WDC UK Matchplay

{{Short description|Professional darts tournament}}

{{notability|date=February 2023}}

{{Infobox sports league

|title = UK Matchplay

|image =

|sport = Darts

|venue = Chesterfield (1993)
Sheffield (1994)
Doncaster (1995-96)

|country = England

|founded = {{start date|1993}}

|inaugural =

|folded = 1996

|tournament_format = Legs
Quadro board

|champion = {{flagicon|ENG}} Phil Taylor

|champ_season = 1996

}}

The WDC UK Matchplay was a professional darts tournament held from 1993 to 1996.{{cite book|title=PDC Darts|publisher=BookRix|author=Nigel Boeg|year=2021|isbn=9783748770367|edition=2nd}} It was broadcast on ITV's Yorkshire Television and sponsored by Skol lager. It was one of a series of events established by the World Darts Council following the acrimonious split in darts between the WDC and the British Darts Organisation in 1993, which led to the WDC's 16 players being banned from darts competitions worldwide by the BDO and a four-year legal battle.{{cite web|url=https://www.pdpa.co.uk/statistics/history/|work=pdpa.co.uk|title=History of Darts}}{{cite web|url=https://www.pdc.tv/news/2017/10/11/25-years-wdcs-first-event|work=pdc.tv|title=25 Years On - The WDC's First Event}} It is not to be confused with the PDC's World Matchplay event.

The tournament's innovation was the use of a Harrows "Quadro 240" dartboard, which had an extra scoring ring halfway between the treble ring and the bullseye that was worth quadruple points. Thus, the maximum number of points that could be scored in a single turn was 240, and the highest possible checkout was 210. Several players, including Jocky Wilson, Phil Taylor, Shayne Burgess, Bob Anderson and Peter Evison, scored a 240 maximum in the event.{{cite news|title=Master Warriner|url=|work=Hull Daily Mail|date=11 March 1995}}{{cite news|work=Sheffield Star Green 'Un|title=Skol title KO for Staffs pair|date=13 March 1993}} Bob Anderson checked out a 180 outshot in the 1994 final and Phil Taylor hit an outshot of 188 in the 1996 final.{{cite web|url=https://patrickchaplin.com/2019/10/07/the-quadro-240/|work=patrickchaplin.com|title=The Quadro 240}} The tournament also carried a £100,000 bonus prize for hitting a record seven-dart finish.{{cite news|work=Evening Sentinel|title=Seven-up the target for Phil|date=12 March 1993}} No one achieved this,{{cite news|title=The dartboard has had lots of variations over the years|url=https://issuu.com/dartsweekly/docs/darts_weekly_54|work=Darts Weekly|date=13 January 2017|page=12|issue=54}} though John Lowe came within one dart of a nine-dart finish in the 1993 event.