2008 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts
Winner
Phil Taylor
Runner-up
James Wade
Score
16–8
Date
31 January–26 May 2008
Edition
4th
Number of players
8
Venues
15
Premier League Darts
< 2007 | 2008 | 2009 >

The 2008 Whyte & Mackay Premier League was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The prize money was increased by £75,000 compared to 2007. The overall fund was £340,000 with the eventual winner taking home £100,000.

Phil Taylor continued his dominance of this tournament by taking the title for the fourth year in a row despite losing for the first time in 44 matches, losing the opening game 8–6 to newcomer James Wade and going on to lose twice more in his first four matches. Taylor beat Wade 16–8 in the final.

Sky Sports secured television coverage of the event until 2010, and Whyte & Mackay sponsored the tournament for the same duration – taking over from Holsten who sponsored the event in 2006 and 2007.^[1]

Qualifiers

The World Grand Prix in October 2007 was the cut-off point for automatic qualification for the event. The top six players in the World Rankings after the tournament received an automatic place in the Premier League. The qualifiers were thus:

• Phil Taylor
• Raymond van Barneveld
• James Wade
• Terry Jenkins
• Peter Manley
• Adrian Lewis
• John Part (PDC wildcard)
• Wayne Mardle (Sky Sports wildcard)

Venues

Fifteen venues were used for the 2008 Premier League, including a first trip to Northern Ireland for a night in Belfast.

Glasgow

Plymouth

Manchester

Coventry

Bournemouth

Nottingham

Sheffield

Brighton

Birmingham

Aberdeen

Liverpool

London

Belfast

Newcastle

Cardiff

Locations of the 2008 Premier League venues in the United Kingdom.

Glasgow	Plymouth	Manchester	Coventry	Bournemouth
SECC 31 January	Plymouth Pavilions 7 February	MEN Arena 14 February	Ricoh Arena 21 February	Bournemouth International Centre 28 February
Nottingham	Sheffield	Brighton	Birmingham	Aberdeen
Trent FM Arena 6 March	Sheffield Arena 13 March	Brighton Centre 20 March	National Indoor Arena 27 March	AECC 3 April
Liverpool	London	Belfast	Newcastle	Cardiff
Echo Arena Liverpool 10 April	Wembley Arena 17 April	Odyssey Arena 24 April	Metro Radio Arena 1 May	Cardiff International Arena 26 May

Prize money

The prize fund increases for 2008 – with the top prize of £100,000 matching the amount that the 2008 PDC World Champion received. The guaranteed prize for reaching the Premier League is now £20,000.

Results

League stage

31 January – week 1[edit] SECC, Glasgow Player Legs Player Raymond van Barneveld 91.24 8 – 4 Wayne Mardle 90.91 Adrian Lewis 87.97 8 – 5 Terry Jenkins 86.76 Peter Manley 90.90 7 – 7 John Part 94.33 Phil Taylor 93.76 6 – 8 James Wade 94.77 High Checkout: John Part 157

7 February – week 2[edit] Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth Player Legs Player John Part 91.81 4 – 8 Raymond van Barneveld 94.34 James Wade 88.29 8 – 6 Terry Jenkins 89.34 Phil Taylor 95.71 8 – 4 Adrian Lewis 96.79 Peter Manley 94.47 7 – 7 Wayne Mardle 96.12 High Checkout: Terry Jenkins 104

14 February – week 3[edit] MEN Arena, Manchester Player Legs Player Terry Jenkins 96.49 8 – 5 Phil Taylor 96.76 Raymond van Barneveld 96.58 8 – 4 Peter Manley 91.56 Wayne Mardle 91.35 6 – 8 John Part 95.90 Adrian Lewis 93.81 7 – 7 James Wade 92.09 High Checkout: Adrian Lewis 146

21 February – Week 4[edit] Ricoh Arena, Coventry Player Legs Player John Part 88.57 4 – 8 James Wade 96.51 Wayne Mardle 84.92 6 – 8 Adrian Lewis 91.70 Peter Manley 102.02 8 – 3 Phil Taylor 94.96 Terry Jenkins 92.51 8 – 5 Raymond van Barneveld 91.88 High Checkout: Terry Jenkins 156

28 February – Week 5[edit] Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth Player Legs Player Adrian Lewis 84.17 7 – 7 Peter Manley 85.70 Phil Taylor 96.97 8 – 0 Wayne Mardle 88.43 James Wade 89.54 6 – 8 Raymond van Barneveld 91.09 John Part 95.66 2 – 8 Terry Jenkins 98.28 High Checkout: Peter Manley 160

6 March – Week 6[edit] Trent FM Arena, Nottingham Player Legs Player Wayne Mardle 91.92 7 – 7 James Wade 92.61 Adrian Lewis 85.58 6 – 8 John Part 85.20 Terry Jenkins 93.28 7 – 7 Peter Manley 87.75 Raymond van Barneveld 94.10 3 – 8 Phil Taylor 111.14 High Checkout: Phil Taylor 167

13 March – Week 7[edit] Sheffield Arena, Sheffield Player Legs Player Wayne Mardle 88.68 8 – 5 Terry Jenkins 91.08 James Wade 97.60 8 – 5 Peter Manley 91.53 Raymond van Barneveld 93.42 8 – 2 Adrian Lewis 87.64 Phil Taylor 107.39 8 – 3 John Part 102.74 High Checkout: Phil Taylor 164

20 March – Week 8[edit] Brighton Centre, Brighton Player Legs Player Terry Jenkins 96.43 3 – 8 Adrian Lewis 101.81 Wayne Mardle 94.88 8 – 5 Raymond van Barneveld 94.78 John Part 96.68 8 – 5 Peter Manley 90.88 James Wade 102.13 4 – 8 Phil Taylor 104.45 High Checkout: Phil Taylor 164

27 March – Week 9[edit] National Indoor Arena, Birmingham Player Legs Player Terry Jenkins 88.63 4 – 8 James Wade 101.77 Raymond van Barneveld 93.38 8 – 6 John Part 89.33 Wayne Mardle 89.30 8 – 5 Peter Manley 90.90 Phil Taylor 101.41 7 – 7 Terry Jenkins 92.46 High Checkout: Wayne Mardle 114 † = Terry Jenkins replaced Adrian Lewis on 27 March show against Phil Taylor because Lewis was too ill to play. The next week, Lewis played his match against Taylor and James Wade, giving Jenkins the night off.

3 April – week 10[edit] AECC, Aberdeen Player Legs Player Adrian Lewis 89.11 3 – 8 Phil Taylor 104.38 Peter Manley 88.99 8 – 6 Raymond van Barneveld 93.40 John Part 94.89 5 – 8 Wayne Mardle 98.35 James Wade 103.15 8 – 1 Adrian Lewis 76.09 High Checkout: James Wade 121

10 April – week 11[edit] Echo Arena, Liverpool Player Legs Player James Wade 101.45 8 – 5 Wayne Mardle 97.57 John Part 92.33 2 – 8 Adrian Lewis 98.96 Peter Manley 102.96 8 – 5 Terry Jenkins 98.74 Phil Taylor 103.02 8 – 2 Raymond van Barneveld 94.96 High Checkout: Adrian Lewis 170

17 April – week 12[edit] Wembley Arena, London Player Legs Player Terry Jenkins 83.84 7 – 7 Wayne Mardle 85.61 Peter Manley 89.67 6 – 8 James Wade 92.61 Adrian Lewis 96.25 4 – 8 Raymond van Barneveld 92.59 John Part 103.66 3 – 8 Phil Taylor 111.74 High Checkout: Phil Taylor 139

24 April – week 13[edit] Odyssey Arena, Belfast Player Legs Player Peter Manley 89.79 7 – 7 Adrian Lewis 91.04 Wayne Mardle 85.54 1 – 8 Phil Taylor 107.21 Raymond van Barneveld 98.81 8 – 6 James Wade 93.86 Terry Jenkins 93.13 5 – 8 John Part 92.50 High Checkout: Terry Jenkins 161

1 May – week 14[edit] Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne Player Legs Player James Wade 95.32 8 – 5 John Part 97.68 Raymond van Barneveld 93.51 8 – 1 Terry Jenkins 81.16 Adrian Lewis 92.23 7 – 7 Wayne Mardle 87.75 Phil Taylor 107.21 8 – 1 Peter Manley 101.59 High Checkout: Phil Taylor 167

Play-offs – 26 May

Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff

	Score
Semi-finals (best of 21 legs)
Phil Taylor 112.68	11 – 1	Adrian Lewis 97.33
James Wade 89.62	11 – 8	Raymond van Barneveld 90.65
Final (best of 31 legs)
Phil Taylor 108.36	16 – 8	James Wade 100.14
High Checkout: n/a

Table and Streaks

Table

Pos	Name	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	LF	LA	+/-	LWAT	100+	140+	180s	A	HC
1	Phil Taylor W	14	10	1	3	21	101	55	+46	31	208	133	46	102.58	167
2	James Wade RU	14	9	2	3	20	102	76	+26	40	255	145	42	95.84	161
3	Raymond van Barneveld	14	9	0	5	18	93	77	+16	37	213	111	35	93.77	157
4	Adrian Lewis	14	4	4	6	12	80	92	−12	30	197	102	38	90.94	170
5	Wayne Mardle	14	4	4	6	12	82	96	−14	31	218	139	32	90.76	123
6	Peter Manley	14	3	5	6	11	85	97	−12	30	288	147	21	92.84	160
7	Terry Jenkins	14	3	3	8	9	79	97	−18	23	269	109	28	91.72	161
8	John Part	14	4	1	9	9	73	101	−28	28	190	116	31	94.38	157

NB: LWAT = Legs Won Against Throw. Players separated by +/- leg difference if tied.

Streaks

Player	Week																Play-offs
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		10		11	12	13	14	SF	F
Phil Taylor	L	W	L	L	W	W	W	W	D		W		W	W	W	W	W	W
James Wade	W	W	D	W	L	D	W	L	W		W		W	W	L	W	W	L
Raymond van Barneveld	W	W	W	L	W	L	W	L	W		L		L	W	W	W	L	—
Adrian Lewis	W	L	D	W	D	L	L	W	—		L	L	W	L	D	D	L
Wayne Mardle	L	D	L	L	L	D	W	W	W		W		L	D	L	D	—
Peter Manley	D	D	L	W	D	D	L	L	L		W		W	L	D	L
Terry Jenkins	L	L	W	W	W	D	L	L	L	D	—		L	D	L	L
John Part	D	L	W	L	L	W	L	W	L		L		L	L	W	L

NB: W = Won D = Drawn L = Lost N/A = Did Not Play

Player statistics

The following statistics are for the league stage only. Playoffs are not included.

Phil Taylor

• Longest unbeaten run: 10
• Most consecutive wins: 5
• Most consecutive draws: 1
• Most consecutive losses: 2
• Longest without a win: 2
• Biggest victory: 8-0 (v. Wayne Mardle)
• Biggest defeat: 3-8 (v. Peter Manley)

James Wade

• Longest unbeaten run: 4
• Most consecutive wins: 4
• Most consecutive draws: 1
• Most consecutive losses: 1
• Longest without a win: 2
• Biggest victory: 8-1 (v. Adrian Lewis)
• Biggest defeat: 4-8 (v. Phil Taylor)

Raymond van Barneveld

• Longest unbeaten run: 3
• Most consecutive wins: 3
• Most consecutive draws: 0
• Most consecutive losses: 2
• Longest without a win: 2
• Biggest victory: 8-1 (v. Terry Jenkins)
• Biggest defeat: 2-8 (v. Phil Taylor)

Adrian Lewis

• Longest unbeaten run: 3
• Most consecutive wins: 1
• Most consecutive draws: 2
• Most consecutive losses: 2
• Longest without a win: 3
• Biggest victory: 8-2 (v. John Part)
• Biggest defeat: 1-8 (v. James Wade)

Wayne Mardle

• Longest unbeaten run: 5
• Most consecutive wins: 4
• Most consecutive draws: 1
• Most consecutive losses: 3
• Longest without a win: 6
• Biggest victory: 8-5 (v. Terry Jenkins, v. Raymond van Barneveld, v. Peter Manley and v. John Part)
• Biggest defeat: 0-8 (v. Phil Taylor)

Peter Manley

• Longest unbeaten run: 3
• Most consecutive wins: 2
• Most consecutive draws: 2
• Most consecutive losses: 3
• Longest without a win: 5
• Biggest victory: 8-3 (v. Phil Taylor)
• Biggest defeat: 1-8 (v. Phil Taylor)

Terry Jenkins

• Longest unbeaten run: 4
• Most consecutive wins: 3
• Most consecutive draws: 1
• Most consecutive losses: 3
• Longest without a win: 9
• Biggest victory: 8-2 (v. John Part)
• Biggest defeat: 1-8 (v. Raymond van Barneveld)

John Part

• Longest unbeaten run: 1
• Most consecutive wins: 1
• Most consecutive draws: 1
• Most consecutive losses: 4
• Longest without a win: 4
• Biggest victory: 8-5 (v. Peter Manley and v. Terry Jenkins)
• Biggest defeat: 2-8 (v. Terry Jenkins and v. Adrian Lewis)