World Series of Darts (2006 tournament)
| World Series of Darts | |
|---|---|
| Tournament information | |
| Venue | Mohegan Sun Resort |
| Location | Uncasville, Connecticut |
| Country | United States |
| Established | 2006 |
| Organisation(s) | PDC |
| Format | Legs |
| Prize fund | $300,000 (2006) |
| Month(s) Played | May |
| Final Year | 2006 |
| Final champion(s) | |
 Phil Taylor
|
|
The World Series of Darts was a Professional Darts Corporation event which was introduced in 2006. The event was not a ratings success in the United States and the PDC decided to replace it with another new tournament, the US Open for 2007.
It was held in the USA and saw the top 16 ranked Professional Darts Corporation players take on 16 American players, 12 of which will be winners from several tournaments and 4 from a 'Friday Night Madness' at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. The PDC offered an aspirational prize of US$1,000,000 if an American player won the tournament. The prize for a non-US winner was US$100,000.
2006 showed a huge gulf in class between the PDC pros and the American challengers, with only one home-player out of the 16 that started the tournament, John Kuczynski, getting through to the last 16 after a 6–5 (legs) defeat of John Part. He then lost to Wayne Mardle in the last 16.
15 of the 16 seeds would progress to the second round as the World Series of Darts got underway. The American home players struggling against the higher ranked pros from the PDC. – The $1m prize for an American winner seemed remote as over half of the 16 first round matches – (nine of the 16 games) were won in under nine legs. Three were 6–0 whitewashes, with four 6-1's and two 6-2's.
The American hero was John "Jonny K" Kuczynski the American number one went through to the second round with a tight 6–5 first round victory over two time World Champion John Part. – in the only match to reach the eleventh and final leg – Part led 2–1 early in the match before Kuczynski reeled off three straight legs to move 4–2 in front and the Americans began to cheer their hero on. A brilliant 161 check-out from Part took the 7th leg and then he levelled despite a 180 from his opponent. The match now was best of three legs to win a place in the second round. Part had a chance in the ninth as well, missing double top to go 5–4 as the American did so.
Roles reversed in leg 10 as Kuczynski missed double ten to hit a 140 out shot to go through. – John Part taking the match to a deciding sudden death leg with a 93 shot. A third 180 from Kuczynski in the decider put him in the driving seat before he missed double top to go through. Part stepped up and after 84 from two darts needed double 16 to win, he missed and Johnny K hit the 40 he needed to make it through to round 2.
For the main PDC players, number one seed Colin Lloyd went through to the second round a 6–2 winner over Isen Veljic, Phil Taylor – world champion won 6–2 against Tim O'Gorman and Ronnie Baxter went through an easy 6–1 winner over Brad Wethington.
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