1997 Red Band World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Dates	29 December 1996 – 5 January 1997
Venue	Circus Tavern
Location	Purfleet
Country	England
Organisation(s)	PDC (WDC)
Format	Sets Final – best of 11
Prize fund	£99,500
Winner's share	£45,000
High checkout	170 Peter Evison (2x) 170 Steve Raw 170 Dennis Priestley
Champion(s)
Phil Taylor
«1996 1998»

The 1997 Red Band World Darts Championship was held between 29 December 1996 and 5 January 1997 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex. It was the fourth World Championship organised by the World Darts Council, which had acrimoniously split from the British Darts Organisation in 1992–93. As a result of an ongoing legal battle, this would be the last time that the WDC name would be used – an out-of-court settlement (Tomlin Order) in June 1997 meant that the organisation had to change its name to the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

Paul Lim, who famously hit a nine dart finish at the 1990 Embassy Championship appeared at his first WDC World Championship – he had only managed to qualify once for the Embassy since the split, losing a second round match to John Part in 1994.

The Championship saw two tight semi-finals, the most memorable of which was the clash between mentor and protégé – Eric Bristow and Phil Taylor. Taylor emerged victorious 5–4 in sets to reach the final. He matched his mentor's feat of five World Championship titles when he beat Dennis Priestley 6–3 in the final.^[1] They were now level as the most successful players of all-time.

Seeds

1. Dennis Priestley
2. Phil Taylor
3. Bob Anderson
4. Peter Evison
5. Jamie Harvey
6. Alan Warriner
7. Keith Deller
8. Rod Harrington

Prize money

The prize fund was £99,500.

Results

Preliminary round

A best of five sets preliminary round match took place between they were tied on the rankings.

Av.	Player	Score	Player	Av.
85.89	Ritchie Gardner	3 – 1	Dave Kelly	78.20
90.00	Paul Lim	3 – 2	Tom Kirby	83.00
95.05	Chris Mason	3 – 0	Peter Manley	89.10
101.89	Gary Mawson	3 – 1	Harry Robinson	87.33
75.21	Graeme Stoddart	3 – 1	Paul Knighton	91.83
79.44	Steve Raw	3 – 2	Kevin Burrows	59.10
93.99	Dennis Smith	3 – 0	Jerry Umberger	50.01
73.45	Sean Downs	3 – 2	Tony Holyoake	69.47

Group Stages

Group A Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts 1 Eric Bristow 2 1 1 4 4 0 2 2 (3) Bob Anderson 2 1 1 4 4 0 2 3 Gary Mawson 2 1 1 4 4 0 2 Bristow qualified with a higher tournament average. 29 December–1 January 85.10 (3) Bob Anderson 1 – 3 Eric Bristow 87.47 80.06 (3) Bob Anderson 3 – 1 Gary Mawson 78.63 81.17 Eric Bristow 1 – 3 Gary Mawson 80.96

Group B Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts 1 (6) Alan Warriner 2 2 0 6 2 +4 4 2 Graeme Stoddart 2 1 1 4 4 0 2 3 Larry Butler 2 0 2 2 6 –4 0 29 December–1 January 86.01 (6) Alan Warriner 3 – 1 Larry Butler 80.73 87.89 Graeme Stoddart 3 – 1 Larry Butler 80.58 91.07 (6) Alan Warriner 3 – 1 Graeme Stoddart 86.96

Group C Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts 1 (7) Keith Deller 2 2 0 6 2 +4 4 2 Dennis Smith 2 1 1 5 3 +2 2 3 Kevin Spiolek 2 0 2 0 6 −6 0 29 December–1 January 83.49 (7) Keith Deller 3 – 0 Kevin Spiolek 75.97 82.18 Dennis Smith 3 – 0 Kevin Spiolek 69.06 83.79 (7) Keith Deller 3 – 2 Dennis Smith 85.71

Group D Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts 1 (2) Phil Taylor 2 2 0 6 0 +6 4 2 Gerald Verrier 2 1 1 3 4 −1 2 3 Chris Mason 2 0 2 1 6 −5 0 29 December–1 January 90.18 (2) Phil Taylor 3 – 0 Chris Mason 79.96 84.54 Gerald Verrier 3 – 1 Chris Mason 80.04 87.83 (2) Phil Taylor 3 – 0 Gerald Verrier 76.10

Group E Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts 1 (4) Peter Evison 2 2 0 6 1 +5 4 2 Steve Raw 2 1 1 4 4 0 2 3 Cliff Lazarenko 2 0 2 1 6 −5 0 29 December–1 January 88.77 (4) Peter Evison 3 – 1 Steve Raw 82.07 81.76 Cliff Lazarenko 1 – 3 Steve Raw 78.75 92.02 (4) Peter Evison 3 – 0 Cliff Lazarenko 73.49

Group F Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts 1 (5) Jamie Harvey 2 2 0 6 4 +2 4 2 John Lowe 2 1 1 5 4 +1 2 3 Paul Lim 2 0 2 3 6 −3 0 29 December–1 January 87.34 (5) Jamie Harvey 3 – 2 Paul Lim 87.75 83.45 John Lowe 3 – 1 Paul Lim 82.73 82.00 (5) Jamie Harvey 3 – 2 John Lowe 81.18

Group G Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts 1 (8) Rod Harrington 2 1 1 5 4 +1 2 2 Sean Downs 2 1 1 4 4 0 2 3 Shayne Burgess 2 1 1 4 5 −1 2 29 December–1 January 85.62 (8) Rod Harrington 2 – 3 Shayne Burgess 83.82 80.54 (8) Rod Harrington 3 – 1 Sean Downs 76.52 86.76 Shayne Burgess 1 – 3 Sean Downs 82.85

Group H Pos Player P W L SF SA +/− Pts 1 (1) Dennis Priestley 2 2 0 6 1 +5 4 2 Steve Brown 2 1 1 3 5 –2 2 3 Ritchie Gardner 2 0 2 3 6 −3 0 29 December–1 January 90.98 (1) Dennis Priestley 3 – 0 Steve Brown 84.33 77.60 Ritchie Gardner 2 – 3 Steve Brown 80.19 88.41 (1) Dennis Priestley 3 – 1 Ritchie Gardner 81.26

Knockout stages

Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets) 2–3 January

Semi-finals (best of 9 sets) 4 January

Final (best of 11 sets) 5 January

A1

Eric Bristow 85.78

5

B1

Alan Warriner (6) 88.81

3

A1

Eric Bristow 86.97

4

D1

Phil Taylor (2) 93.73

5

C1

Keith Deller (7) 87.39

1

D1

Phil Taylor (2) 98.58

5

D1

Phil Taylor (2) 100.91

6

H1

Dennis Priestley (1) 96.79

3

E1

Peter Evison (4) 91.39

5

F1

Jamie Harvey (5) 83.96

3

E1

Peter Evison (4) 91.32

4

H1

Dennis Priestley (1) 94.34

5

G1

Rod Harrington (8) 94.50

2

H1

Dennis Priestley (1) 94.73

5

Third place play-off: (4) Peter Evison 83.25 4 – 2 Eric Bristow 83.23

Representation from different countries

This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship. Four countries were represented in the World Championship, one less than in the previous championship.

	ENG	USA	CAN	SCO	IRL	Total
Final	2	0	0	0	0	2
Semis	4	0	0	0	0	4
Quarters	7	0	0	1	0	8
Group Stages	18	5	1	1	1	26

References