Masters of Darts
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The Masters of Darts is a unique darts tournament as it was the first televised confrontation between the darts players of the two rival organisations, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). There had been two "champion versus champion" matches held, but this tournament held in 2005 was the first major event featuring players from each organisation.
The first Masters of Darts took place between February 7 and February 13, 2005 at the ExpoCenter in Hengelo, The Netherlands. The best four players from both federations were invited. The tournament was arranged by PenH Events, who managed to secure a three-year contract with Raymond van Barneveld, a BDO player at the time, taking part in the tournament. The host broadcaster was RTL5 in the Netherlands, who had also secured a three-year deal to broadcast the event. However, the tournament was not held in 2006 and by the time it was revived for 2007, SBS6 took over as Dutch broadcasters for the event.
Previous finals
- 2005 Phil Taylor beat Andy Fordham 7-1 (sets)
- 2006 not held
2007 Event
The tournament returns between February 10 and February 18, 2007. The format changes to feature the Netherlands against England instead of PDC v BDO. The Dutch squad will consist of Raymond van Barneveld, Roland Scholten, Vincent van der Voort, Jelle Klaasen and Michael van Gerwen. The England squad is Phil Taylor, Colin Lloyd, Wayne Mardle, Mervyn King and Peter Manley. The players will compete in a round-robin format from Saturday-Wednesday.
There will be no play on Thursday and Friday due to the Holsten Premier League, with the top two players from each country facing off in Saturday's semi-finals. These semi-finals will see the top Dutch player face the second-placed English player and vice versa, with the winners progressing to Sunday's final to play for a first prize of €50,000. The total prize fund will be €185,000.
2007 Schedule
Saturday 10 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- Klaasen 0-3 King
- van Gerwen 3-0 Taylor
- van Barneveld 2-3 Manley
- van der Voort 0-3 Mardle
- Scholten 0-3 Lloyd
Michael van Gerwen produced a superb victory over 13 times World Champion Phil Taylor and was the only Dutchman with a success on the opening day. It was a convincing looking victory by 3 sets to 0 but all three sets went to a deciding leg which van Gerwen took with 14, 12 and 12 dart legs respectively. Van Gerwen took out 170 to clinch the second set and also included a 10 dart leg in the third set hitting 180, 133, 180 and double 4 to put himself within one leg of the match. He finished the match with a 164 checkout for the 3-0 win.
Another surprise came when Peter Manley beat current World Champion Raymond van Barneveld. Manley took the first set with a 130 checkout in the decider and some steady scoring put him 2-0 up before van Barneveld started a comeback with seven successive legs. Van Barneveld was just one leg from victory but missed darts for the match in the fourth leg. Manley took the next three legs to win the final set 4-2 in the tiebreak.
Sunday 11 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- Scholten 1-3 Taylor
- van Barneveld 2-3 King
- van Gerwen 3-1 Mardle
- Klaasen 3-2 Lloyd
- van der Voort 2-3 Manley
Raymond van Barneveld slumped to his second successive defeat in the tournament, and Phil Taylor notched up his first win of 2007 after two draws and two defeats during the year to date. Michael van Gerwen, Mervyn King and Peter Manley maintained their 100% records and Jelle Klaasen got off the mark with his first victory of the tournament. England players extend their lead to 7-3 in match victories, although its an individual competition with the top two from each nation who progress to the semi-finals.
Monday 12 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- van Gerwen 2-3 Lloyd (after sudden death leg)
- van Barneveld 3-0 Taylor
- van der Voort 0-3 King
- Scholten 0-3 Mardle
- Klaasen 2-3 Manley
Phil Taylor's miserable form continued with another defeat by Raymond van Barneveld, who finally got off the mark with his first win of the tournament. Peter Manley and Mervyn King maintained their 100% records, which puts Taylor in danger of failing to qualify for the semi-finals. Colin Lloyd notched his second win of the tournament with a thrilling victory over Michael van Gerwen (previously 100%). The match went to a sudden death leg after reaching 5-5 in the final set. Wayne Mardle is still in contention with his second win. England have now won 11 matches to the Netherlands 4.
Tuesday 13 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- van Gerwen 3-2 King
- van Barneveld 3-0 Mardle
- Klaasen 1-3 Taylor
- Scholten 1-3 Manley
- van der Voort 0-3 Lloyd
Despite a win over Jelle Klaasen, Phil Taylor can no longer qualify for the semi-finals. Peter Manley remained 100% with a victory over Roland Scholten, but the other 100% record went as Mervyn King lost to Michael van Gerwen. King hit eight 180s and checked out a 170 finish but it wasn't enough to beat van Gerwen whose victory was enough to secure a semi-final place. Despite only his second win, Raymond van Barneveld also guarantees a semi-final spot with a 3-0 win over Wayne Mardle. With Manley already assured a semi-final place, its down to King, Lloyd and Mardle to battle it out for the final place in the last four. England had a unassailable lead of 14-6 in the team aspect of the tournament.
Wednesday 14 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- van Gerwen 2-3 Manley
- van Barneveld 3-0 Lloyd
- van der Voort 3-1 Taylor
- Klaasen 3-0 Mardle
- Scholten 3-2 King
The group stages ended with a day of success for the Dutch. Only Michael van Gerwen failed to notch a win for the Netherlands as he lost the opening match of the night to Peter Manley. Manley completed a clean sweep of victories over all five Dutch players, for a significant achievement. Raymond van Barneveld now needed a victory to win the Dutch group and he obliged with a 3-0 win over Colin Lloyd, virtually ending his qualifying hopes. Phil Taylor's dead rubber against Vincent van der Voort ended in defeat, his third of the tournament. Taylor would have the ingnominity of finishing bottom of the England group. Wayne Mardle's faint hopes of qualifying vanished with a 0-3 loss to Jelle Klaasen leaving Mervyn King needing just a set against Roland Scholten to go through to the semi-finals. King achieved qualification but blew a 2-0 lead to lose the match 2-3.
Final Tables - top two from each group qualified for semi-finals
| Netherlands Group | Won | Lost | Sets Won | Sets Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Raymond van Barneveld | 3 | 2 | 13 | 6 |
| 2 Michael van Gerwen | 3 | 2 | 13 | 9 |
| 3 Jelle Klaasen | 2 | 3 | 9 | 11 |
| 4 Vincent van der Voort | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13 |
| 5 Roland Scholten | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| England Group | Won | Lost | Sets Won | Sets Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Peter Manley | 5 | 0 | 15 | 9 |
| 2 Mervyn King | 3 | 2 | 13 | 8 |
| 3 Colin Lloyd | 2 | 3 | 11 | 8 |
| 4 Wayne Mardle | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| 5 Phil Taylor | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11 |
Thursday & Friday - rest days
Semi Finals
Saturday 17 February, 17:00 UTC (Best of 11 sets)
Peter Manley v Mervyn King
Raymond van Barneveld v Michael van Gerwen
Final
Sunday 18 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 13 sets)
See also
- 2005 Masters of Darts review of the inaugural event
External Links
- Official site of Masters of Darts
- Summary of Results Planetdarts.tv
- Infodarts.nl Live Scoring and statistics