −3 0

26 December

95.24 (1) Dennis Priestley England 3 – 2 Scotland Jocky Wilson 94.39

27 December

77.24 Jocky Wilson Scotland 1 – 3 England Graeme Stoddart 78.20

28 December

86.25 (1) Dennis Priestley England 3 – 0 England Graeme Stoddart 86.80


Group B

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1 Republic of Ireland Tom Kirby 2 1 1 5 4 +1 2
2 England (8) John Lowe 2 1 1 5 5 0 2
3 United States Larry Butler 2 1 1 4 5 –1 2

26 December

89.95 (8) John Lowe England 3 – 2 Republic of Ireland Tom Kirby 87.68

27 December

89.18 Larry Butler United States 1 – 3 Republic of Ireland Tom Kirby 88.47

28 December

82.86 (8) John Lowe England 2 – 3 United States Larry Butler 81.24

Group C

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1 England (5) Rod Harrington 2 2 0 6 3 +3 4
2 England Eric Bristow 2 1 1 4 5 −1 2
3 United States Sean Downs 2 0 2 4 6 −2 0

26 December

89.23 (5) Rod Harrington England 3 – 1 England Eric Bristow 78.62

27 December

82.19 Eric Bristow England 3 – 2 United States Sean Downs 79.37

28 December

90.59 (5) Rod Harrington England 3 – 2 United States Sean Downs 83.88


Group D

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1 England (4) Peter Evison 2 2 0 6 0 +6 4
2 United States Jerry Umberger 2 1 1 3 3 0 2
3 England Kevin Burrows 2 0 2 0 6 −6 0

26 December

93.40 (4) Peter Evison England 3 – 0 United States Jerry Umberger 81.08

27 December

77.04 Kevin Burrows England 0 – 3 United States Jerry Umberger 81.06

28 December

97.55 (4) Peter Evison England 3 – 0 England Kevin Burrows 87.58

Group E

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1 England (3) Bob Anderson 2 2 0 6 0 +6 4
2 United States Gerald Verrier 2 1 1 3 3 0 2
3 United States Dave Kelly 2 0 2 0 6 −6 0

26 December

86.97 (3) Bob Anderson England 3 – 0 United States Gerald Verrier 82.90

27 December

72.44 Dave Kelly United States 0 – 3 United States Gerald Verrier 74.43

28 December

83.44 (3) Bob Anderson England 3 – 0 United States Dave Kelly 75.04


Group F

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1 England (6) Phil Taylor 2 2 0 6 1 +5 4
2 United States Jim Watkins 2 1 1 3 5 −2 2
3 Scotland Jamie Harvey 2 0 2 3 6 −3 0

26 December

92.57 (6) Phil Taylor England 3 – 1 Scotland Jamie Harvey 90.71

27 December

91.36 Jamie Harvey Scotland 2 – 3 United States Jim Watkins 87.91

28 December

80.50 (6) Phil Taylor England 3 – 0 United States Jim Watkins 78.00

Group G

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1 United States Steve Brown 2 2 0 6 1 +5 4
2 England (7) Kevin Spiolek 2 1 1 3 4 −1 2
3 England Keith Deller 2 0 2 2 6 −4 0

26 December

85.49 (7) Kevin Spiolek England 3 – 1 England Keith Deller 88.54

27 December

85.92 Steve Brown United States 3 – 1 England Keith Deller 84.57

28 December

84.05 (7) Kevin Spiolek England 0 – 3 United States Steve Brown 92.60


Group H

Pos Player P W L SF SA +/- Pts
1 England (2) Alan Warriner 2 2 0 6 2 +4 4
2 England Ritchie Gardner 2 1 1 4 4 0 2
3 England Cliff Lazarenko 2 0 2 2 6 −4 0

26 December

87.93 (2) Alan Warriner England 3 – 1 England Ritchie Gardner 81.00

27 December

75.43 Ritchie Gardner England 3 – 1 England Cliff Lazarenko 77.63

28 December

85.76 (2) Alan Warriner England 3 – 1 England Cliff Lazarenko 85.57

Knockout stages

Quarter-finals (best of 7 sets)
29 December[4][6] 		Semi-finals (best of 9 sets)
1 January 		Final (best of 11 sets)
2 January
         
A1 England Dennis Priestley (1) 90.92 4
B1 Republic of Ireland Tom Kirby 84.02 2
A1 England Dennis Priestley (1) 89.56 5
D1 England Peter Evison (4) 82.44 3
C1 England Rod Harrington (5) 89.36 1
D1 England Peter Evison (4) 88.80 4
A1 England Dennis Priestley (1) 94.38 6
F1 England Phil Taylor (6) 85.62 1
E1 England Bob Anderson (3) 90.73 2
F1 England Phil Taylor (6) 90.22 4
F1 England Phil Taylor (6) 91.20 5 Third-place play-off (best of 9 sets)
G1 United States Steve Brown 89.55 0
H1 United States Steve Brown 88.12 4 D1 England Peter Evison (4) 84.48 1
G1 England Alan Warriner (2) 87.69 3 G1 United States Steve Brown 89.04 5

References

  1. ^ Massarik, Jack (29 December 1993). "Darts: Darts elite look to Circus in split world - Jack Massarik reports from Purfleet on the best and worst of the breakaway championship". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Priestley collects WDC title". The Times. 3 January 1994. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Prize money breakdown". dartsdatabase. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
  4. ^ a b "Averages all rounds". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Sport (Newslines): Shock as Beaton is beaten". The Observer. 2 January 1994. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Flag Reference Quarter-finals onwards". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 December 2014.