The 2009 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2009 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship) was the sixteenth World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at Alexandra Palace in London from 19 December 2008 and 4 January 2009.
John Part was the defending champion, having won the PDC World Championship for the second time in the previous year's final against Kirk Shepherd. However, he was eliminated by Bill Davis on the opening night.World Championship Day One Shepherd's poor form in 2008 continued, as he was also eliminated in the first round, by Dutchman Jan van der Rassel. Eventually, the title was won by Phil Taylor, with a 7–1 victory in the final over Raymond van Barneveld. This was Taylor's twelfth PDC world title, and his fourteenth in all; his average of 110.94 against van Barneveld remains a record for the PDC World Championship final.
The tournament was also notable for featuring the first ever nine-dart finish at the PDC World Championship, completed by van Barneveld in his quarter-final match with Jelle Klaasen.
Format and qualifiers The televised stages featured 70 players, an increase of two from the previous year. The top 32 players in the PDC Order of Merit on 1 December 2008 were seeded for the tournament. They were joined by 16 PDPA members and 22 international qualifiers determined by the PDC and PDPA.
The 16 PDPA members were made up from the top eight players who had not already qualified in the PDC Pro Tour events during 2008 and eight other qualifiers were determined at a PDPA Qualifying event which was held on 6 December 2008 in Telford.
These 48 players were joined by 22 international players who qualified through various means. Some of the players, such as the top American, Australian, Danish and Eastern European players were entered straight into the first round, while others, having won qualifying events in their countries, were entered into the preliminary round.
Order of Merit Phil Taylor Raymond van Barneveld James Wade John Part Terry Jenkins Adrian Lewis Andy Hamilton Wayne Mardle Alan Tabern Colin Lloyd Dennis Priestley Mervyn King Peter Manley Colin Osborne Ronnie Baxter Roland Scholten Kevin Painter Denis Ovens Vincent van der Voort Mark Dudbridge Mark Walsh Chris Mason Kirk Shepherd Andy Jenkins Wayne Jones Andy Smith Adrian Gray Alex Roy Barrie Bates Tony Eccles Wes Newton Michael van Gerwen
Pro Tour Robert Thornton Jamie Caven Steve Maish Felix McBrearty Steve Beaton Matt Clark Kevin McDine Carlos Rodriguez
PDPA qualifiers Tony Ayres Michael Barnard Brendan Dolan Nick Fullwell Steve Grubb John MaGowan Dennis Smith Mark Stephenson
European Order of MeritFirst round qualifiers Co Stompé Jelle Klaasen Mensur Suljović Jan van der Rassel
International qualifiersFirst round qualifiers Darin Young Bill Davis Paul Nicholson Russell Stewart Nándor Bezzeg Per Laursen
Preliminary round qualifiers Anastasia Dobromyslova Remco van Eijden David Fatum Sudesh Fitzgerald Warren French Lourence Ilagan Marko Kantele Charles Losper Akihiro Nagakawa Shane O'Connor Hannes Schnier Shi Yongsheng
There were two notable absentees from this year's tournament. Bob Anderson had resigned from the PDC in 2008 to take part in the BetFred League of Legends, thus ending a run of 25 consecutive appearances in a World Championship stretching back to 1984, while Alan Warriner-Little also did not participate, having made 20 consecutive appearances stretching back to 1989. This meant that Phil Taylor now had the longest unbroken run in World Championships, making his 20th consecutive appearance, while Dennis Priestley was the only other remaining player to have played in every WDC/PDC World Championship since the inaugural event in 1994.
Prize money The 2009 World Championship featured a prize fund of £724,000.
Position (num. of players) Prize money(Total: £724,000)Winner (1) £125,000Runner-Up (1) £60,000Semi-finalists (2) £30,000Quarter-finalists (4) £20,000Third round losers (8) £12,000Second round losers (16) £8,000First round losers (32) £5,000Preliminary round losers (6) £2,500Nine-dart finish (1) £20,000
Draw The draw for the first round of the championship was made on 8 December on Sky Sports News by Sid Waddell and Eric Bristow. The preliminary round draw was made on the morning of that date.
Preliminary round These matches were played over the course of the first six sessions of the championship, from 19 to 22 December. The winners entered the main draw, and played their first-round matches over the course of 20–23 December. The matches were the best of nine legs, and had to be won by two clear legs unless the score reaches 7–7 in which case the 15th leg would be decisive. The preliminary round draw were as follows:
Player #1 Score Player #2 Hannes Schnier 72.514–6 Shi Yongsheng 68.67 David Fatum 77.196–4 Shane O'Connor 75.10 Warren French 54.955–3 Akihiro Nagakawa 54.34 Marko Kantele 89.955–2 Lourence Ilagan 82.11 Charles Losper 87.006–4 Sudesh Fitzgerald 77.89 Remco van Eijden 82.465–3 Anastasia Dobromyslova 80.46
Last 64 All games that went to a final set had to be won by 2 clear legs, if after six more legs the players still couldn't be separated, a sudden death leg would take place to decide the winner, i.e. if the set goes to 5–5, a decider would be played.
Finals
Rounds 1–4
Scores after player's names are three-dart averages (total points scored divided by darts thrown and multiplied by 3)
Statistics Player Eliminated Played Sets Won Sets Lost Legs Won Legs Lost 100+ 140+ 180s High checkout 3-dart average Phil TaylorWinner6294933116811734131104.08 Raymond van BarneveldRunner-up62316907422513946161100.85 Colin OsborneSecond round24416155122716796.37 Andy HamiltonThird round386342770372417095.19 Robert ThorntonSecond round265252460371510095.04 Andy JenkinsFirst round1138113013112094.57 Jelle KlaasenQuarter-finals4126443087501811394.05 Wayne MardleThird round377322788441414593.83 Michael BarnardFirst round10349235111493.65 Vincent van der VoortThird round375272360321812593.44 Co StompéQuarter-finals4117393880571116493.31 Matt ClarkFirst round12312153020410592.88 Ronnie BaxterThird round3106423190441312392.87 Adrian LewisSecond round265262555321812492.65 John MaGowanSecond round24417155324715692.61 Mensur SuljovićSecond round23618226225710392.10 Kevin PainterThird round387322984341813691.99 Dennis PriestleyThird round395302570421310091.90 Mervyn KingSemi-finals518116549153781613491.71 Mark WalshSecond round256242763361212091.70 John PartFirst round103599768291.51 Paul NicholsonQuarter-finals414105940135761614291.40 Jamie CavenFirst round12312143116510091.36 Mark DudbridgeThird round37628296850811690.86 Terry JenkinsFirst round113592512211890.80 Alan TabernSecond round24417164523614190.35 Kevin McDineSecond round265222452231312890.16 Michael van GerwenSecond round23514184321512489.79 Peter ManleyFirst round12310103014112489.19 Mark StephensonFirst round10329105112688.50 Barrie BatesQuarter-finals4137463714356814188.30 Bill DavisSecond round25421216630412088.29 Tony AyresSecond round25622276334611688.17 James WadeSemi-finals520116756165693116087.91 Wes NewtonSecond round24514214825612287.77 Andy SmithFirst round1231113358615587.77 Dennis SmithThird round38835318959312887.16 Tony EcclesSecond round25623226427416487.12 Colin LloydFirst round1031917127886.70 Jan van der RasselSecond round23615244719810686.39 Carlos RodriguezSecond round246142437211012186.22 Denis OvensSecond round24415164319612086.19 Charles LosperFirst round213913291339585.96 Marko KanteleFirst round22311132813416485.66 Brendan DolanFirst round1033916633285.61 Wayne JonesFirst round113811291216285.23 Remco van EijdenFirst round23314163217411684.72 Adrian GrayFirst round103091060—84.63 Russell StewartFirst round113611251124784.58 Alex RoyFirst round11379228311684.53 Per LaursenFirst round11381139907683.68 Chris MasonFirst round1033914716483.10 Kirk ShepherdFirst round12312112413212683.03 Steve BeatonFirst round1033916632082.81 Lourence IlaganPrelim. Round101258504882.11 Steve MaishFirst round10339184210181.60 Roland ScholtenFirst round1231110241138580.93 Nándor BezzegFirst round1033910619680.91 Anastasia DobromyslovaPrelim. Round1013517116080.46 Steve GrubbFirst round10309930—80.44 Darin YoungFirst round113611111234780.12 Nick FullwellFirst round123913241139879.73 David FatumFirst round213713251228379.31 Sudesh FitzgeraldPrelim. Round1014613406477.89 Felix McBreartyFirst round1033915319177.71 Shane O'ConnorPrelim. Round101469209075.10 Hannes SchnierPrelim. Round1014612428072.51 Shi YongshengFirst round21361319619871.34 Warren FrenchFirst round21381225704064.85 Akihiro NagakawaPrelim. Round101352114054.34
Representation from different countries This table shows the number of players in the World Championship, the total number including preliminary round.
ENG NED NIR USA AUS AUT CAN DEN FIN GUY HUN IRL JPN NZL CHN PHI RUS SCO RSA SPA WALTotal Final 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 2 Semis 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 4 Quarters 3 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 Round 310 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 01 16 Round 219 6 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 32 Round 137 8 3 2 2 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 64 Prelim. 0 10101001101111110100 12 Total 37 8 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 170
* In darts, as in many other sports, some non-sovereign sub-national entities of the United Kingdom are treated as separate countries for sport governance purposes.
International qualifying The international contingent for the championship have qualified through various means, detailed here:
Continental Europe Order of Merit The Continental Europe Order of Merit was used to decide four of the international qualifiers for the event, all of whom would be entered in the first round. The top four players in the Order of Merit who had not already qualified via the full Order of Merit or the Players Championship Order of Merit were, from the Netherlands, Co Stompé (who was the top ranked player on the ranking system mainly by virtue of his German Darts Championship win), second placed Jelle Klaasen, and fourth placed Jan van der Rassel. Third place went to the Serbian-born Austrian Mensur Suljović.
Of the four qualifiers, three had played in the 2008 PDC World Darts Championship, with Stompé being the only debutant having joined the PDC in June. Klaasen, on his debut in 2008, fell in the first round (albeit in a sudden death leg) to fellow countryman Vincent van der Voort, having missed ten darts to win the match. Van der Rassel fared better in 2008, beating Colin Lloyd 3–2 in his first-round match before dispatching Denis Ovens 4–1 in the second round; however he fell by the same scoreline to Peter Manley in the last 16. Van der Rassel has made two other appearances in the PDC World Championship – in the 2006 event he lost in the second round and in 2004 he lost in the first round. Suljović is making his second appearance in the tournament – in 2008 he defeated Andy Smith 3–2 in the first round before losing out 4–1 to eventual champion John Part in his second match.
International representatives Australia qualifiers The first Australian qualifier was Newcastle-born Paul Nicholson, making his debut in the PDC World Championship. After the William Cross Pro-Am series of events in Shoalhaven, Nicholson took an unassailable lead at the top of the Australian Grand Prix rankings – the top ranked player here would earn a place in the first round of the World Championship. His performances in Shoalhaven also earned him a place in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.