| World Series of Darts Festival | |
|---|---|
| Tournament information | |
| Dates | 26–30 June 2010 |
| Venue | Tropicana Hotel |
| Location | Las Vegas,Nevada |
| Country | United States |
| Organisation(s) | PDC |
| Format | Legs |
| Prize fund | $200,000 |
| Champion(s) | |
| |
TheWorld Series of Darts Festival (officially theTropicana World Series of Darts Festival) was a series of five professionaldarts competitions organised by theProfessional Darts Corporation (PDC) in the Tropicana Ballroom of theTropicana Hotel, inLas Vegas, Nevada, from 26 to 30 June 2010. It was established to replace theLas Vegas Desert Classic, and featured the 501-point andcricket formats. There was a £200,000 prize fund divided between all five events.
TheWorld Cricket Championship (WCC) was won byPhil Taylor, the world number one, who defeatedMark Walsh in the final. Taylor went on to beatDenis Ovens for the PDC US Open Players Championship (USOPC). The Las Vegas Players Championship 1 (LVPC1) was won byGary Anderson overSimon Whitlock, withCo Stompé taking the Las Vegas Players Championship 2 (LVPC2) fromJames Wade.John Part defeatedDarin Young to win the North American Darts Championship (NADC).
The World Series of Darts Festival was a series of five professionaldarts tournaments organised by theProfessional Darts Corporation (PDC) and took place in the Tropicana Ballroom of theTropicana Hotel, inLas Vegas, Nevada, between 26 and 30 June 2010,[1][2] in lieu of theLas Vegas Desert Classic.[3] The five events were theWorld Cricket Championship (WCC), the PDC US Open Players Championship (USOPC), the Las Vegas Players Championship 1 (LVPC1), the Las Vegas Players Championship 2 (LVPC2) and the North American Darts Championship (NADC).[1]
All five competitions were part of the 2010 North American Order of Merit from which the first and second ranked players were invited to the2011 PDC World Darts Championship. The three Players Championship events were counted towards both thePDC Order of Merit and thePlayers Championship Order of Merit and were the last such competitions prior to the qualifiers cut-off date for theWorld Matchplay.[1]
A total of 155 entrants composed of 82 from theProfessional Dart Players Association and 73 from North America played in the World Series of Darts Festival. Each of the five tournaments began at 12:00 local time and were contested to a different length.[a] WCC games were best-of-fivelegs with the remaining four competitions being best-of-eleven legs. The NADC saw 80 participants from Canada and the United States with eightseeds from the top-ranked eight players on the PDC Order of Merit. Seeds were not used for the WCC but were for the three Players Championship events.[4]
The prize money for each of the five competitions is shown below. A total of £200,000 was divided between the five tournaments with a rollingnine-dart finish prize of £400 perPDC Pro Tour competition.[1][2][5]
World Cricket Championship
| Players Championship events
| North American Darts Championship
|
The event began with the WCC on 26 June, which was the second of the ten non-ranking events on the 2010 calendar.[1][6]Phil Taylor, the world number one, defeated Howard Meyers,Andy Fordham,Kirk Shepherd,Richie Burnett andSteve Beaton to reach the semi-finals, whileMark Walsh lost five only legs en route to beatingScott Kirchner,Adrian Lewis,Vincent van der Voort,Andy Hamilton andRonnie Baxter to reach the same stage. Walsh beatDarin Young 3–1 for the first final spot and Taylor took the second with a 3–0whitewash ofMark Dudbridge.[5] Walsh won the first two legs before Taylor took the next two to equalise at 2–2. In the final leg, Taylor secured the 20bed before Walsh took the 19, 18, 17 and 15 beds.[7] Taylor subsequently won the match 3–2 on twobullseye rings.[3][7] Taylor said he was "really happy" to win due to the difficulty of playing thecricket format but commented it "really makes you think and it's a great leveller."[7]
The second tournament was the USOPC on 27 June, which was the 27th of the 45 events in the2010 PDC Pro Tour.[1][6] Taylor defeatedKevin McDine,Paul Lim,Joe Cullen,Nigel Heydon, Walsh andJames Wade, asDenis Ovens beat Dieter Schutsch, Shintaro Hirai,Ken MacNeil,Steve Hine,Terry Jenkins andJelle Klaasen to set up the final; Ovens played his fourth final of the season.[7] Taylor won the first two legs and Ovens the third on the double 19 ring. Finishes on the double 18 and 20 rings put Taylor three legs ahead before Ovens used Taylor's miss on the double 16 ring in leg six to complete an 108checkout on the double 20 ring to be 4–2 behind. Taylor took two of the next three legs with finishes on the double 8 and 20 rings to claim a 6–3 victory and a second successive tournament win.[8]Colin Lloyd won £2,000 prize money for achieving a nine-dart finish in his 6–3-second round victory over Dave Switzer, the third of his professional career.[5]
The third competition was the LVPC1 contested on 28 June, which was the 28th of the 45 competitions in the 2010 PDC Pro Tour.[1][6]Gary Anderson qualified for the final with victories overMark Hylton, Chris Loudon,Mark Webster,Steve Maish, Lim and Lloyd, whileSimon Whitlock defeated Sean Smyth, Donny Joe,Colin Monk, Ovens, MacNeil andChris Thompson.[9] After Whitlock won the opening leg on the double 10 ring, Anderson took three legs in a row to lead 3–1. Both players shared the next two legs before Whitlock won legs seven and eight to tie at 4–4. Finishes on the double 20 and 8 rings gave Anderson a 6–4 victory.[10] It was Anderson's third tournament win of the season, earning a provisional top 16 spot in the PDC Order of Merit, withPaul Nicholson at risk of failing to qualify for thePlayers Championship Finals with Heydon ahead of him in its Order of Merit.[5][9]
The LVPC2 played on 29 June was the fourth event and the 29th of the 45 tournaments in the 2010 PDC Pro Tour.[1][6]Co Stompé reached the final with wins over Edwin Martin,Wayne Mardle, Lewis, Beaton, Klaasen andMatt Clark,[11] joined by Wade who beat MacNeil, Tony Randell,Robert Thornton, Van der Voort, Whitlock and Lloyd.[5] Wade won the first leg before Stompe took the following four with twomaximum scores for a 4–1 lead. He took the next two legs to go one leg behind before Stompe secured two more legs to win 6–3.[12] It was Stompe's first PDC Pro Tour event win since he made his PDC debut in 2008,[5] and his second of three titles following the 2008German Darts Championship and preceding the2010 PDC World Cup of Darts alongsideRaymond van Barneveld.[11] Nicholson reached the third round to reclaim 16th place in the PDC Order of Merit and automatically qualified for the World Matchplay.[13]
The last tournament was the NADC on 30 June, the third of the ten non-ranking competitions in the 2010 season.[1][6] Wins over Alvin Martin, Greg Lewis,Shawn Brenneman,Chris White andGary Mawson earnedJohn Part a place in the final opposite Young, who defeated Eddie Lawrence,Dan Lauby, Joe, Nico Depaynos andLarry Butler. Part took three of the first four legs on checkouts of 68, 111 and 84. Young took legs five and six to equalise before Part took two more legs. Part missed the double 20 ring to complete an 108 checkout for victory and Young struck the double 5 ring to win leg nine. Part made a maximum score and hit the double 4 ring to win the tournament by 6–4.[5][14] Part called it "an emotional day and not easy to play" but felt he had played better than in previous tournaments.[15]
| No. | Date | Venue | Tournament | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 June | Tropicana Ballroom, Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas,Nevada | Darts World Cricket Championship |  Phil Taylor (ENG) | 3–2 | Mark Walsh (ENG) |
| 2 | 27 June | US Open Players Championship | Phil Taylor (ENG) | 6–3 | Denis Ovens (ENG) | |
| 3 | 28 June | Las Vegas Players Championship 1 |  Gary Anderson (SCO) | 6–4 |  Simon Whitlock (AUS) | |
| 4 | 29 June | Las Vegas Players Championship 2 |  Co Stompé (NED) | 6–3 | James Wade (ENG) | |
| 5 | 30 June | North American Darts Championship |  John Part (CAN) | 6–4 |  Darin Young (USA) | |
Source:[5] | ||||||
Numbers given to the left of players' names show the seedings for four of the five tournaments. N/A indicates the competitor was not seeded for their competition. Players in bold denote match winners from the quarter-finals to the final of each event.[5]
The WCC featured no seeds and best-of-five leg meetings.[4][16]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Mark Walsh (ENG) | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Ronnie Baxter (ENG) | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Mark Walsh | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Darin Young | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Darin Young (USA) | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Steve Brown (ENG) | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Mark Walsh | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Phil Taylor | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Mark Dudbridge (ENG) | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Co Stompé (NED) | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Mark Dudbridge | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Phil Taylor | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Steve Beaton (ENG) | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Phil Taylor (ENG) | 3 | |||||||||||||
The USOPC featured 32 seeds and best-of-11 leg games.[4][17][18]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Phil Taylor (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Mark Walsh (ENG) | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Phil Taylor | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | James Wade | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | James Wade (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Adrian Lewis (ENG) | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Phil Taylor | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Denis Ovens | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 31 | Jelle Klaasen (NED) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Gary Anderson (SCO) | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 31 | Jelle Klaasen | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Denis Ovens | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Denis Ovens (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 27 | Terry Jenkins (ENG) | 4 | ||||||||||||
The first LVPC had 32 seeds and best-of-11 legs matches.[4][19][20]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Chris Thompson (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Phil Taylor (ENG) | 5 | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Chris Thompson | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Simon Whitlock | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Simon Whitlock (AUS) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Ken MacNeil (CAN) | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Simon Whitlock | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Gary Anderson | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Gary Anderson (SCO) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| N/A |  Paul Lim (SIN) | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Gary Anderson | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Colin Lloyd | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Colin Lloyd (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Ronnie Baxter (ENG) | 2 | ||||||||||||
The second LVPC featured 32 seeds and best-of-11 games.[4][21][22]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Matt Clark (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Phil Taylor (ENG) | 5 | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Matt Clark | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 29 | Co Stompé | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 29 | Co Stompé (NED) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 28 | Jelle Klaasen (NED) | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 29 | Co Stompé | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | James Wade | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | James Wade (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Simon Whitlock (AUS) | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | James Wade | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Colin Lloyd | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Colin Lloyd (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Wes Newton (ENG) | 4 | ||||||||||||
The NADC featured 8 seeds and best-of-11 leg matches.[4][23][24]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| 1 | John Part (CAN) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Chris White (USA) | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | John Part | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Gary Mawson | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Gary Mawson (USA) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Scott Burnett (USA) | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | John Part | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Darin Young | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Darin Young (USA) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Nick Depaynos (USA) | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Darin Young | 6 | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Larry Butler | 5 | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Larry Butler (USA) | 6 | ||||||||||||
| N/A | Paul Lim (SIN) | 5 | ||||||||||||