The 2010 Championship League Darts was the third edition of a darts competition — the Championship League Darts. The competition is organized and held by the Professional Darts Corporation, with the 2010 edition having a maximum prize fund of £189,000.
Contents
The format of the tournament is similar to the Premier League Darts tournament, also organized by the PDC, except it is contested by a larger pool of players who are split up into a number of groups.
Every match could be watched on one of the ten bookmaker websites who broadcast the competition. The tournament was available globally through the internet, except in the United States of America where it cannot be shown for legal reasons.
Format
The first group consisted of the top eight players from the PDC Order of Merit who were available for the competition. These eight players played each other over the course of a day, receiving two points for each win. All matches were contested over a maximum of 11 legs with a player winning the match on reaching 6 legs. After all players had played each other, the four players with the most points progressed to the semi-finals with the winners of those matches progressing into the final.
The winner of the final progressed to the winners group which took place at the end of the competition. The runner-up, losing semi-finalists and the players finishing fifth and sixth moved into group two, where they were joined by the next three players in the Order of Merit. The format of the second group was the same as the first group with players moving into the third group. In total there were 8 groups before the final group took place.
This format ensures that all players who do not win the group or finish in the last two positions have another chance to qualify for the winners group.
Qualification
Players must have been in the top 29 places in the PDC Order of Merit following the 2010 World Matchplay in order to qualify. The top 31 places were used due to Mervyn King and Raymond van Barneveld withdrawing from the tournament through injury.
PDC Order of Merit following 2010 World Matchplay:
Prize money
The prize money remained unchanged from the previous two tournaments.
Groups 1–8
In groups 1–8 the prize money were as follows:
Winners group
In the winners group the prize money were as follows:
In addition the winners group had separate prizes for the winner, runner-up and losing semi-finalists. These prizes broke down as follows:
Tournament dates
The tournament took place over 9 days throughout September and October 2010. One group was played on each day. The dates were as follows:
The tournament took place at the Crondon Park Golf Club in Essex.
Group One
Played on Tuesday September 7.
Group Two
Played on Wednesday September 8.