1981 BDO World Darts Championship

The 1981 Embassy World Darts Championship was the fourth year that the British Darts Organisation had staged a world championship. The field was expanded from 24 to 32 players, the format which would remain for many years. For the third successive year the tournament was staged at Jollees Cabaret Club in Stoke-on-Trent.

1981 Embassy World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Dates	10–17 January 1981
Venue	Jollees Cabaret Club[1]
Location	Stoke-on-Trent
Country	England
Organisation(s)	BDO
Format	Sets Final – best of 9
Prize fund	£23,300
Winner's share	£5,500
High checkout	170 Tony Brown
Champion(s)
Eric Bristow[2]
«1980 1982»

Eric Bristow was back to defend his title and would face John Lowe the champion of two years previously in the final. The final was the best of nine sets, but there was a break scheduled after three sets where the third-fourth place play-off match would be held.

Lowe ran away with the first two sets without dropping a leg and took the first leg in the third set before Bristow finally got onto the scoreboard. The "Crafty Cockney" held on to take that third set to go into the break just one set behind. As in the previous year's final, Bristow edged ahead to lead 4-3 in sets and Lowe (as Bobby George did in 1980) had darts to take the match into a final set. However Lowe missed three attempts at double ten and Bristow took out double four to win the title for the second year running.

Seeds

1. Eric Bristow
2. Tony Brown
3. John Lowe
4. Bobby George
5. Cliff Lazarenko
6. Ceri Morgan
7. Jocky Wilson
8. Nicky Virachkul
9. Rab Smith
10. Stefan Lord
11. Leighton Rees
12. Len Heard
13. Bill Lennard
14. Allan Hogg
15. Luc Marreel
16. Dave Whitcombe

Prize money

The prize fund was £22,800.

Champion: £5,500

Runner-Up: £2,500

3rd Place: £600

Semi-Finalists (2): £1,200

Quarter-Finalists (4): £750

Last 16 (8): £500

Last 32 (16): £300

There was also a 9 Dart Checkout prize of £52,000, along with a High Checkout prize of £500.

Results

	First Round (best of 3 sets)					Second round (best of 3)					Quarter-Finals (best of 7)					Semi-Finals (best of 7)					Final (best of 9)
	1	Eric Bristow (94.8)	2
		Terry O'Dea (82.2)	0
						1	Eric Bristow (84.9)	2
						16	Dave Whitcombe (79.2)	0
	16	Dave Whitcombe (87.9)	2
		Charlie Ellix (72)	0
											1	Eric Bristow (90.3)	4
											8	Nicky Virachkul (79.2)	0
	8	Nicky Virachkul (83.4)	2
		Tony Sontag (84.9)	1
						8	Nicky Virachkul (79.5)	2
						9	Rab Smith (81.3)	0
	9	Rab Smith (87)	2
		Wayne Lock (78.6)	1
																1	Eric Bristow (89.4)	4
																5	Cliff Lazarenko (83.4)	1
	5	Cliff Lazarenko (78.3)	2
		Alan Hudson (57.9)	0
						5	Cliff Lazarenko (95.1)	2
							Jerry Umberger (77.7)	0
	12	Len Heard (65.7)	0
		Jerry Umberger (80.4)	2
											5	Cliff Lazarenko (86.7)	4
											4	Bobby George (81.9)	0
	4	Bobby George (86.4)	2
		Alistair Forrester (75.3)	0
						4	Bobby George (80.7)	2
							Tony Clark (75)	0
	13	Bill Lennard (79.8)	1
		Tony Clark (81.6)	2
																					1	Eric Bristow (86.1)	5
																					3	John Lowe (81)	3
	2	Tony Brown (82.5)	2
		Paul Gosling (79.5)	1
						2	Tony Brown (78.9)	2
						15	Luc Marreel (76.8)	0
	15	Luc Marreel (74.7)	2
		Jan Larsen (65.4)	1
											2	Tony Brown (78)	4
											7	Jocky Wilson (73.2)	2
	7	Jocky Wilson (84.6)	2
		Gordon Allpress (76.8)	0
						7	Jocky Wilson (82.8)	2
							Kevin White (81)	1
	10	Stefan Lord (69.6)	1
		Kevin White (63.5)	2
																2	Tony Brown (88.8)	1
																3	John Lowe (90.3)	4
	6	Ceri Morgan (86.7)	2
		Doug McCarthy (86.1)	1
						6	Ceri Morgan (79.5)	2
						11	Leighton Rees (76.8)	1
	11	Leighton Rees (85.5)	2
		Tim Brown (83.1)	0
											6	Ceri Morgan (81)	3
											3	John Lowe (82.8)	4
	3	John Lowe (93.6)	2
		Angus Ross (79.2)	0
						3	John Lowe (77.4)	2
						14	Allan Hogg (71.7)	0
	14	Allan Hogg (70.5)	2
		Les Capewell (72.9)	0

THIRD PLACE MATCH (Best of 3 sets)

Cliff Lazarenko (5) (82.8) 2 - 1 Tony Brown (2) (83.1)

References

1. "The World Championship of Darts". Learnaboutdarts.com. Archived from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
2. Ralph Hickok (16 January 2010). "History - World Darts Champions". HickokSports.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2011.