The 2003 Embassy World Professional Darts Championship was notably the last World Championship to be sponsored by Imperial Tobacco.
In the final, Raymond van Barneveld came up against Wales's Ritchie Davies who had whitewashed defending champion, Tony David, in the quarterfinals. Barneveld raced into a four sets to nil lead before Davies pulled back to 4-3, but the Dutchman held his nerve to take the final two sets and thus seal his third World title.
The other big names would not get to the finale. Martin Adams would begin his quest for the title with a 3-1 win over 2000 Semi-Finalist Co Stompé only to fall at the next hurdle against Bob Taylor. 2002 World finalist Mervyn King opened his campaign to reach another final with a 3-1 win over Steve Coote, followed by wins over Dennis Harbour - who overcame 19-year old James Wade in the first round by 3 sets to 2. King then beat Colin Monk in the quarters only to bow down to Barney in the semi final.
Scotsman Gary Anderson defeated number 5 seed Andy Fordham 3-1 in a high quality second round match, Anderson averaged 99.54 to Fordham's 97.62. Anderson was to reach the semi final for the first and only time at the BDO World Championship only to loose to Welshman Ritchie Davies who also had his best run ever.