2003 World Championship

The 2003 Ladbrokes World Darts Championship was the 10th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it split from the British Darts Organisation in 1993. Ladbrokes (who sponsored the 1996 event with their Vernon’s brand) took over the sponsorship of the event from Skol.

The field at the televised stages expanded for the first time since 1999. An extra qualifying round was introduced bringing the total number of players up from 32 to 40. John Part defeated the defending champion and number one seed, Phil Taylor in the final to end Taylor’s run of eight successive World titles. Part had also ended an incredible run by Taylor, who had won his previous 44 matches at the Circus Tavern.

This was Part’s second world championship - having also won the 1994 Embassy Championship (the first tournament after the split).

First Round

Phil Taylor 4 - 1 Steve Brown
Peter Evison 3 - 4 Wayne Mardle
Denis Ovens 4 - 1 Alex Roy
Dennis Smith 4 - 1 Dennis Priestley
Roland Scholten 4 - 1 Shayne Burgess
Dave Askew 4 - 3 Steve Beaton
John Lowe 1 - 4 Les Fitton
Alan Warriner 4 - 2 Rod Harrington
Ronnie Baxter 4 - 1 Mick Manning
Kevin Painter 4 - 1 Reg Harding
Richie Burnett 4 - 3 Keith Deller
Peter Manley 1 - 4 Simon Whitlock
Colin Lloyd 4 - 3 Bob Anderson
Andy Jenkins 2 - 4 Chris Mason
Jamie Harvey 4 - 1 Mark Holden
John Part 4 - 1 Cliff Lazarenko

Second Round

Phil Taylor 5 - 3 Wayne Mardle
Dennis Ovens 1 - 5 Dennis Smith
Roland Scholten 5 - 0 Dave Askew
Les Fitton 4 - 5 Alan Warriner
Ronnie Baxter 3 - 5 Kevin Painter
Richie Burnett 5 -3 Simon Whitlock
Colin Lloyd 1 - 5 Chris Mason
Jamie Harvey 3 - 5 John Part

Quarter Finals

Phil Taylor 5 - 3 Dennis Smith
Roland Scholten 2 - 5 Alan Warriner
Kevin Painter 5 - 2 Richie Burnett
Chris Mason 0 - 5 John Part

Semi Finals

Phil Taylor 6 - 1 Alan Warriner
Kevin Painter 4 - 6 John Part

Final

Phil Taylor 6 - 7 John Part

-wikipedia