Masters of Darts
Encyclopedia
The Masters of Darts has a unique place in darts history as it was the first televised tournament featuring the darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...

 players of the two rival organisations, the British Darts Organisation
British Darts Organisation
The British Darts Organisation, or the BDO for short, is a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, OBE. The BDO is a founder member of the World Darts Federation which was formed in 1976....

 (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation
Professional Darts Corporation
The Professional Darts Corporation is a professional darts organization, established in the United Kingdom during 1992, when a group of leading professional players split from the British Darts Organisation to form what was initially called the World Darts Council...

 (PDC) since they separated in 1993. 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
Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld , nickname Barney is a professional darts player. He is a five time World Darts Champion, and two time UK Open Champion. From January to June 2008, he was the PDC world number one ranked player...

, 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. 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.

At the time the 2007 tournament details were announced there were four BDO players, five PDC players and an unnamed wildcard scheduled to appear. In the weeks leading up to the event all four BDO players switched to the PDC making the tournament effectively a PDC tournament.

Final Results

Year Champion Score Runner-Up Total Prize Money Winner's Prize
2005
2005 Masters of Darts
The 2005 Masters of Darts was a unique darts tournament as it was the first televised confrontation between the darts players of the two rival organisations, the British Darts Organisation and the Professional Darts Corporation...

Phil Taylor
7-1 (sets)
Andy Fordham
Andy Fordham
Andy "The Viking" Fordham is an English darts player. He won the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship, beating Mervyn King in the final...

€395,000 €150,000
2007
2007 Masters of Darts
The 2007 Keukenconcurrent Masters of Darts was the second staging of a Dutch darts tournament featuring five top Dutch and five top English players....

  Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld , nickname Barney is a professional darts player. He is a five time World Darts Champion, and two time UK Open Champion. From January to June 2008, he was the PDC world number one ranked player...

 (107.90)
7-0 (sets)   Peter Manley
Peter Manley
Peter David Manley is an English professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation. He is nicknamed One Dart as he is known for hitting doubles with his first dart...

 (94.66)
€185,000 €50,000

2005 Event

Phil Taylor marched through the competition, winning all four group games against BDO players and dropped only two sets on the way. He then beat Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-final and Andy Fordham in the final to win the top prize €150,000 (approx £100,000) - one of the highest prizes in darts history.

2007 Event

The 2007 tournament featured a nine dart finish
Nine dart finish
A nine-dart finish is the ultimate checkout in the game of darts, constituting a perfect game. It is notoriously difficult to achieve, even by the game's top professionals...

 by Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen is a Dutch professional darts player, nicknamed Mighty Mike. He is the youngest player in history to win a major televised tournament in either the BDO or the PDC, winning the 2006 Winmau World Masters at the age of 17...

, Phil Taylor finished bottom of the England group losing three of his five matches. Peter Manley achieved a 100% record en-route to the final against Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld , nickname Barney is a professional darts player. He is a five time World Darts Champion, and two time UK Open Champion. From January to June 2008, he was the PDC world number one ranked player...

, but van Barneveld clinched the title with a whitewash 7-0 set victory.

External links

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