1993 - Issue 249: Winmau Masters 'Not Affected' By Code War.

By DW Editorial Staff 25/07/2020

Well not in terms of continuing to be staged anyway. Despite the rumours of the event being a casualty of the 'Code Wars' it was clear that the Winmau World Masters would continue. However, as the event was organised by the BDO, and acknowledged by the WDF, there would only be representative players from those organisations and their affiliates.

Indeed the 1993 staging of the Winmau World Masters was later trumpeted as a resounding success a look at the field reveals a very strong cast of the generation that was too soon flower in the absence of the WDC sixteen. Baxter, Part, Scholten, Martin Adams, and Martin Phillips would all goo on to shine within the weakened BDO code.

The Masters itself had always been an event for invited or qualified champions of various nations from the beginning so the varying of selection/invitation criteria was not a huge blow for the renowned event. In some ways, it made the Masters a less predictable, and more interesting, event that was still connected to its roots.

Sadly over time, this weakening of the field and the difficulty in securing reliable TV coverage began to diminish the event's significance. By the 2010's it has become one of only two/three truly major events to survive the PDC/SKY era.