About PDC World Championship 2007

Champion
2007 PDC World Darts Championship Photographer: Lawrende Lustig/PDC Raymond van Barneveld
Total Prize Pool £500,000
Champion
£100,000
Runner-up
£50,000
Semi finalists
£20,000
Quarter finalists
£12,500
Last 16
£8,500
Last 32
£5,000
Last 64
£3,500

In 2007 Taylor meets an entirely new competitor; Raymond van Barneveld, by then 4 times world champion with the BDO, made the transfer to the PDC. He seems to be the most prominent challenger for the WC title. Barney already beat Taylor in front of the cameras twice this year, and from the start of the WC everybody starts speculating about a dream finale. In the second round that dream seems to shatter when Colin Lloyd, number 1 of the world at that point, gets ahead of van Barneveld with 3-0 in sets. After that, Lloyd misses 4 matchdarts, and van Barneveld advances to the next round and eventually reaches the finale. On his side of the bars, Taylor is doing what he always does, convincingly flinging people off the board and that’s how the finale that everyone was hoping for, comes to pass.

At the start of the finale things seems to go easy and smooth for the Englishman, who in the 12 previous years claimed 11 of the PDC WC titles. When Taylor wins 9 out of the 10 legs in the finale, everybody lost faith in the Dutchman, but on January 1st 2007, van Barneveld shows us what true fighting is. With a 170 finish he brings their scores back to 1-3 in sets. In the next set the most crucial moment in this game happens. Taylor has a 2-1 head start in the set, and he’s waiting for his double to take the advantage of 4-1 when van Barneveld throws probably the best finish in his carrier. It’s not a 170 or a 167 finish, but a beautiful 129 finish that makes the match flip in his favour. Just a bit later Barney makes the 2-3 in sets, and what follows will forever stand in the history of darts.

Both men make it an amazing spectacle that gets it’s fitting end. With 6-6 in sets and 5-5 in legs, both men need to shoot for the bull to decide who can start the final and decisive leg. Taylor throws a single bull, and van Barneveld throws his perfectly on top of Taylor’s, straight into the bullseye. Van Barneveld starts, with a score of 100. Taylor answers with a 180 and it seems that the Englishman will win the match after all, but for the final time in this match, van Barneveld shows us what makes him one of the top champions. He answers with 19880, his 21st of the game, and is the first to stand for the winning double. He does not miss, and in his 11 months after switching to the PDC he wins the greatest title. He is the 2007 PDC world champion.

PDC World Championship 2007

Circus Tavern in
Purfleet, ENG
Organizer:
Professional Darts Corporation
Sponsor:
Ladbrokes
Participants:
64
Prize Pool:
£500,000
Start Date:
18 Dec 2006
End Date:
1 Jan 2007
23 days
13 hours
13 minutes
13 seconds
Alexandra Palace in
London, ENG
15 Dec - 3 Jan Date
£2,500,000 Prize
Luke Humphries Reigning Champion