The 2007 SBets.net Las Vegas Desert Classic (also billed as Las Vegas Desert Classic VI) was the sixth time that the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

stage the prestigious darts tournament. The tournament was held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino for the second successive year and was staged between July 3 and July 8, televised on Sky Sports from July 4 - there was no title sponsor for the event after PartyPoker.net's sponsorship lasted for just one year. The opening day of the tournament saw a few surprise results - none more so than when Mark Dudbridge stunned three-time Desert Classic champion Phil Taylor 6-5.

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

secured his third major PDC title of the year adding to his

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and

UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of seedin ...

successes by beating

Terry Jenkins Terry Jenkins (born 26 September 1963) is an English former professional darts player who was nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the name "Tucker" for his matches. He reached number three in the world rankings and was a runner-up in nin ...

in the final.

Prize money

The prize fund increases for the 2007 event to a total of £126,400. *Champion £20,000 *Runner-up £10,066 *Semi Finalists £7,000 *Quarter Finalists £5,000 *Second Round Losers £3,000 *First Round Losers £2,000 *Qualifying event prize fund £6,400.

Results

A random draw was held after each round meaning no seedings were applied.

Television coverage

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

broadcast the event live in the UK & Ireland for the 6th year running. The final between van Barneveld & Jenkins achieved viewing figures of 82,000 - although that was surpassed by other matches during the week. BARB viewing summary

Wednesday 120,000 (SS1) & 65,000 (SS2)
Thursday 90,000 (SS1) & 115,000 (SS2)
Friday unavailable
Saturday 87,000 (SS2)
Sunday 82,000 (SS1)

Qualification

Following the

2007 UK Open The 2007 Blue Square UK Open was the fifth year of the PDC's UK Open darts tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tourname ...

at the beginning of June, top 12 players of the PDC Order of Merit became the automatic qualifiers for the sixth Desert Classic. They are Phil Taylor,

Colin Lloyd Colin Edward Lloyd (born 7 August 1973), nicknamed Jaws, is an English retired professional darts player. He is a former world number one ranked player and has won two major television titles in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) – the ...

, Peter Manley,

Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...

, Adrian Lewis, Wayne Mardle,

Roland Scholten Roland Scholten (born 11 January 1965) is a Dutch former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). Nicknamed The Tripod and The Flying Dutchman, Scholten turne ...

, Andy Hamilton,

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

and defending champion John Part. Four North American's qualified for the event via qualification tournaments across the United States and Canada. They were Darin Young,

John Kuczynski John Kuczynski (born October 16, 1973 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania) is a former American professional darts player. He currently resides in Zion Grove, Pennsylvania and used the nickname Johnny K for his matches. Career For five years running ...

Gary Mawson Gary Mawson (born May 17, 1963) is a Canadian-born American professional darts player. He currently resides in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. Mawson played darts for the USA in 2004 and the years immediately following, having previously pl ...

and Gerry Convery. 16 further places were to be decided at two qualification days on the eve of the tournament itself. These qualifying events were for lower ranked

PDPA PDPA can refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan – a communist party * Personal Data Protection Act 2012 – a Singapore law governing the use and protection of personal data *Professional Dart Players Association – a trade associ ...

members and US residents. Eight players each day joined the automatic qualifiers in the first round of the main event. Monday's qualifiers were

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Op ...

, Steve Maish, Kevin Painter, Steve Beaton, Colin Osborne, Mervyn King, Ray Carver and Dennis Smith. Tuesday's qualifiers were Alan Tabern, Mark Dudbridge, John Ferrell,

Tony Eccles Tony Eccles (born 8 January 1970) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed The Viper, he played in both the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He reached the quarter-finals of the BD ...

Stuart Holden Stuart Alistair Holden (born August 1, 1985) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder, and is currently a lead TV game analyst for Fox Sports. Holden is part of the ownership group for Spanish La Liga soccer ...

, Andy Smith, Steve Smith, Vincent van der Voort.

Players Championship

On the eve of the Las Vegas Desert Classic a PDPA Players Championship event was held on Sunday July 1 and was won by

References

External links

Pictures from the 2007 Las Vegas Desert Classic
Planetdarts web site {{2007 in PDC darts Las Vegas Desert Classic

Las Vegas Desert Classic The Las Vegas Desert Classic was a darts tournament, organized by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and was held each year in July from 2002 until 2009. Its original venue was the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada from 2002 to ...