The first Dutchman to make the official transfer to the PDC, and will fulltime play all of its tournaments, is Roland Scholten. 2001 is the first year he’ll play the WC. He immediately wins the first round against off of the number 3 of the world, Shayne Burgess en wins the next from Cliff Lazarenko. In the quarter finale he must make way for Rod Harrington. Scholten was the first to make the transfer, and the Canadian John Part is the first BDO world champion, from after 1993, that makes the transfer. He leaves the BDO for the PDC in 1998. Up until the 2001 WC he does this rather inconspicuously, but this year he shows the world why he won the 1994 Embassy. Part reaches the finales, but meets an unchained Phil Taylor who beats him with 7-0. In the entire competition, Taylor only loses a single set, and that’s in his 2nd round match against Les Fitton.
2001 is also the first year a lady enters the WC, namely Gayle King from Canada. She loses 1-3 against Graeme Stoddart, but still makes it into the history books.