The 2007 Stan James World Matchplay was the 14th annual staging of the World Matchplay darts tournament by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was held at its traditional home, the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, between 22 and 28 July 2007. James Wade won his first major title, defeating Terry Jenkins 18–7 in the final.

Defending and eight times champion, Phil Taylor suffered a semi-final defeat to Jenkins, meaning that he had surrendered both the World Championship and World Matchplay titles for the first time since the PDC began in 1994. Raymond van Barneveld, who went into this event having won the first three Sky TV majors of the year (World Championship, UK Open and Las Vegas Desert Classic) saw his hopes of the clean-sweep evaporate with a quarter-final defeat to Adrian Lewis. Barneveld was making his debut in the event having failed to qualify in 2006.

Both Lewis and Jenkins suffered hangovers from their victories over the two favourites as they lost their next matches - with James Wade capitalising. He beat Lewis in the semi-final and Jenkins in the final. Wade became the youngest winner of a PDC televised title at the age of 24 and also rose to number three in the world rankings.

Prize fund

Position (no. of players)Prize money (Total: £200,000)
Winner(1)£50,000
Runner-Up(1)£20,000
Semi-finalists(2)£10,000
Quarter-finalists(4)£7,500
Second round(8)£5,000
First round(16)£2,500
Nine-dart finish(0)£10,000

Qualification

PDC Top 16 England Phil Taylor (semi-finals) Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (quarter-finals) England Colin Lloyd (first round) England Peter Manley (first round) England Terry Jenkins (runner-up) England Dennis Priestley (second round) England Adrian Lewis (semi-finals) England Wayne Mardle (second round) Netherlands Roland Scholten (quarter-finals) England Andy Hamilton (second round) England James Wade (winner) Canada John Part (second round) England Ronnie Baxter (quarter-finals) England Andy Jenkins (second round) Wales Barrie Bates (second round) England Kevin Painter (second round)PDPA Players Championship qualifiers England Chris Mason (first round) England Mark Dudbridge (first round) England Mark Walsh (first round) England Colin Osborne (first round) England Denis Ovens (first round) England Wayne Jones (first round) England Alan Tabern (first round) England Wes Newton (first round) England Andy Smith (first round) England Alan Warriner-Little (first round) Republic of Ireland Mick McGowan (first round) England Mervyn King (quarter-finals) Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (second round) England Adrian Gray (first round) England Steve Beaton (first round) England Bob Anderson (first round)

Draw

First round (best of 19 legs) 22–24 JulySecond round (best of 25 legs) 24–25 JulyQuarter-finals (best of 31 legs) 26 JulySemi-finals (best of 33 legs) 27 JulyFinal (best of 35 legs) 28 July
1England Phil Taylor 97.8910
England Wes Newton 84.072
1England Phil Taylor 101.1513
16England Kevin Painter 95.406
16England Kevin Painter 89.7812
England Adrian Gray 84.7910
1England Phil Taylor 97.0616
9Netherlands Roland Scholten 85.331
8England Wayne Mardle 89.3810
England Mark Dudbridge 87.097
8England Wayne Mardle 94.406
9Netherlands Roland Scholten 93.2513
9Netherlands Roland Scholten 90.5813
England Chris Mason 88.6311
1England Phil Taylor 98.4411
5England Terry Jenkins 96.3317
5England Terry Jenkins 95.2310
England Alan Tabern 92.795
5England Terry Jenkins 92.9813
12Canada John Part 91.838
12Canada John Part 94.6210
England Alan Warriner-Little 85.005
5England Terry Jenkins 91.6116
13England Ronnie Baxter 87.0313
4England Peter Manley 79.579
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 88.0011
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 87.8112
13England Ronnie Baxter 87.7514
13England Ronnie Baxter 85.6110
England Bob Anderson 84.786
5England Terry Jenkins 91.627
11England James Wade 96.8318
2Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 95.6210
England Denis Ovens 94.817
2Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 100.5313
15Wales Barrie Bates 83.275
15Wales Barrie Bates 92.3610
England Andy Smith 85.328
2Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 94.2514
7England Adrian Lewis 96.8116
7England Adrian Lewis 90.0010
England Steve Beaton 83.244
7England Adrian Lewis 100.4513
10England Andy Hamilton 93.429
10England Andy Hamilton 79.6310
Republic of Ireland Mick McGowan 73.686
7England Adrian Lewis 101.267
11England James Wade 101.9017
6England Dennis Priestley 93.1310
England Colin Osborne 92.315
6England Dennis Priestley 90.8914
11England James Wade 86.6716
11England James Wade 88.8810
England Wayne Jones 87.407
11England James Wade 89.5316
England Mervyn King 88.5811
3England Colin Lloyd 89.624
England Mervyn King 92.0810
England Mervyn King 96.8513
14England Andy Jenkins 91.884
14England Andy Jenkins 88.8910
England Mark Walsh 89.586

Television coverage

Sky Sports broadcast the event live in the UK & Ireland for the 14th year running. The final between Wade & Jenkins achieved viewing figures of 183,000 - although that was surpassed by the quarter-finals on Thursday (188,000) and the semi-finals on Friday received the highest viewing figures with 240,000 (the third highest-rated programme on Sky Sports 1 for that week)

  • Results and reports from tournament