2008 Grand Slam of Darts
The 2008 PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts was the second staging of the darts tournament, the Grand Slam of Darts organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place from 15 to 23 November 2008 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England. As with 2007, the tournament included players from both the PDC and BDO organisations.
Phil Taylor successfully defended the title after defeating Terry Jenkins 18–9 in the final.
James Wade also hit the first nine-dart finish in the history of this tournament, during his second round defeat by Gary Anderson.
Prize Fund
The prize fund for the 2008 tournament was as follows:Qualifying
There were 15 tournaments that provided qualifying opportunities to players. Most tournaments offered a qualifying position for the winner and runner-up of the tournament, however the World Championships and the 2007 Grand Slam also offered a place in the tournament to the losing semi-finalists. There were also various other ways of qualifying for overseas players, including those from Australia and the United States, as well as a wildcard qualifying event open to any darts player.Qualifying tournaments
BDO
For the second year running, Martin Adams declined his invitation to take part in the competition.Other qualifiers
| Criteria | Player | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC North America Order of Merit Leader | ![]() Pro-Celebrity ChallengeAs a curtain-raiser for the main Grand Slam of Darts, a competition involving eight celebrities and eight of the professionals taking part in the Grand Slam took place on the Friday before the tournament. The winners of the tournament collected a first prize of £8,000. In a closely fought final, James Wade and Steve Backley won a final-leg decider over Phil Taylor and Neil Ruddock, with Backley's double two checkout sealing the victory. Those involved were:Draw and results''all matches first-to-3/best of 5.'' DrawGroup stagesAll matches first-to-5/best of 9.NB in Brackets: Number = Seeds; BDO = BDO Darts player; Q = Qualifier NB: P = Played; W = Won; L = Lost; LF = Legs for; LA = Legs against; +/- = Plus/minus record, in relation to legs; Average = 3-dart average; Pts = Points. Group A15 November16 November 17 November Group B15 November16 November 17 November Nine-dart shootoutWith Andy Hamilton and Alan Tabern finishing level on points and leg difference, a piece of history was made, with a nine-dart shootout between the two to see who would play Phil Taylor in the second round. The match took place after the conclusion of Tuesday's second round matches.
|

