This is a list of some of the major events and competitions in the sport of darts in 2007. Raymond van Barneveld proved to be the most successful player with ten professional tournament wins across the PDC and BDO, including four majors.
News
January 1 – Raymond van Barneveld battles from 3 sets to 0 down to win his first PDC Title and fifth world title overall 7–6 in the sudden-death leg versus Phil Taylor who maintains his record of reaching every single PDC World Championship final to date. 6 – van Barneveld follows up his World title success by winning the North-East Regional Final of the Blue Square UK Open (the fourth of eight regional finals). He beat Roland Scholten in the final to claim the £5,000 first prize. 6 – the 2007 BDO World Championship gets underway at Lakeside. Defending champion, Jelle Klaasen is knocked out in the first round by fellow Dutchman, Co Stompé. 8 – Former World Champion, Andy Fordham is taken ill before his first round match against Simon Whitlock. Fordham was taken to hospital after suffered breathing difficulties as a result of a chest infection. 9 – Phil Taylor is the first winner of the PDC Player of the Year Award. Phil Jones and John Raby are inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame. Other awards: Best Newcomer & the Fans' Player of the Year Raymond van Barneveld. PDPA Player of the Year Dennis Priestley. Young player of the year James Wade. Best Floor Player Barrie Bates. PDC Awards dinner 14 – Three more Dutch players announce their move to the PDC. Vincent van der Voort, Michael van Gerwen and Jelle Klaasen announced this prior to the BDO World Darts Championship final. 14 – Martin Adams finally ends his World Championship drought by claiming the 2007 BDO World Darts Championship title – at his 14th attempt. In the final, he led 6–0 and looked to be coasting to victory before Phill Nixon produced an astonishing comeback to level at 6–6. Adams held his nerve to clinch the final set. 16 – Adrian Lewis is confirmed as the final wildcard entrant for the 2007 Holsten Premier League to complete the line-up of eight players. Adrian Lewis awarded last place in Premier League 20 – Raymond van Barneveld extends his PDC winning streak to 20 matches by claiming the first of the weekend's two Stan James Players Championship in Gibraltar beating Adrian Lewis in the final. Michael van Gerwen and Vincent van der Voort made their PDC debuts at this event reaching the last 16. Jelle Klaasen reached the last 32. 21 – Michael van Gerwen becomes the first player to beat Raymond van Barneveld since his world title win ending his run of successive victories at 21 matches. Van Gerwen was also the last player to beat van Barneveld back in November. He lost in the quarter-finals to Alan Warriner-Little. Andy Hamilton won his first PDC pro tour title with a final win over Colin Lloyd. 27 – Tony Eccles wins the German Gold Cup in Bremen beating Dutchman Remco van Eijden by 3 sets to 1 to claim the €700 first prize. Heike Ernst beat Thea Kaaijk to take the women's title. 28 – Chris White wins the Las Vegas Open, a category two BDO event beating John Kuczynski in the final. John Part and Wes Newton teamed up to win the pairs events and also the cricket doubles. Las Vegas Open details The women's title was won by Stacy Bromberg.
February 1 – The Holsten Premier League gets underway with wins for Raymond van Barneveld, Dennis Priestley and Peter Manley. Phil Taylor was on the verge of his first ever Premier League defeat but extended his unbeaten run to 29 matches with a 7–7 draw against Roland Scholten. 3 – Kevin Painter wins the non-ranking PDC event JR 128 Plus tournament in Eastbourne defeating Wes Newton 5–4 in the final. 3 – John Markovic, former manager of Bob Anderson and Richie Gardner dies following a long illness. The Serbian-born businessman also contributed to the formation of the WDC (now the PDC) in 1992. Death of John Markovic 4 – Scott Waites, from Yorkshire, wins the BDO Dutch Open (his first major title) in Veldhoven – coming through a field of 2867 players to win the €4,500 first prize. Trina Gulliver took the women's singles title. 4 – Dennis Smith claimed the PDC Eastbourne Open title with a victory over Shayne Burgess. 6 – Mervyn King announces that he is following his stablemates Klaasen, van Gerwen and van der Voort by switching to the PDC. The BDO consider taking legal action as King (along with Klaasen) have signed contracts to play in the 2008 BDO World Championship. 8 – Phil Taylor is held to a draw for the second week running in the Premier League this time by Dennis Priestley. Raymond van Barneveld maintains his 100% record and there were first victories in the league for Terry Jenkins and Adrian Lewis. 10 – The Masters of Darts gets underway in the Netherlands with two upsets – Michael van Gerwen defeats Phil Taylor and Peter Manley beats PDC World Champion Raymond van Barneveld. England players won four matches to Netherlands one on the opening day. 10 – More PDC switches are announced as Dutch teenager Toon Greebe (quarter finalist at the previous week's Dutch Open) and Tony Martin confirm they will be joining the PDC circuit. 11 – Dennis Priestley wins the South-West regional final of the Blue Square UK Open beating James Wade in the final 2–0 and takes the £5,000 top prize. 14 – The Group stages of the Masters of Darts conclude with Raymond van Barneveld winning the Dutch Group and Peter Manley winning all five matches to clinch the England Group. Phil Taylor surprisingly finishes bottom of the England table with three defeats. 15 – Dennis Priestley goes top of the Premier League with a victory over Roland Scholten. Phil Taylor notches his first win of the season and Raymond van Barneveld is held to a draw by in-form Peter Manley. 17 – Michael van Gerwen achieves a nine dart finish during the semi-finals of the Masters of Darts, the youngest player to achieve the feat on television. However, he lost the match to Raymond van Barneveld who will meet Peter Manley in the final. 18 – Raymond van Barneveld maintains his superb start to 2007 winning his third major title of the year. He beats Peter Manley 7–0 with a 108 average in the final to win the Keukenconcurrent Masters of Darts at the ExpoCentre, Hengelo, Netherlands. 19 – Gary Anderson wins the BDO Scottish Open in his home country beating World Champion Martin Adams in the semi-final and Scott Waites in the final. Michael Rosenauer took the Dortmund Open title beating Marco Puls by 3 sets to 1. 21 – The Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) announce fines of £750 for Chris Mason, £400 for Phil Taylor and £300 for Steve Maish following incidents at the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship. Mason also received a four-month tournament ban (suspended for 12 months) for his unsportsmanlike manner. DRA fines, February 2007 22 – Barry Hearn announces a ground-breaking Grand Slam of Darts tournament to be held in Wolverhampton between 17 and 25 November. Players from both the PDC and BDO are to receive invitations to compete. PDC launch Grand Slam of Darts 22 – Night four of the Premier League and Dennis Priestley remains top with a record equalling margin of victory, 8–1 over Adrian Lewis. Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld both maintained unbeaten records, although van Barneveld was held to a draw by Terry Jenkins. 25 – Lionel Sams wins the West Tyrone Open, a non-ranking PDC event at the Mahons Hotel, Irvinestown. He beat Ray Farrell 8–4 in the final to take the top prize of £1,600
March 1 – The first re-match on UK soil between Raymond van Barneveld and Phil Taylor ends with Taylor extending his unbeaten run in the Premier League to 33 matches. His 8–6 win came despite being 1–5 behind at the interval. Dennis Priestley extended his stay at the top of the table with victory over Colin Lloyd 4 – Phil Taylor takes the Southern Regional Final UK Open title with a victory over Wayne Mardle in the final. Mervyn King had made his PDC debut at this event reaching the quarter-finals. 8 – Phil Taylor moved to the top of the Premier League as Dennis Priestley suffers his first defeat (by Peter Manley). Colin Lloyd missed a dart at double 12 for a nine dart finish during his defeat by Terry Jenkins. 11 – Dietmar Burger from Austria won the Finnish Open, a WDF Category 3 event beating Finland's Sami Sanssi in the final. The women's title went to Irina Armstrong of Russia who beat Finland's Sari Nikula in the final in Tampere. 15 – The Premier League reached the half-way stage and also made its first trip to the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. Phil Taylor maintained his unbeaten record, but there was a second successive defeat for Raymond van Barneveld at the hands of Dennis Priestley who remains second. 15 – An announcement confirms that the number of PDC players at the BDO/WDF International Darts League and World Darts Trophy will increase. The 2007 events will feature 20 PDC players and 12 BDO/WDF players compared to just 5 PDC players in 2006. 16 – Carlos Rodrigues Sequera of Spain wins the Gibraltar Open (WDF Category 4 Event) beating England's Gavin Forsythe in the final. Scotland's Margaret Ferguson won the women's singles. 17 – Simon Whitlock wins the first event of a new Australian Grand Prix (AGP) in Wagga Wagga. The overall AGP winner will receive a place at the 2008 PDC World Championship and Whitlock (currently a BDO star) admitted "That's my goal". Whitlock wins first AGP event He followed it up by claiming the second event title on March 18. 18 – James Wade wins the North-West Regional Final UK Open title with a victory over Terry Jenkins in the final in Manchester. Wade had earlier beat Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals. 22 – The second half of the Premier League season got underway with the top two players Phil Taylor and Dennis Priestley both held to a draw by Roland Scholten and Terry Jenkins respectively. It allowed Raymond van Barneveld to close the gap slightly at the top. 24 – Raymond van Barneveld wins the Partypoker.net Players Championship, a PDC Pro Tour event in Frankfurt. Barneveld beat Ronnie Baxter by 3 sets to 1 in the final. 26 – Scott Waites maintains his excellent form in 2007 by winning the £2,000 top prize at the Welsh Masters in Rhyl. Waites added to his Dutch Open title (and Scottish Open runner-up cheque) by beating Phil Evans in the final. 29 – The top of the table clash in the Premier League ends with a comfortable 8–2 victory for Phil Taylor over Dennis Priestley. World Champion Raymond van Barneveld suffered his third defeat of the season with a 6–8 reverse to Colin Lloyd
April 1 – Andy Hamilton wins the Midlands Final of the UK Open – the last regional event before the televised finals in June. He beats James Wade 2–0 in sets in the final. 3 – After 14 years at the Circus Tavern the PDC announce that their World Championship will move the Alexandra Palace from 2008. The "Ally Pally" will host 2,500 spectators per session compared to 800–900 in Purfleet. 5 – Phil Taylor destroys Terry Jenkins 8–1 in the Premier League to stay top and qualify for the semi-finals of the event. Adrian Lewis ended his losing streak against Colin Lloyd and the other two matches were drawn. 6 – Ron Meulenkamp becomes the latest Dutch player to confirm a switch to play for the PDC – following the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Jelle Klaasen, Toon Grebe and Vincent van der Voort. 8 – In a friendly international match at the Lakeside Country Club England's men, women and youth teams (WDF eligible players) defeated their Netherlands counterparts 26–16. 12 – The organisers of the International Darts League come to an agreement to allow the BDO/WDF players ranked 13 to 28 to enter the competition at the preliminary round stage having previously reneged on a deal which led to a threat of court action. The competition is now further expanded to 56 players (see International Darts League article)