STAN JAMES WORLD MATCHPLAY

The 'Stan James World Matchplay' is a , played in a legs format, and is run by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). The tournament has been sponsored by gambling company Stan James since 2000 - which makes them the longest running sponsors of a PDC darts tournament.
The World Matchplay has been played yearly since 1994 in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. The first ever winner was Larry Butler, who beat Dennis Priestley 16-12, and the current holder is Phil Taylor. It is regarded as the second biggest PDC Tournament, status shown by the fact the whole tournament was sold out within 3 days of the tickets being on sale.
The 1995 World Matchplay turned out to be Jocky Wilson's last appearance in a major televised event. Wilson had reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural tournament in 1994 and he beat Rod Harrington in the 1st round in 1995, but a 2nd round defeat against Nigel Justice was effectively the end of his career.
The difference between this and other darts tournaments is that there is no deciding leg - players must win by two clear legs. The first round is usually played over the first to 10 legs, but if the score reaches 9-9, play continues until either player gains a 2 leg lead.

Contents

Sponsors

Past Winners

Records

External Links

Sponsors

There have been three different sponsors for the World Matchplay:

★ 1994: Proton Cars

★ 1995–96: Websters

★ 2000–present: Stan James

Past Winners

Over the course of the tournaments 13 year existence, there have only been 6 different winners- Phil Taylor (8), Larry Butler (1), Peter Evison (1), Rod Harrington (2), Colin Lloyd (1) and James Wade (1) Dennis Priestley was also runner-up for 3 consecutive years.

Year	Winner (average in final)	Score	Runner-Up (average in final)
1994	American Larry Butler	16-12	English Dennis Priestley
1995	English Phil Taylor	16-11	English Dennis Priestley
1996	English Peter Evison	16-14	English Dennis Priestley
1997	English Phil Taylor	16-11	English Alan Warriner
1998	English Rod Harrington	19-17	English Ronnie Baxter
1999	English Rod Harrington (85.95)	19-17	English Peter Manley (86.91)
2000	English Phil Taylor (100.32)	18-12	English Alan Warriner (97.14)
2001	English Phil Taylor (99.57)	18-10	Welsh Richie Burnett (90.99)
2002	English Phil Taylor (98.76)	18-16	Canadian John Part (94.14)
2003	English Phil Taylor (94.38)	18-12	English Wayne Mardle (97.44)
2004	English Phil Taylor (100.20)	18-8	English Mark Dudbridge (89.24)
2005	English Colin Lloyd (97.89)	18-12	Canadian John Part (94.53)
2006	English Phil Taylor (100.08)	18-11	English James Wade (90.01)
2007	English James Wade (96.83)	18-7	English Terry Jenkins (91.62)

In 2006, the Prize Fund was raised by 25% to £150,000, with the winner receiving £30,000. A further increase to £200,000 (£50,000 to the winner) is confirmed as the prize fund for 2007. ^[1]

Records

;Longest match in history : The finals of 1998 and 1999 both went to 36 legs as a result of the format of "2 clear legs".
;Longest first round match : The longest first round match ever played was the 2002 clash between Peter Manley and Bob Anderson. Scheduled to be first to 10 legs, the match went to 32 legs with Anderson winning 17-15.
;Longest unbeaten run : Phil Taylor 28 consecutive match wins from 2000 until his defeat in the quarter finals of the 2005 event to John Part. Taylor has only lost six matches in the history of the event:
;
★ 1994 Bob Anderson 9-11 (sudden death, 2nd Round)
;
★ 1996 Peter Evison 1-8 (2nd Round)
;
★ 1998 Ronnie Baxter 10-13 (Quarter Finals)
;
★ 1999 Peter Manley 14-17 (Semi Finals),
;
★ 2005 John Part 11-16 (Quarter Finals)
;
★ 2007 Terry Jenkins 11-17 (Semi Finals).

External Links

★ Pictures from the 2006 World Matchplay