2004 World Championship

The 2004 Ladbrokes.com World Championship was the 10th anniversary of the PDC version of the World Darts Championship. An extra preliminary round was introduced bringing the total players at the televised stages to 48. Ladbrokes, who sponsored the event initially for one year in 2003, decided to extend their deal and the prize fund was increased to £265,000. Dutch television station, RTL 5 and Sky Sports both extended their deals with the PDC by three years. Barry Hearn, PDC chairman, announced that the tournament would be shown in Malaysia on pay-per-view.

Defending champion and number two seed, John Part suffered a surprise first round defeat to Mark Dudbridge. It was the first time since 1995, when a round-robin format was in operation, that the defending champion had gone out in the first round at the PDC world championship.

The final became the third ever (and first PDC) world final to go to a sudden death leg. The first time it happened was when Phil Taylor beat Mike Gregory in the 1992 final, Taylor was again involved and came out victorious against Kevin Painter. However, he had to fight from 4-1 down to win his 11th world title.

The two losing semi-finalists came from different ends of darts experience. 56 year-old Bob Anderson, a World Champion 16 years earlier lost to Painter and Wayne Mardle was making his first PDC World Championship semi-final appearance. Mardle lost to Taylor for the second year running, following a second round defeat as an unseeded player in 2003.

First Round

Phil Taylor 4 - 0 Colin McGarry
Dennis Priestley 4 - 3 Ritchie Buckle
Alan Warriner 4 - 3 John Lowe
Denis Ovens 3 - 4 Alex Roy
Colin Lloyd 4 - 1 Peter Evison
Wayne Mardle 4 - 2 Steve Maish
Richie Burnett 3 - 4 Simon Whatley
Roland Scholten 2 - 4 Lionel Sams
Peter Manley 4 - 3 Wayne Atwood
Dave Askew 3 - 4 Keith Deller
Andy Jenkins 1 - 4 Bob Anderson
Dennis Smith 4 - 2 Les Fitton
Ronnie Baxter 4 - 2 Erik Clarys
Kevin Painter 4 - 3 Paul Williams
Jamie Harvey 0 - 4 Steve Beaton
John Part 3 - 4 Mark Dudbridge

Second Round

Phil Taylor 4 - 1 Dennis Priestley
Alan Warriner 4 - 3 Alex Roy
Colin Lloyd 3 - 4 Wayne Mardle
Simon Whatley 4 - 1 Lionel Sams
Peter Manley 4 - 2 Keith Deller
Bob Anderson 4 - 3 Dennis Smith
Ronnie Baxter 2 - 4 Kevin Painter
Steve Beaton 1 - 4 Mark Dudbridge

Quarter Finals

Phil Taylor 5 - 1 Alan Warriner
Wayne Mardle 5 - 1 Simon Whatley
Peter Manley 2 - 5 Bob Anderson
Kevin Painter 5 - 1 Mark Dudbridge

Semi Finals

Phil Taylor 6 - 0 Wayne Mardle
Bob Anderson 0 - 6 Kevin Painter

Final

Phil Taylor 7 - 6 Kevin Painter

-wikipedia