Back in 2007, when the Grand Slam of Darts made its debut on the PDC calendar, the event pitted the best in the PDC against the cream of its rival, the BDO.
Typically, Phil Taylor had dominated the early years of the competition, winning in 2007, 2008 and 2009, with that year seeing him hammer the BDO’s powerless Scott Waites 16-2 in the final.
In 2010 though, Taylor’s reign was ended in the quarter final stage, with Steve Beaton securing a famous and deserved 16-14 win at the Wolverhampton Civic.
At this point in time, Waites’ biggest achievement was winning the 2007 Dutch Open, and although he would go on to win two Lakeside World Championships and a Winmau World Masters, fans fondly remember his remarkable run all the way to the 2010 Grand Slam crown.
Waites was one of three BDO representatives to make it out of his group along with Tony O’Shea and Ted Hankey, as he secured wins against Adrian Lewis, Co Stompe and Martin Phillips, but with O’Shea and Hankey falling by the wayside in the last 16, it was left to ‘Scotty 2 Hotty’ to fly the BDO flag.
A 10-7 win against Raymond van Barneveld moved Waites into the quarter finals, and there, he averaged nearly 94 in a 16-10 win over Co Stompe, and he impressed again to make the final, averaging over 97 in an assured 16-9 win over Taylor’s conqueror Beaton.
Standing in Waites’ way in the final was a red-hot James Wade, who had already won the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Premier League and UK Open titles, and was eager to add the Grand Slam to his collection.
Waites felt a sense of Deja-vu from his thrashing at the hands of Taylor a year before, as Wade racked up a seemingly unassailable 8-0 lead, but ‘The Machine’ started to falter, a dart at tops missed the mark to make it 9-1, and several other key misses allowed Waites to claw the match back to 9-6 at the third interval.
Waites was on a roll, and he closed to 11-9, before sensationally levelling the tie with a 121 checkout, and pouncing on three Wade misses to lead for the first time.
The Halifax man was unstoppable, forging 15-12 ahead, and after wiring the bull to win it with an 85 finish, Waites pinned double eight to complete a quite incredible comeback and victory.
“At 8-0, I told myself to concentrate and just play my darts. Suddenly I drew level and then went in front,” said Waites, who pocketed £100,000 for his heroic efforts.
“Once that happened I wasn’t going to go behind again. To be honest, it still hasn’t sunk in and I will be in work in the morning.”
That win remains the sole BDO success at the tournament, with the organisation eventually becoming defunct and replaced by the WDF.
The Grand Slam is now exclusively a PDC ranking event.
