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PDC WORLD GRAND PRIX DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP 2005
report by Andy Fairclough
The 2005 Skybet World Grand Prix was looked forward to by many as the first major winter event of the PDC with many wanting to see the World’s best meet in the final. Going into the tournament Phil Taylor was the holder of the World title, Premier League title, Las Vegas Desert Classic champ and UK Open champ. Colin Lloyd was the current World Grand Prix and World Matchplay winner. With the way the first round went you could have been forgiven for thinking that neither Taylor or Lloyd would end up in the final, but of course both did. Game on…
FIRST ROUND
Opening the tournament were two legends of the modern game John Part and Steve Beaton. Don’t forget this tournament is uniquely double to start and Part couldn’t find his starting double so Beaton rattled of a 2 sets to 0 win. Wes Newton and Steve Hine followed, with Newton taking the first set. A flurry of 4 x 180s brought Hine level but Newton the Lancastrian took advantage in the third set to win 2-1.
Gary Welding beat Kevin Harris 2-0 in a scrappy game before Wayne Mardle taking the first set with a 126 checkout proceeded once again to blitz Lionel Sams 2-0.
Irish veteran Tom Kirby gave Colin Lloyd a fright by rattling of the first set despite the world number one banging in a 146 checkout. Lloyd upped his game and took set two with a 101 finish. Kirby still held on and the match went all the way to a deciding leg. Lloyd threw first and started with a valuable maximum 160 start and the finish line was soon in sight after that.
Roland Scholten took the first set in his match against Dennis Priestley, but the veteran Yorkshireman came back after being 2 legs to 1 down in the second set to level the match. Priestley started the next set by winning the first leg with a 133 checkout and then finished it and the match with a spectacular 160 finish.
Alex Roy held steady to take out a poor Alan Warriner-Little 2-0 and young Irishman and former Taylor protégé Keith Rooney beat James Wade 2-1, coming back from a set down.
Night two’s play kicked off with Bob Anderson and Andy Jenkins. Rocky took the first set before Anderson equalised after Jenkins missed 2 darts for the match. No mistake in the next set though as Jenkins won to book his place in the last 16.
Kevin Painter looked to be back to something like his best as he disposed of Terry Jenkins 2-0 and despite a 170 checkout from Dave Askew, Mark Dudbridge went through with a 2 sets to 0 win.
Phil Taylor had a bit of a surprise in his first match against Irish qualifier Joe Collins. Taylor was 2 legs to 1 up and Collins banged in a 111 checkout to level the game. However Taylor took the set and the second soon followed.
Denis Ovens started well against Peter Manley taking the first set and then a 161 checkout to start set two. However Manley clawed back as Ovens faded and it was ‘One Dart’ who booked his place in round two.
Irish veteran John Magowan beat the underperforming (on tv anyway) Alan Caves 2-1 and Ronnie Baxter disposed of ‘Bravedart’ Jamie Harvey 2-0 to complete the first round matches.
LAST 16
Steve Beaton kicked off round two as he did round one and his opponent this time was Gary Welding who had qualified for the second year in succession. Welding took the first set in the best of five contest but due to some wasted darts in the 1, Beaton clawed back to 1-1. From thereon Beaton’s experience came to the fore and he ended up 3-1 winner.
Keith Rooney’s confidence was riding high as was the resurgent Dennis Priestley’s for their last 16 encounter and it was the former World Champion who took first blood. Rooney with the help of a mid set 110 checkout took the second set, before Priestley again edged ahead. Rooney levelled the match at 2-2 and in the last set had a 2 legs to 1 lead. Priestley hammered in a timely 105 checkout to take the match to a deciding leg. Sheer class from “The Menace” as he hit a 13 dart game to take the match.
Colin Lloyd had little trouble in his match against Wes Newton as he won 3-0 despite still not being in his best form. Wayne Mardle had not much more trouble in putting out Alex Roy 3-1.
Thursday evening’s play commenced with John Magowan shockingly taking out World Number 6 Peter Manley 3 sets to 1. Magowan was left floundering however as his son was getting married the next day and he now had a place in the quarter-finals. The City West Hotel came to the rescue and agreed to charter a helicopter to take Magowan to and from the wedding!
Ronnie Baxter looked cool in the first set against Dennis Smith but the resurgent ‘Smiffy’ we saw at Blackpool also came to Dublin! Smith levelled the match, before Baxter went ahead again. Then Smith began hitting and Baxter began missing and in another upset it was Dennis Smith heading for the quarter-finals.
Once again Phil Taylor demolished Andy Jenkins 3-0. The latter always seems to have been beaten by Taylor before setting foot on the Oche and this match seemed little different.
Kevin Painter roared off against a poor Mark Dudbridge taking a 2 sets to 0 lead. Then Dudbridge began to play somewhere near his best and he took 3 sets on the trot to take the match away from ‘The Artist’.
QUARTER-FINALS
Into the last 8 and match of the week was undoubtedly Colin Lloyd against Steve Beaton. Lloyd took a 3 sets to 1 lead before Beaton playing his best darts for a year or more clawed back to 3-3. Lloyd dug into his reserves though to take the deciding set.
Dennis Priestley took the first set against a subdued Wayne Mardle. It was perhaps anticipated that Priestley’s grinding pace would throw Mardle off course and the normally buoyant ‘Hawaii 501’ seemed down in the dumps throughout the contest. Despite an early rally to bring the match back to 1-1, it was all Priestley from thereon and a 4-1 win.
Phil Taylor exploded against Mark Dudbridge hitting an amazing 3 x 180s in the first three legs to take the first set. Dudbridge rallied in the second going 2 legs to 1 up with a 160 checkout but it wasn’t long before Taylor stamped his dominance all over the match and a 4-0 win to ‘The Power’.
Neither John Magowan nor Dennis Smith played great darts in their match but it was the top flight experience of Smith that ground him out a 4-0 win.
SEMI-FINALS
The crowd went ballistic for Colin Lloyd’s match against Dennis Priestley and ‘The Menace’ was clearly upset at times during the match by the noise made. Priestley went 2 sets up with Lloyd playing particularly poorly, before ‘Jaws’ snapped back to 2-1. Priestley took the next but you could already sense the tide turning. Lloyd went ahead 4-3, then 5-3 before Priestley pulled a set back. It was too late though as Lloyd booked his place in the final with a 6-4 victory. Lloyd said afterwards, “I wanted to defend my title and I will take whoever comes in front of me.”
Phil Taylor had little trouble disposing of Dennis Smith by 6 sets to 0 but it was obvious that Smith was delighted to have got as far as he had in the tournament.
THE FINAL
The final had been built up to epic proportions as the World’s best ever Taylor was taking on the ranked no.1 Colin Lloyd. Unfortunately the match was a bit of a disappointment as Taylor blitzed Lloyd from the off. By the time Lloyd found his game he was 5 sets to 0 down. The 6th set was Lloyd’s moment as Taylor then whipped off the next two for a 7-1 win.
A staggering performance throughout the week from Taylor and back to the drawing board for Colin Lloyd.
Next stop the World Championships at Purfleet…
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