2005 World Championship

The 2005 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship, sponsored by Ladbrokes, was held at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet and started on Boxing Day, 2004. Phil Taylor went on to clinch his 12th World Championship (10 in the PDC, 2 in the BDO) with a 7-4 final victory over Mark Dudbridge.

The tournament format remained the same as the previous year, with a preliminary round featuring eight international players against eight qualifiers from the Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) qualifying tournament. The winners were then to meet the players ranked between 25 and 32 in the PDC world rankings.

John Lowe, playing in his 28th consecutive world championship, suffered a defeat to Canadian John Verwey. The match went to a tie-break 11th leg in the deciding set. Lowe has failed to qualify for the world championships since, so this could be the last time he appears at the televised stages of the world championship.

The final between Taylor and Dudbridge looked for a long time as though it would be as close as the previous year’s classic between Taylor and Kevin Painter. Dudbridge led by 2 sets to 1, and having fallen 2-3 behind managed to level again. But Taylor then produced a surge to take the next three sets, and the 10th set provided a mere consolation for Dudbridge. Taylor prevailed 7-4 to claim the £60,000 first prize with his 12th title.

First Round

Lloyd 4 - 1 Verwey
Askew 3 - 4 Mason
Warriner 1 - 4 Williams
Mardle 4 - 2 Walsh
Scholten 4 - 2 Harvey
Ovens 4 - 1 Holden
Dudbridge 4 - 3 Burnett
Part 4 - 1 Convery
Manley 2 - 4 Schenk
Beaton 2 - 4 Hamilton
D.Smith 2 - 4 Anderson
Baxter 4 - 2 T.Jenkins
Painter 4 - 2 Jones
A. Jenkins 4 - 0 Evison
Priestley 4 - 1 Sams
Taylor 4 - 0 Roy

Second Round

Lloyd 4 - 3 Chris Mason
Williams 3 - 4 Mardle
Scholten 2 - 4 Ovens
Dudbridge 4 - 2 Part
Schenk 1 - 4 Hamilton
Anderson 4 - 2 Baxter
Painter 4 - 3 A. Jenkins
Priestley 0 - 4 Taylor

Quarter Finals

Lloyd 4 - 5 Mardle
Ovens 3 - 5 Dudbridge
Hamilton 1 - 5 Anderson
Painter 1 - Taylor

Semi Finals

Mardle 4 - 6 Dudbridge
Anderson 2 - 6 Taylor

Final

Dudbridge 4 - 7 Taylor
-wikipedia