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"PDC Year of Darts 2008"

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL (Jan 1)

John Part 7 V 2 Kirk Shepherd

2007 Champion - Raymond Van Barneveld

PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS TABLE - FINAL TABLE

1 Taylor 21pts (+46) - QUALIFIED
2 Wade 20pts (+22) - QUALIFIED
3 Barneveld 18pts (+16) - QUALIFIED
4 Lewis 12pts (-12) - QUALIFIED
5 Mardle 12pts (-14)
6 Manley 11pts (-12)
7 Jenkins 9pts (-18)
8 Part 9pts (-28)

US OPEN (May 18)

Phil Taylor 3 v 0 Colin Lloyd

2007 Champion - Phil Taylor

PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS SEMI FINAL AND FINAL (May 26)

Phil Taylor 11 V 1 Adrian Lewis
Raymond Van Barneveld 8 V 11 James Wade

Phil Taylor 16 V 8 James Wade

2007 Champion - Phil Taylor

UK OPEN (June 8)

James Wade 11 V 7 Gary Mawson

2007 Champion - Raymond Van Barneveld

LAS VEGAS DESERT CLASSIC (July 6)

Phil Taylor 13 V 7 James Wade

2007 Champion - Raymond Van Barneveld

WORLD MATCHPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

Phil Taylor 18 V 9 James Wade

2007 Champion - James Wade

SOUTH AFRICAN MASTERS

Phil Taylor 5 V 2 John Part

2007 Champion - Phil Taylor

WORLD GRAND PRIX

James Wade 6 V 3 Terry Jenkins

GRAND SLAM OF DARTS

Phil Taylor 18 V 11 Andy Hamilton

A few really tight games last night. There wasn't much between Lloyd and Barney. It came down to Barney just breaking the throw and maintaining that advantage.

Scholten V Jenkins was a good match. They were a bit shaky on the doubles but the scoring was great. Could have gone either way but Scholten let Jenkins off the hook and he made him pay.

Taylor is in a transistional phase. He's changed a few things and wants to be a bit healthier and it will affect his game. You can see that he just drifts from side to side a bit and the adjustment isn't working. It's too early to say whether all these changes will affect his dominance as it's not at a point where he's finished changing.

Priestley didn't play well and Taylor was letting him in so 7-7 was fair.

I was very impressed with Lewis. I was expecting it to be close but Lewis really surged away from Manley and Manley never looked like getting it back. Manley looked a little out of rhythm as well.

Looking forward to next week Smedlos?

I don't think the big arenas affect Barneveld or Taylor that much and Lewis seemed to be enjoying it. He was getting a good reception, I thought it was louder than Barneveld when Lewis won a leg. I think it affected Priestley and Jenkins but I think they were the only ones.

They'll get used to it, they are pros.

Taylor vs Scholten was a great match even though Taylor was way off his best, Scholten 6-3 down to 7-6 ahead and losing the last leg on his throw to draw 7-7 was a great finish with most expecting Taylor to lose his undefeated record in the league.

Whilst I like the big arenas showing darts has a massive following I couldn't help but feel that there were a fair few people last night who were just there either get on TV or prat about and put the players off (or both).

Plus I think the bigger arenas will unnerve the players even more (even Taylor & Barney), I know for sure Nottingham Arena will overwhelme the players when they step out and it must affect their game negatively.

That said they are pros and they should be able to block out these feelings and the best will come through.

Decent first night of the Premier League. I thought the Barneveld V Lewis game was really good and the result could have been reversed.

I don't think the crowd helped in the Priestley V Jenkins game as it looked like neither really settled. Lloyd V Manley was close and Taylor V Scholten was a big scare for Taylor.

Taylor was really off his game. He was drifting in the 5's and the treble 20 wasn't really working for him. The treble 19 was his only real consistent area.

The fixture list has been put up. The Nottingham arena has this lineup:

Terry Jenkins V Phil Taylor
Raymond Van Barneveld V Peter Manley
Adrian Lewis V Colin Lloyd
Dennis Priestley V Roland Scholten

Lloyd V Lewis should be good. Both very fluent players and it should be close.

I'm sure Klaasen would have done his homework and found a way out of his contract. The BDO are seriously bitter losing all the players. The fact that they have this stipulation that you have to come back if you reach the semi-final just smacks of desperation.

I don't know of anyone that has gone the other way from the PDC to the BDO. I found it funny that the BDO guy came out and said that they were professional and the PDC was a business.

How about this, BDO guy? The PDC has more money to attract the players, a high standard that the BDO can't get anywhere near, the best players in the world, the best tournaments and events that get packed houses every night, generating interest in darts and the PDC is the main reason why darts is a sport in the UK.

The fact that Nixon, a no-namer, got to the final playing darts acceptable 20 years ago just goes to show that the BDO title is very open to anyone. The PDC World title is the one you have to work for. The PDC tournaments you have to work hard. There hasn't been a shock tournament winner for a number of years. Bates was a shock finalist in the UK Open but that's down to the random draw system that's implemented.

Good line up there glad Lewis got the wildcard as on his day he can beat anyone.

The BDO are apparently suing Klassen over jumping to the PDC as they say he has a year left on his contract with them.

And they've officially confirmed the participants.

Taylor, Barneveld, Lloyd, Scholten, Manley, Priestley, Jenkins and the last wild card went to Lewis.

Nottingham Arena holds about 10000 if you can sit on the arena floor which you can do with the darts so what they've done is sold tickets from the stage backwards so even on the day you should be able to get them although you'll be further back the later you buy them.

It's on a Thursday so I'm having the Friday off work so I can have a few warm beers at £2.80 a pint at the arena :D

Klaasen looks very much like a rhythm player and just like Mardle, if it's not working, he might struggle.

I was going to go to the Stevenage one last year but it was sold out and I couldn't afford it. I woud have seriously considered it again this year but Stevenage isn't a venue this year.