2007 Masters of Darts
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Keukenconcurrent Masters of Darts was the second staging of a Dutch darts tournament featuring five top Dutch and five top English players.
The event witnessed a nine dart finish
by Dutch teenager Michael van Gerwen
, who became the youngest player to achieve the feat on television. Although the English players won the majority of the matches to clinch the team tournament 15-10, the singles title was won by a Dutchman, Raymond van Barneveld
.
, Netherlands
.
and the PDC
. This time around the Masters featured an England v the Netherlands clash. At time the tournament details were announced, there were 4 BDO players, 5 PDC players and one unnamed wildcard. Shortly after the 2007 BDO World Championship, the four BDO players (van Gerwen, King, Klaasen and van der Voort) had all announced they were switching to the PDC. So by the time of the 2007 event, all the players in the event were PDC players.
The tournament was again arranged by PenH Events, but SBS6
had taken over the contract to cover the event from RTL5, who broadcast the 2005 event. Sky Sports
showed highlights of the tournament on 16 July 2007. It was staged between February 10 and February 18, 2007. The Dutch squad consisted of Raymond van Barneveld
, Roland Scholten
, Vincent van der Voort
, Jelle Klaasen
and Michael van Gerwen
. The England squad was Phil Taylor, Colin Lloyd
, Wayne Mardle
, Mervyn King and Peter Manley
. The players competed in a round-robin format from Saturday to Wednesday.
There was no play on Thursday and Friday due to the Holsten Premier League
, and the top two players from each country faced off in Saturday's semi-finals. The semi-finals saw the top two Dutch players face each other and the top two English players battling for a place in Sunday's final for the first prize of €50,000. The total prize fund was €185,000.
Michael van Gerwen produced a superb victory over 13 times World Champion Phil Taylor and was the only Dutchman with a success on the opening day. It was a convincing looking victory by 3 sets to 0 but all three sets went to a deciding leg which van Gerwen took with 14, 12 and 12 dart legs respectively. Van Gerwen took out 170 to clinch the second set and also included a 10 dart leg in the third set hitting 180, 133, 180 and double 4 to put himself within one leg of the match. He finished the match with a 164 checkout for the 3–0 win.
Another surprise came when Peter Manley beat current World Champion Raymond van Barneveld. Manley took the first set with a 130 checkout in the decider and some steady scoring put him 2-0 up before van Barneveld started a comeback with seven successive legs. Van Barneveld was just one leg from victory but missed darts for the match in the fourth leg. Manley took the next three legs to win the final set 4-2 in the tie-break.
Sunday 11 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
Raymond van Barneveld slumped to his second successive defeat in the tournament, and Phil Taylor notched up his first win of 2007 after two draws and two defeats during the year to date. Michael van Gerwen, Mervyn King and Peter Manley maintained their 100% records and Jelle Klaasen got off the mark with his first victory of the tournament. England players extend their lead to 7–3 in match victories, although its an individual competition with the top two from each nation who progress to the semi-finals.
Monday 12 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
Phil Taylor's miserable form continued with another defeat by Raymond van Barneveld, who finally got off the mark with his first win of the tournament. Peter Manley and Mervyn King maintained their 100% records, which puts Taylor in danger of failing to qualify for the semi-finals. Colin Lloyd notched his second win of the tournament with a thrilling victory over Michael van Gerwen (previously 100%). The match went to a sudden death leg after reaching 5–5 in the final set. Wayne Mardle is still in contention with his second win. England have now won 11 matches to the Netherlands 4.
Tuesday 13 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
Despite a win over Jelle Klaasen, Phil Taylor can no longer qualify for the semi-finals. Peter Manley remained 100% with a victory over Roland Scholten, but the other 100% record went as Mervyn King lost to Michael van Gerwen. King hit eight 180s and checked out a 170 finish but it wasn't enough to beat van Gerwen whose victory was enough to secure a semi-final place. Despite only his second win, Raymond van Barneveld also guarantees a semi-final spot with a 3–0 win over Wayne Mardle. With Manley already assured a semi-final place, its down to King, Lloyd and Mardle to battle it out for the final place in the last four. England had an unassailable lead of 14–6 in the team aspect of the tournament.
Wednesday 14 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
The group stages ended with a day of success for the Dutch. Only Michael van Gerwen failed to notch a win for the Netherlands as he lost the opening match of the night to Peter Manley. Manley completed a clean sweep of victories over all five Dutch players, for a significant achievement. Raymond van Barneveld now needed a victory to win the Dutch group and he obliged with a 3–0 win over Colin Lloyd, virtually ending his qualifying hopes. Phil Taylor's dead rubber against Vincent van der Voort ended in defeat, his third of the tournament. Taylor would have the ingnominity of finishing bottom of the England group. Wayne Mardle's faint hopes of qualifying vanished with a 0–3 loss to Jelle Klaasen leaving Mervyn King needing just a set against Roland Scholten to go through to the semi-finals. King achieved qualification but blew a 2–0 lead to lose the match 2–3.
Final Tables – top two from each group qualified for semi-finals
Thursday & Friday – rest days
(0–3, 3–1, 2–3, 3–1, 1–3, 1–3, 3–1, 1–3, 3–2, 3–2, 3–1)
(3-0, 3–1, 1–3, 3–0, 1–3, 2–3, 1–3, 3–0, 3–2, 3–1)
Michael van Gerwen achieved a perfect nine dart finish
during his defeat by Raymond van Barneveld. Van Gerwen became the youngest player to achieve a televised nine-darter, as the event was broadcast live in the Netherlands. His achievement came in the second leg of the fifth set, when trailing 1–3. He took an unconventional route to the nine-darter scoring 174, 180 then finishing 147 with T20, T17, D18. However, he let a 4–3 lead slip and lost the match despite a 104.23 average and 14 x 180s. Van Barneveld himself averaged 101.77 and hit 11 x 180s to win a dramatic contest.
Earlier in the evening, Peter Manley produced one of his best comebacks to beat Mervyn King 6-5. Manley trailed 3–5 in sets and was just one leg away from defeat at 0–2 in the ninth set. Three successive ton-plus finishes kept him in the match. King missed a dart to win the match in the tenth set, before Manley took it into a decider.
King took the first leg of the deciding set, before Manley levelled. A 70 checkout in the third set against the darts was the decisive moment for Manley and he held out with a double eight in the fourth leg to clinch his final place.
The final was a one-sided affair as Raymond van Barneveld ended Peter Manley's 100% record with a convincing 7–0 victory to take the title. Manley missed four darts to take the second set and level the match but after that was never really in the contest. Van Barneveld produced a superb performance averaging almost 108, hitting 60% of his doubles and scored 14 maximum 180s to dominate the match.
The event witnessed 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 Dutch teenager 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...
, who became the youngest player to achieve the feat on television. Although the English players won the majority of the matches to clinch the team tournament 15-10, the singles title was won by a Dutchman, 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...
.
Sponsor and venue
The tournament was sponsored by Keukenconcurrent, a Dutch kitchen manufacturing company – who also sponsored many of the top Dutch players. The tournament was held at the Expo Center Hengelo (ECH), a multi functional trade and events centre in HengeloHengelo
Hengelo is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the International Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service.-Traffic and transport:...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Format
The inaugural event in 2005 featured an historic first tournament between players from the BDOBritish 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....
and the PDC
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...
. This time around the Masters featured an England v the Netherlands clash. At time the tournament details were announced, there were 4 BDO players, 5 PDC players and one unnamed wildcard. Shortly after the 2007 BDO World Championship, the four BDO players (van Gerwen, King, Klaasen and van der Voort) had all announced they were switching to the PDC. So by the time of the 2007 event, all the players in the event were PDC players.
The tournament was again arranged by PenH Events, but SBS6
SBS6
SBS 6 is a commercial TV channel in the Netherlands owned by Sanoma and Talpa Holding . Other channels of the group in the Netherlands are NET 5 and Veronica.- History :SBS stands for Scandinavian Broadcasting System...
had taken over the contract to cover the event from RTL5, who broadcast the 2005 event. Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
showed highlights of the tournament on 16 July 2007. It was staged between February 10 and February 18, 2007. The Dutch squad consisted of 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...
, Roland Scholten
Roland Scholten
Roland Scholten is a Dutch professional darts player who plays for the Professional Darts Corporation and formerly for the British Darts Organisation. He is nicknamed Tripod or The Flying Dutchman and uses Hey Ya by Outkast as his walk-on. He is currently ranked 45th in the PDC...
, Vincent van der Voort
Vincent van der Voort
Vincent van der Voort is a professional darts player.-Playing style:Vincent is well known for his spasmodic style and machine-gun speed of play which has gained him a reputation in both the BDO and the PDC for being one of the more erratic throwers in the darting world...
, Jelle Klaasen
Jelle Klaasen
Jelle Klaasen is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation and is the youngest darts player to win the World Darts Championship. His nickname is The Matador. He lives in Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands...
and 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...
. The England squad was Phil Taylor, Colin Lloyd
Colin Lloyd
Colin Lloyd , nicknamed Jaws, is an English professional darts player on the Professional Darts Corporation circuit. He is a former world number one ranked player and he has won two major television titles in the PDC - the 2004 World Grand Prix and 2005 World Matchplay...
, Wayne Mardle
Wayne Mardle
Wayne Mardle is a darts player for the Professional Darts Corporation, and former player in the BDO. He now lives in Romford...
, Mervyn King and 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...
. The players competed in a round-robin format from Saturday to Wednesday.
There was no play on Thursday and Friday due to the Holsten Premier League
Premier League Darts
The 888.com Premier League Darts is a darts tournament which launched on January 20, 2005 on Sky Sports, and is currently the world's largest indoor sports event. The league is now played weekly from February to May, having originally started as a fortnightly fixture...
, and the top two players from each country faced off in Saturday's semi-finals. The semi-finals saw the top two Dutch players face each other and the top two English players battling for a place in Sunday's final for the first prize of €50,000. The total prize fund was €185,000.
Results and review
Saturday 10 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)- Klaasen 0–3 King
- van Gerwen 3-0 Taylor
- van Barneveld 2–3 Manley
- van der Voort 0–3 Mardle
- Scholten 0–3 Lloyd
Michael van Gerwen produced a superb victory over 13 times World Champion Phil Taylor and was the only Dutchman with a success on the opening day. It was a convincing looking victory by 3 sets to 0 but all three sets went to a deciding leg which van Gerwen took with 14, 12 and 12 dart legs respectively. Van Gerwen took out 170 to clinch the second set and also included a 10 dart leg in the third set hitting 180, 133, 180 and double 4 to put himself within one leg of the match. He finished the match with a 164 checkout for the 3–0 win.
Another surprise came when Peter Manley beat current World Champion Raymond van Barneveld. Manley took the first set with a 130 checkout in the decider and some steady scoring put him 2-0 up before van Barneveld started a comeback with seven successive legs. Van Barneveld was just one leg from victory but missed darts for the match in the fourth leg. Manley took the next three legs to win the final set 4-2 in the tie-break.
Sunday 11 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- Scholten 1–3 Taylor
- van Barneveld 2–3 King
- van Gerwen 3-1 Mardle
- Klaasen 3-2 Lloyd
- van der Voort 2–3 Manley
Raymond van Barneveld slumped to his second successive defeat in the tournament, and Phil Taylor notched up his first win of 2007 after two draws and two defeats during the year to date. Michael van Gerwen, Mervyn King and Peter Manley maintained their 100% records and Jelle Klaasen got off the mark with his first victory of the tournament. England players extend their lead to 7–3 in match victories, although its an individual competition with the top two from each nation who progress to the semi-finals.
Monday 12 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- van Gerwen 2–3 Lloyd (after sudden death leg)
- van Barneveld 3-0 Taylor
- van der Voort 0–3 King
- Scholten 0–3 Mardle
- Klaasen 2–3 Manley
Phil Taylor's miserable form continued with another defeat by Raymond van Barneveld, who finally got off the mark with his first win of the tournament. Peter Manley and Mervyn King maintained their 100% records, which puts Taylor in danger of failing to qualify for the semi-finals. Colin Lloyd notched his second win of the tournament with a thrilling victory over Michael van Gerwen (previously 100%). The match went to a sudden death leg after reaching 5–5 in the final set. Wayne Mardle is still in contention with his second win. England have now won 11 matches to the Netherlands 4.
Tuesday 13 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- van Gerwen 3-2 King
- van Barneveld 3-0 Mardle
- Klaasen 1–3 Taylor
- Scholten 1–3 Manley
- van der Voort 0–3 Lloyd
Despite a win over Jelle Klaasen, Phil Taylor can no longer qualify for the semi-finals. Peter Manley remained 100% with a victory over Roland Scholten, but the other 100% record went as Mervyn King lost to Michael van Gerwen. King hit eight 180s and checked out a 170 finish but it wasn't enough to beat van Gerwen whose victory was enough to secure a semi-final place. Despite only his second win, Raymond van Barneveld also guarantees a semi-final spot with a 3–0 win over Wayne Mardle. With Manley already assured a semi-final place, its down to King, Lloyd and Mardle to battle it out for the final place in the last four. England had an unassailable lead of 14–6 in the team aspect of the tournament.
Wednesday 14 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 5 sets)
- van Gerwen 2–3 Manley
- van Barneveld 3-0 Lloyd
- van der Voort 3-1 Taylor
- Klaasen 3-0 Mardle
- Scholten 3-2 King
The group stages ended with a day of success for the Dutch. Only Michael van Gerwen failed to notch a win for the Netherlands as he lost the opening match of the night to Peter Manley. Manley completed a clean sweep of victories over all five Dutch players, for a significant achievement. Raymond van Barneveld now needed a victory to win the Dutch group and he obliged with a 3–0 win over Colin Lloyd, virtually ending his qualifying hopes. Phil Taylor's dead rubber against Vincent van der Voort ended in defeat, his third of the tournament. Taylor would have the ingnominity of finishing bottom of the England group. Wayne Mardle's faint hopes of qualifying vanished with a 0–3 loss to Jelle Klaasen leaving Mervyn King needing just a set against Roland Scholten to go through to the semi-finals. King achieved qualification but blew a 2–0 lead to lose the match 2–3.
Final Tables – top two from each group qualified for semi-finals
| Netherlands Group | Won | Lost | Sets Won | Sets Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Raymond van Barneveld | 3 | 2 | 13 | 6 |
| 2 Michael van Gerwen | 3 | 2 | 13 | 9 |
| 3 Jelle Klaasen | 2 | 3 | 9 | 11 |
| 4 Vincent van der Voort | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13 |
| 5 Roland Scholten | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| England Group | Won | Lost | Sets Won | Sets Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Peter Manley | 5 | 0 | 15 | 9 |
| 2 Mervyn King | 3 | 2 | 13 | 8 |
| 3 Colin Lloyd | 3 | 2 | 11 | 8 |
| 4 Wayne Mardle | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| 5 Phil Taylor | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11 |
Thursday & Friday – rest days
Semi Finals
Saturday 17 February, 17:00 UTC (Best of 11 sets) http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/LatestDetail/0,,10180~983589,00.html
Peter Manley 95.01 6-5 Mervyn King 96.52
(0–3, 3–1, 2–3, 3–1, 1–3, 1–3, 3–1, 1–3, 3–2, 3–2, 3–1)
Raymond van Barneveld 101.77 6-4 Michael van Gerwen 104.23
(3-0, 3–1, 1–3, 3–0, 1–3, 2–3, 1–3, 3–0, 3–2, 3–1)
Michael van Gerwen achieved a perfect 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...
during his defeat by Raymond van Barneveld. Van Gerwen became the youngest player to achieve a televised nine-darter, as the event was broadcast live in the Netherlands. His achievement came in the second leg of the fifth set, when trailing 1–3. He took an unconventional route to the nine-darter scoring 174, 180 then finishing 147 with T20, T17, D18. However, he let a 4–3 lead slip and lost the match despite a 104.23 average and 14 x 180s. Van Barneveld himself averaged 101.77 and hit 11 x 180s to win a dramatic contest.
Earlier in the evening, Peter Manley produced one of his best comebacks to beat Mervyn King 6-5. Manley trailed 3–5 in sets and was just one leg away from defeat at 0–2 in the ninth set. Three successive ton-plus finishes kept him in the match. King missed a dart to win the match in the tenth set, before Manley took it into a decider.
King took the first leg of the deciding set, before Manley levelled. A 70 checkout in the third set against the darts was the decisive moment for Manley and he held out with a double eight in the fourth leg to clinch his final place.
Final
Sunday 18 February, 19:00 UTC (Best of 13 sets)- Raymond van Barneveld 107.90 7-0 Peter Manley 94.66
- (3-0, 3–2, 3–2, 3–0, 3–1, 3–2, 3–0)
The final was a one-sided affair as Raymond van Barneveld ended Peter Manley's 100% record with a convincing 7–0 victory to take the title. Manley missed four darts to take the second set and level the match but after that was never really in the contest. Van Barneveld produced a superb performance averaging almost 108, hitting 60% of his doubles and scored 14 maximum 180s to dominate the match.
External links
- Official site of Masters of Darts
- Summary of Results Planetdarts.tv