Grand Slam of Darts

The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invites the best performing players from its rival, the British Darts Organisation. There have been two previous head-to-head matches between the champions of the two organisation and a few overseas tournaments have also featured BDO v PDC clashes, but this tournament is the first of its kind to be held in the United Kingdom.

BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts
Tournament information
VenueCivic Hall (2007–17)
Aldersley Leisure Village (2018–present)
LocationWolverhampton
CountryEngland
Established2007
Organisation(s)PDC
BDO
FormatLegs
Prize fund£450,000 (2017)
Month(s) PlayedNovember
Current champion(s)
Gerwyn Price

Since the 2015 edition the tournament is classified as a ranking-tournament, being a non-ranking event at previous editions.

Up until 2017, the tournament was staged each November at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall since it began in 2007. Phil Taylor won the first three finals against Andy Hamilton in 2007, Terry Jenkins in 2008 and Scott Waites in 2009. Taylor did not reach the final in 2010, losing to Steve Beaton in the quarter-finals.[1] Scott Waites won that year, beating James Wade 16–12 in the final having trailed 8–0, making him the only BDO player to win the title, as of 2019. Taylor reclaimed the title in 2011, defeating Gary Anderson 16–4. Raymond van Barneveld defeated Michael van Gerwen 16–14 in the 2012 final, but Taylor regained the trophy in 2013, retained it in 2014, before losing to van Gerwen in 2015. Van Gerwen then retained it in 2016 and again in 2017 before Gerwyn Price won the trophy for the first time in 2018

In 2018, with renovations being done to the Civic Hall, the Grand Slam was moved to a temporary new venue, the Aldersley Leisure Village, which is located around 3 miles north-west of Wolverhampton City Centre. Aldersley Leisure Village also hosted the event in 2019. Both Grand Slam of Darts events at Aldersley have been won by Gerwyn Price.

Finals

[2]

Year Champion (average in final) Champion's organisation Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
2007 Phil Taylor (101.75) PDC 18–11 Andy Hamilton (100.97) £300,000 £80,000 £35,000 PartyBets.com Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
2008 Phil Taylor (106.25) PDC 18–9 Terry Jenkins (100.92) £356,000 £100,000 £40,000 PartyPoker.com
2009 Phil Taylor (103.94) PDC 16–2 Scott Waites (94.16) £400,000 £50,000
2010 Scott Waites (99.86) BDO 16–12 James Wade (92.79) Daily Mirror
2011 Phil Taylor (109.04) PDC 16–4 Gary Anderson (98.92) William Hill
2012 Raymond van Barneveld (95.79) PDC 16–14 Michael van Gerwen (98.55)
2013 Phil Taylor (98.14) PDC 16–6 Robert Thornton (97.02)
2014 Phil Taylor (102.45) PDC 16–13 Dave Chisnall (98.02) Singha Beer
2015 Michael van Gerwen (100.94) PDC 16–13 Phil Taylor (102.53)
2016 Michael van Gerwen (98.74) PDC 16–8 James Wade (90.73)
2017 Michael van Gerwen (102.18) PDC 16–12 Peter Wright (97.71) £450,000 £110,000 £55,000 Bwin
2018 Gerwyn Price (96.70) PDC 16–13 Gary Anderson (97.25) Aldersley Leisure Village,
Wolverhampton
2019 Gerwyn Price (107.86) PDC 16–6 Peter Wright (96.28) £550,000 £125,000 £65,000 BoyleSports
2020

Records and statistics
As of 17 November 2019.

Total finalist appearances
Rank Player Nationality Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
1 Phil Taylor England61711
2 Michael van Gerwen Netherlands31412
3 Gerwyn Price Wales2024
4 Scott Waites England1126
5 Raymond van Barneveld Netherlands10112
6 Gary Anderson Scotland02213
James Wade England02213
Peter Wright England0227
9 Dave Chisnall England0118
Andy Hamilton England0116
Terry Jenkins England0118
Robert Thornton Scotland0119
  • Active players are shown in bold

Champions by country
Country Players Total First title Last title
 England 2 7 2007 2014
 Netherlands 2 4 2012 2017
 Wales 1 2 2018 2019

Nine-dart finishes

Four nine-darters have been thrown at the Grand Slam of Darts. The first one was in 2008.

Player Year (+ Round) Method Opponent Result
James Wade 2008, 2nd Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Gary Anderson Lost
Kim Huybrechts 2014, Quarter-Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Michael van Gerwen Won
Dave Chisnall 2015, Group Stage 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Peter Wright Won
Dimitri Van den Bergh 2018, 2nd Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Stephen Bunting Won

High averages
Ten highest Grand Slam of Darts one-match winning averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
114.65 Phil Taylor 2014, Group Stage Christian Kist 5–1
113.86 Geert De Vos 2015, Group Stage Jonny Clayton 5–0
113.62 Michael Smith 2019, Group Stage Nathan Aspinall 5–1
112.66 Michael van Gerwen 2018, Group Stage Gary Robson 5–1
112.54 Gary Anderson 2018, Group Stage Ian White 5–1
112.37 Phil Taylor 2011, 2nd Round Wes Newton 10–3
112.16 Phil Taylor 2013, Group Stage Stuart Kellett 5–0
111.80 Gary Anderson 2013, Group Stage Peter Wright 5–1
111.79 Gary Anderson 2017, Group Stage Berry van Peer 5–1
111.38 Michael van Gerwen 2019, Group Stage Ross Smith 5–2
Five highest one-match losing averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
110.99 Adrian Lewis 2013, Semi-Final Phil Taylor 9–16
108.68 Adrian Lewis 2016, Group Stage Chris Dobey 3–5
107.92 Michael van Gerwen 2018, Group Stage Jonny Clayton 4–5
106.50 Kim Huybrechts 2015, Group Stage Michael van Gerwen 1–5
105.65 Gary Anderson 2008, Semi-Final Terry Jenkins 14–16
Five highest tournament averages
Average Player Year
105.42 Michael van Gerwen 2015
105.12 Michael van Gerwen 2017
104.91 Phil Taylor 2014
104.89 Gary Anderson 2013
104.20 Phil Taylor 2013

Previous BDO v PDC tournaments

There have been previous tournaments in which players from both the PDC and BDO have competed. Between 1997 and 2001, several BDO players competed in the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix – this was as a result of a 1997 Tomlin Order which allowed freedom of players to enter more events. This was later restricted from the start of 2002 onwards, when eligibility rules allowed only Professional Dart Players Association members to compete in the tournaments.

The 2005 Masters of Darts was the first tournament to feature the top players from each organisation. In 2006 and 2007, following Raymond van Barneveld's move to the PDC, the Dutch organisers of the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy invited some top PDC players to compete alongside BDO players.

Perennial participants

As the Grand Slam is an invitational tournament for players who have reached major finals and semi-finals, or been the top of their countries' respective rankings, there is a certain degree of prestige attached to qualifying for the tournament, and even more for entrants who qualify multiple times. Two players have qualified for all 13 tournaments so far.

Television coverage

ITV screened the first four Grand Slam of Darts, which ended their 19-year absence from regular darts coverage (although they did show a one-off Clash of Champions match between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld in 1999).[3] The inaugural event saw selected first round games, the semi-finals, and the final all screened live on ITV1 and the rest of the tournament live on ITV4 but the live coverage was moved entirely to ITV4 in subsequent years, with highlights packages being the only coverage of the event on ITV1.

The tournament proved popular on ITV4, with the 2009 event achieving nine out of the top ten places in the channel's output for that week. Viewing figures ranged from 208,000 to 435,000 with the final itself watched by 454,000.[4] ITV extended their contract with the PDC to show the tournament until at least 2010.[5]

The presenting team consisted of lead presenter Matt Smith, and analysts Alan Warriner-Little and Chris Mason (who replaced Steve Beaton in 2008). The commentating team included Stuart Pyke, who also commentates on darts for Sky Sports, boxing commentator John Rawling, and Peter Drury. Janie Omorogbe provided reporting duties and player interviews.

On 25 January 2011, it was announced that Sky Sports would broadcast the event until 2018.[6][7]

Sponsorship

On 23 September 2014, the PDC announced a three-year partnership with Singha Beer as the new title sponsors of the Grand Slam of darts starting with the 2014 event.[8]

Jaturon Zane Himathongkom, International Sports Marketing Director at Singha Beer, said: "We are delighted to be a title sponsor for the Singha Beer Grand Slam of Darts and also an Official Beer partner of the PDC during 2014–2016. This is a fantastic event and also a splendid opportunity for us to be involved. I hope everyone will enjoy Singha Beer during the event." PDC Chairman Barry Hearn said: "It gives me great pleasure to welcome Singha Beer into the PDC family as our new sponsors for the SINGHA Beer Grand Slam of Darts and an Official Partner for the next three years. Their brand is recognised worldwide as a beer of leading quality, and with this sponsorship they'll be associated with the leading players in world darts, including a host of World Champions and other major tournament winners."

On 14 March 2017, it was announced that bwin was to take over as the sponsor of the event beginning with the 2017 tournament.

BoyleSports is sponsoring the 2019 event.

Previous sponsors were William Hill (2011–13) PartyBets.com (2007) and PartyPoker.com (2008–09), websites operated by Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, and the Daily Mirror newspaper (2010).

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References
  1. "Taylor beaten by Beaton". Sky Sports. British Sky Broadcasting. 20 November 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  2. "Grand Slam Of Darts Winners". Darts Database. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  3. ITV agree to cover Grand Slam Archived 2013-05-05 at Archive.today This is London
  4. Weekly Top 10 Programmes Archived 2014-07-18 at the Wayback Machine Broadcasters' Audience Research Board
  5. ITV signs deal with PDC for three more years Archived 2008-10-22 at the Wayback Machine ITV
  6. Sky Sports Snap Up Grand Slam Archived 2011-01-28 at the Wayback Machine PDC
  7. "Sky Sports and PDC agree new five-year deal". Sky Sports. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  8. "SINGHA Beer Sponsor Grand Slam". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
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