The BDO World Darts Championship was a professional darts tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and held annually from 1978 to 2020.
The championship was first held at the Heart of the Midlands Nightclub in the English city of Nottingham. The following year it moved to the Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke, where it stayed until 1985. From 1986 to 2019, it was held at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey. In 2020, the tournament was held at Indigo, part of the O2 entertainment district in London.
It was the only World Darts Championship until the 1993 split in darts, when 16 players, among them seven former champions, left the BDO and set up a rival darts circuit under the auspices of the World Darts Council (later the Professional Darts Corporation). The WDC/PDC staged its own annual World Championship from 1994 onwards.
From its inception, the tournament was sponsored by Embassy cigarettes, a branch of Imperial Tobacco, and was thus often colloquially known as the Embassy. After the ban on tobacco advertising in the UK from the end of 2003, the event was sponsored by its venue, the Lakeside Country Club, from 2004 onwards. The final edition, in 2020, was unable to find a sponsor.
After the collapse of the British Darts Organisation in September 2020, the World Darts Federation announced plans to launch the WDF World Darts Championship, which took place for the first time in 2022.
History The World Darts Championship was the brainchild of Mike Watterson, a sports promoter who had created the UK Snooker Championship and moved the World Snooker Championship to the Crucible Theatre in 1977. Watterson came up with the idea whilst sitting in a barber's chair waiting for a haircut. John Lowe, a friend of Watterson, convinced him that such an event would be easy to stage and suggested contacting Olly Croft, head of the British Darts Organisation, to run it.
The inaugural event was staged at the Heart of the Midlands club in Nottingham. Embassy cigarettes, which also sponsored the World Snooker Championship, put up the £10,500 prize fund and it would be broadcast on BBC2. Ten top players (Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Leighton Rees, Rab Smith, Alan Evans, Stefan Lord, Tim Brown, Bobby Semple, Nicky Virachkul and Barry Atkinson) were invited, with the remaining places going to qualifiers. The first tournament used the legs format for its matches, but from 1979 onwards Watterson introduced the sets and legs format, which has been used in darts ever since. It was won by Rees, who beat Lowe in the final.
In 1983, Keith Deller, a 23-year-old qualifier from Ipswich, beat the world's top three players back-to-back: John Lowe (world no. 3) in the quarter-final; reigning champion and World No. 2 Jocky Wilson in the semi-final, before an epic deciding set win against World no. 1 Eric Bristow in the final, to produce one of the greatest upsets in the sport's history.
In 1990 Singaporean (then-representing the USA) player Paul Lim hit the tournament's only 9-dart finish in the second round against Irishman Jack McKenna to win a bonus of £52,000 which was more than the eventual champion Phil Taylor received.
The finals of 1992, 1998 and 1999 all went into a deciding set play off, having reached 5 sets all and 2 legs all. In 1992, Phil Taylor defeated Mike Gregory in a sudden death leg, having reached 5 legs apiece. In 1998 Raymond van Barneveld beat Richie Burnett 4–2 in legs in the deciding set. Van Barneveld then repeated the same final set scoreline the following year against Ronnie Baxter.
In the final in 2007 Martin Adams was 6 sets up and, after the comfort break, Phill Nixon responded by winning the next 6 consecutive sets. Adams held on to take victory in the 13th and deciding set, to win the title that had eluded him for 14 years.
In 2019, Glen Durrant became the second player to win three consecutive BDO Men's World Championships after Eric Bristow between 1984 and 1986, while Mikuru Suzuki became the first Asian world darts champion in any form.
In 2020 the tournament was staged at the Indigo at The O2 in London. It was the first BDO World Darts Championship not held at the Lakeside Country Club since 1985. Wayne Warren became the oldest player ever to win a world title. It was also the last World Darts Championship organised by the BDO before the collapse of the company. The World Darts Federation announced plans to launch the WDF World Championship.
Final results and statistics Year Champion Score Runner-Up Prize Money Venue Sponsor Total 1978 Leighton Rees92.40 John Lowe89.40 £10,500 £3,000 £1,700 Embassy 1979 John Lowe87.42 5 – 0 sets Leighton Rees76.62 £15,000 £4,500 £2,000Jollees,Stoke-on-Trent 1980 Eric Bristow88.10 5 – 3 Bobby George86.49 £15,000 £4,500 £2,000 1981 Eric Bristow (2)86.10 5 – 3 John Lowe81.00 £23,300 £5,500 £2,500 1982 Jocky Wilson88.10 5 – 3 John Lowe84.30 £28,000 £6,500 £3,000 1983 Keith Deller90.00 6 – 5 Eric Bristow93.90 £33,050 £8,000 £3,500 1984 Eric Bristow (3)97.50 7 – 1 Dave Whitcombe90.60 £38,500 £9,000 £4,000 1985 Eric Bristow (4)97.50 6 – 2 John Lowe93.12 £43,000 £10,000 £5,000 1986 Eric Bristow (5)94.47 6 – 0 Dave Whitcombe90.45 £52,500 £12,000 £6,000Lakeside Country Club,Frimley Green, Surrey 1987 John Lowe (2)90.63 6 – 4 Eric Bristow94.29 £60,300 £14,000 £7,000 1988 Bob Anderson92.70 6 – 4 John Lowe92.07 £71,600 £16,000 £8,000 1989 Jocky Wilson (2)94.32 6 – 4 Eric Bristow90.66 £86,900 £20,000 £10,000 1990 Phil Taylor97.47 6 – 1 Eric Bristow93.00 £153,200Prize fund included £52,000 bonus for Paul Lim's 9-dart finish £24,000 £12,000 1991 Dennis Priestley92.57 6 – 0 Eric Bristow84.15 £110,500 £26,000 £13,000 1992 Phil Taylor (2)97.58 6 – 5 Mike Gregory94.42 £119,500 £28,000 £14,000 1993 John Lowe (3)83.97 6 – 3 Alan Warriner82.32 £128,500 £30,000 £15,000 1994 John Part82.44 6 – 0 Bobby George80.31 £136,100 £32,000 £16,000 1995 Richie Burnett93.63 6 – 3 Raymond van Barneveld91.23 £143,000 £34,000 £17,000 1996 Steve Beaton90.27 6 – 3 Richie Burnett88.05 £150,000 £36,000 £18,000 1997 Les Wallace92.19 6 – 3 Marshall James92.01 £158,000 £38,000 £19,000 1998 Raymond van Barneveld93.96 6 – 5 Richie Burnett97.14 £166,000 £40,000 £20,000 1999 Raymond van Barneveld (2)94.35 6 – 5 Ronnie Baxter94.65 £174,000 £42,000 £21,000 2000 Ted Hankey92.40 6 – 0 Ronnie Baxter88.35 £182,000 £44,000 £22,000 2001 John Walton95.55 6 – 2 Ted Hankey94.86 £189,000 £46,000 £23,000 2002 Tony David93.57 6 – 4 Mervyn King89.67 £197,000 £48,000 £24,000 2003 Raymond van Barneveld (3)94.86 6 – 3 Ritchie Davies90.66 £205,000 £50,000 £25,000 2004 Andy Fordham97.08 6 – 3 Mervyn King91.02 £201,000 £50,000 £25,000LakesideCountryClub 2005 96.78 6 – 2 Martin Adams91.35 £201,000 £50,000 £25,000 2006 Jelle Klaasen90.42 7 – 5 93.06 £211,000From 2006, the £52,000 bonus for a 9-dart finish was included as part of the published prize fund, regardless of whether any player managed to achieve the feat. This table does not include that. £60,000 £25,000 2007 Martin Adams90.30 7 – 6 Phill Nixon87.09 £226,000 £70,000 £30,000 2008 Mark Webster92.07 7 – 5 Simon Whitlock93.92 £246,000 £85,000 £30,000 2009 Ted Hankey (2)91.46 7 – 6 Tony O'Shea90.54 £256,000 £95,000 £30,000 2010 Martin Adams (2)95.01 7 – 5 Dave Chisnall93.42 £261,000 £100,000 £30,000 2011 Martin Adams (3)92.13 7 – 5 Dean Winstanley89.08 £261,000 £100,000 £30,000 2012 Christian Kist90.00 7 – 5 Tony O'Shea87.78 £258,000 £100,000 £30,000 2013 Scott Waites86.43 7 – 1 Tony O'Shea81.90 £261,000 £100,000 £30,000 2014 Stephen Bunting96.18 7 – 4 Alan Norris92.19 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000 2015 Scott Mitchell92.61 7 – 6 Martin Adams92.55 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000 2016 Scott Waites (2)87.54 7 – 1 Jeff Smith84.99 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000 2017 Glen Durrant93.48 7 – 3 Danny Noppert93.30 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000 2018 Glen Durrant (2)93.97 7 – 6 Mark McGeeney86.31 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000 2019 Glen Durrant (3)95.19 7 – 3 Scott Waites91.38 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000 2020 Wayne Warren93.72 7 – 4 Jim Williams94.53 £127,000 £23,000 £10,000 Indigo at The O2, London BDO
Finalists Player Eric Bristow 5 5 Raymond van Barneveld 4 2 John Lowe 3 5 Martin Adams 3 2 Glen Durrant 3 0 Scott Waites 2 1 Ted Hankey 2 1 Phil Taylor 2 0 Jocky Wilson 2 0 Richie Burnett 1 2 Leighton Rees 1 1 Wayne Warren 1 0 Stephen Bunting 1 0 Scott Mitchell 1 0 Christian Kist 1 0 Mark Webster 1 0 Keith Deller 1 0 Jelle Klaasen 1 0 Andy Fordham 1 0 Tony David 1 0 John Walton 1 0 Les Wallace 1 0 Steve Beaton 1 0 John Part 1 0 Dennis Priestley 1 0 Bob Anderson 1 0 Tony O'Shea 0 3 Ronnie Baxter 0 2 Mervyn King 0 2 Dave Whitcombe 0 2 Bobby George 0 2 Alan Norris 0 1 Dave Chisnall 0 1 Dean Winstanley 0 1 Ritchie Davies 0 1 Simon Whitlock 0 1 Phill Nixon 0 1 Marshall James 0 1 Mike Gregory 0 1 Alan Warriner 0 1 Jeff Smith 0 1 Danny Noppert 0 1 Mark McGeeney 0 1 Jim Williams 0 1
Nine-dart finish Player Year (+Round) Method Opponent Result Paul Lim 1990, 2nd Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Jack McKenna 3–2
Averages Since the breakaway of the PDC players, there has been much debate about the relative merits of the players within each organisation. The debate often focuses on the three-dart averages of players in matches.
Since the BDO Championship started in 1978, there have been 21 occasions where a player has achieved a three-dart average in excess of 100 during a match. Keith Deller was the first player to achieve an average of 100, in the quarter-final of 1985 against John Lowe, although he lost the match. It was not until Phil Taylor's semi-final of 1990 that another player managed a 100 average. Raymond van Barneveld has achieved the feat six times.
Ten highest BDO World Championship one-match averagesdartsdatabase.co.uk ; best winning averagesAveragePlayerYear (+ Round)OpponentResult103.83 Raymond van Barneveld2004, Quarter-Final John Walton5–1102.63 Dennis Priestley1993, Last 32 Jocky Wilson3–0101.67 Mervyn King2002, Quarter-Final Raymond van Barneveld5–3101.55 Ted Hankey1998, Last 32 Wayne Weening3–0101.40 Marko Pusa2001, Last 16 Jez Porter3–1101.28 Martin Adams2002, Quarter-Final Wayne Jones5–1101.10 Raymond van Barneveld2002, Quarter-Final Mervyn King3–5100.92 Raymond van Barneveld2005, Last 16 Mike Veitch3–1100.92 Glen Durrant2018, Quarter-Final Jim Williams5–4100.83 Raymond van Barneveld2002, Last 32 Bobby George3–1
Five highest losing averagesAveragePlayerYear (+ Round)OpponentResult101.10 Raymond van Barneveld2002, Quarter-Final Mervyn King3–5100.29 Keith Deller1985, Quarter-Final John Lowe2–499.87 Glen Durrant2015, Semi-Final Martin Adams5–699.57 Karel Sedláček2015, Last 32 Glen Durrant1–399.45 Robbie Widdows1999, Last 32 Kevin Painter0–3
Different players with a 100+ match average - updated 6/5/18PlayerTotalHighest Av.Year (+ Round) Raymond van Barneveld6103.832004, Quarter-Final Martin Adams3101.282002, Quarter-Final Ted Hankey2101.551998, Last 32 Dennis Priestley1102.631993, Last 32 Mervyn King1101.672002, Quarter-Final Marko Pusa1101.402001, Last 32 Glen Durrant1100.922018, Quarter-Final Phil Taylor1100.801990, Semi-Final Darryl Fitton1100.712008, Last 16 Stephen Bunting1100.652014, Last 16 John Walton1100.622001, Last 32 Keith Deller1100.291985, Quarter-Final Chris Mason1100.022000, Last 32
Five highest tournament averages (min 3 matches)AveragePlayerYear100.88 Raymond van Barneveld200297.96 Raymond van Barneveld200497.62 Raymond van Barneveld200397.49 Raymond van Barneveld200597.42 Glen Durrant2015
Women's Championship The women's World Championship started at the Lakeside in 2001 and Trina Gulliver has won ten championships. Her seventh title in 2007 took her overall record at the Lakeside to 20 match wins and having only dropped four sets in the history of the championship – one each in the finals of 2001, 2002 and 2007 and one in the quarter final of 2003. She managed a long run of 13 consecutive matches without dropping a single set, which started the semi-final of 2003 and ended in the final of 2007.