The  Betfair World Matchplay is played in a legs format. The tournament was sponsored by gambling company Stan James from 2000-2010, which made them the longest running sponsors of a PDC darts tournament. SKYBET took over the event in 2011, with Betfair taking over the reigns in 2012.

The World Matchplay has been played yearly since 1994 in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. The first ever winner was Larry Butler, who beat Dennis Priestley 16-12, and the current holder is Phil Taylor. It is regarded as the second biggest PDC Tournament, status shown by the fact the whole tournament was sold out within 3 days of the tickets being on sale. 

The 1995 World Matchplay turned out to be Jocky Wilson’s last appearance in a major televised event.

Wilson had reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural tournament in 1994 and he beat Rod Harrington in the 1st round in 1995, but a 2nd round defeat against Nigel Justice was effectively the end of his career. 

The difference between this and other darts tournaments is that there is no deciding leg – players must win by two clear legs. The first round is usually played over the first to 10 legs, but if the score reaches 9-9, play continues until either player gains a 2 leg lead. 

Phil Taylor won the title again in 2010 beating Raymond van Barnaveld 18-12 in the final, the current champion is again Phil Taylor who won his 12th title beating former champion James Wade 18-8 in the 2011 final and again against Wade 18-15 in the 2012 final.

Betfair came on board as the official sponsors of the event. This was Taylors 5th title in a row and his 13th in all The Winter Gardens in Blackpool continues to be the venue for this event and is now in its 20th year in 2013.

There have been 5 different winners of the event with Larry Butler taking the first title in 1994, Peter Evison in 1996 and Rod Harrington won back to back titles in 1998/1999. Colin Lloyd who finished on 170 to beat John Part in 2005 and James Wade in 2007. 

Records
Nine dart finish
In the 2002 tournament, Phil Taylor hit the first ever nine dart finish against Chris Mason to be broadcast live on UK television. This was described by Sky Sports as the greatest darting moment ever, he pocketed £100,000 for the feat. Raymond van Barnaveld also did the feat in 2010, against Denis Ovens in his 10-1 1st round win he only pocketed £5,000. John Part also achieved the feat in the 2011 event against Mark Webster in his first round loss earning £10,000. In 2012 2 players hit the coverted 9 Dart Finish Michael van Gerwen hit one against Steve Beaton and Wes Newton against Justin Pipe. Both players shared £5,000.

Averages 

The current highest average in the World Matchplay is held by Phil Taylor with a 113.43 Av against Gary Mawson  

Longest match in history
The finals of 1998 and 1999 both went to 36 legs as a result of the format of “2 clear legs”. 

Longest first round match
The longest first round match ever played was the 2002 clash between Peter Manley and Bob Anderson. Scheduled to be first to 10 legs, the match went to 32 legs with Anderson winning 17-15. A second round match in 1994 between Jim Watkins and Keith Deller scheduled for best of 17 legs ended after 34 legs with Watkins the winner 18-16. 

Longest unbeaten run
Phil Taylor 28 consecutive match wins from 2000 until his defeat in the quarter finals of the 2005 event to John Part. Taylor has only lost six matches in the history of the event: Taylor is currently on a 25 match unbeaten run up to and including the  2012 final.

Whitewashes
In a short preliminary round match in 1996, Mick Manning beat Garry Haynes 5-0. The first whitewashes in longer match came in 1997 when Steve Brown beat Sean Downs 8-0 and Phil Taylor beat Gary Mawson 8-0. Mawson was the first player to suffer two whitewashes when he lost to Rod Harrington 0-8 in 1998. Other whitewashes: Adrian Lewis inflicted a 10-0 whitewash over the then UK Open Champion Robert Thornton.

2002 Phil Taylor 10-0 Shayne Burgess

2002 John Part 10-0 Mark Walsh

2003 Phil Taylor 10-0 Les Fitton

2004 John Part 10-0 Colin Monk

2004 Ronnie Baxter 10-0 Peter  Evison

2011 James Wade 10-0 Jamie Caven 

2012 Adrian Lewis 10-0 Robert Thornton

Heaviest defeat
Phil Taylor’s 16-1 thrashing of Roland Scholten in the 2007 Quarter finals is the biggest victory margin in the tournament’s history. 

Sponsors
There have been five different sponsors for the World Matchplay, also in bewtween 1997 – 1999 there was no official sponsors.

1994 Proton Cars

1995-96 Websters

1997-99 No Title Sponsor

2000-10 Stan James

2011 SkyBET Mobile

2012 Betfair >