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UK Matchplay
SportDarts
Founded1993 (1993)
Ceased1996
CountryEngland
Venue(s)Chesterfield (1993)
Sheffield (1994)
Doncaster (1995-96)
Last
champion(s)		England Phil Taylor
(1996)
Tournament formatLegs
Quadro board

The WDC UK Matchplay was a professional darts tournament held from 1993 to 1996.[1] It was broadcast on ITV's Yorkshire Television and sponsored by Skol lager. It was one of a series of events established by the World Darts Council following the acrimonious split in darts between the WDC and the British Darts Organisation in 1993, which led to the WDC's 16 players being banned from darts competitions worldwide by the BDO and a four-year legal battle.[2][3] It is not to be confused with the PDC's World Matchplay event.

The tournament's innovation was the use of a Harrows "Quadro 240" dartboard, which had an extra scoring ring halfway between the treble ring and the bullseye that was worth quadruple points. Thus, the maximum number of points that could be scored in a single turn was 240, and the highest possible checkout was 210.[4] Several players, including Jocky Wilson, Phil Taylor, Shayne Burgess, Bob Anderson and Peter Evison, scored a 240 maximum in the event.[5][4][6] Bob Anderson checked out a 180 outshot in the 1994 final and Phil Taylor hit an outshot of 188 in the 1996 final.[4] The tournament also carried a £100,000 bonus prize for hitting a record seven-dart finish.[7] No one achieved this,[8] though John Lowe came within one dart of a nine-dart finish in the 1993 event.

Finals

Year Winner Score Runner Up Total prize fund Winner's share Venue Source
1993 England Dennis Priestley 6–1 (legs) Scotland Jocky Wilson £17,000 £5,000 Aquarius Club, Chesterfield [9]
1994 England Dennis Priestley 7–5 England Bob Anderson £23,000 £5,000 Utilita Arena, Sheffield [10]
1995 England Alan Warriner 6–4 England Rod Harrington £23,000 £5,000 The Dome, Doncaster [11]
1996 England Phil Taylor 6–2 England Dennis Priestley £23,000 £5,000 The Dome, Doncaster [12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Nigel Boeg (2021). PDC Darts (2nd ed.). BookRix. ISBN 9783748770367.
  2. ^ "History of Darts". pdpa.co.uk.
  3. ^ "25 Years On - The WDC's First Event". pdc.tv.
  4. ^ a b c "The Quadro 240". patrickchaplin.com.
  5. ^ "Master Warriner". Hull Daily Mail. 11 March 1995.
  6. ^ "Skol title KO for Staffs pair". Sheffield Star Green 'Un. 13 March 1993.
  7. ^ "Seven-up the target for Phil". Evening Sentinel. 12 March 1993.
  8. ^ "The dartboard has had lots of variations over the years". Darts Weekly. No. 54. 13 January 2017. p. 12.
  9. ^ "UK Matchplay 1993". Mastercaller. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  10. ^ "UK Matchplay 1994". Mastercaller. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  11. ^ "UK Matchplay 1995". Mastercaller. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  12. ^ "UK Matchplay 1996". Mastercaller. Retrieved 15 February 2023.

External links

Professional Darts Corporation
Categories