The 2001 Embassy World Professional Darts Championships got a surprising champion in John Walton. In 1999 Walton made his debut at Lakeside loosing first round to Roland Scholten. Two years later he was unstoppable.
Number one seed was Mervyn King who managed to just get through a tough first round against Chris Mason only to loose 0-3 to Walton in round two.
Ted Hankey the number 7 seed was the defending champion and defended his title with pride beating Raymond van Barneveld and Andy Fordham amongst others on his way to the finale. He was the eventual runner-up, losing 6–2 in a one-sided final to John Walton.