Nine-time world champion Phil Taylor whitewashed second-time finalist Peter Manley 7–0 in the final.

He defeated Paul Williams, Shayne Burgess, the 2001 tournament runner-up John Part, and Dave Askew on his way to the final.

[7] The remaining place was decided by a play-off round contested by members of the Professional Dart Players Association at the Beaufort Arms, Birmingham on 8 December 2001.

[6] Matt Chapman was the player who advanced from qualifying to the main draw,[8] making his debut and only appearance at the tournament.

[9] Six more players debuted in the competition: Ronnie Baxter, Steve Beaton, Andy Jenkins, Chris Mason, Kevin Painter and Paul Williams after they moved to the PDC from the BDO.

[6] Sponsored by the lager company Skol,[11] the tournament had a total prize fund of £205,000,[3] and the host broadcaster was Sky Sports.

[11] Bookmakers and pundits considered Taylor the favourite to claim his eighth world championship in a row and tenth overall.

[12][13][14] Taylor said he had practised heavily to prepare for the tournament after he lost to Painter in the first round of the World Grand Prix: "I'm hungrier than I've ever been, so all those players who feel I can be beaten are going to be shown I am out to win and no one will be in my way.

[16] Colin Lloyd won 4–2 over Alex Roy after he came from 2–0 behind in the first and completing the fourth set with a 100 checkout.

[18] Former world champion and eighth ranked Richie Burnett compiled checkouts of 142 and 124 points to defeat Peter Evison 4–1,[17][19] a game which saw Evison fail to complete a nine-dart finish in the first leg of the third set after one of his darts landed less than 0.25 in (6.4 mm) away from the double 18 outer ring.

[20] The Irish Masters champion Denis Ovens converted a two-set deficit to Jenkins to force a final set decider which he won to claim a 4–3 victory.

[17] World number four Peter Manley achieved set victories of 3–1 and 3–0 to lead Steve Brown 2–0.

Harvey then missed five dart throws to land in an outer double ring and Burgess won the match.

[22] Dave Askew defeated the English Open champion Mason 4–3 in a seven-set match.

[22] The World Grand Prix runner-up Roland Scholten won 4–1 over Cliff Lazarenko.

[27][28] Harrington kicking Deller was the catalyst for the creation of the exclusion zone, an area that players are not allowed to enter when their opponent is in action.

[29] In the first round's final match the two-time world champion Dennis Priestley lost a solitary set in a 4–1 win over Chapman.

Baxter's higher finishing average won him six consecutive legs in the middle of the game en route to victory.

[38] Part compiled ten maximum scores (180), checkouts of 116 and 117 and achieved a three-dart average of 98.68 points to complete a 6–0 whitewash of Beaton.

[38][39] The final second round match saw Priestley play the two time World Matchplay champion Harrington.

Lloyd took three successive legs to win the match 6–4 and was the first player to earn a semi-final berth.

[40] Lloyd said post-match that he was surprised over his early lead: "I've played good darts in the last three games but I've let them come back at me.

Both players shared the following two sets; Manley took the fourth on the outer double ten ring and Lloyd the fifth from checkouts of 134 and 91.

[45][46] Manley said he was annoyed with the easy removal of flights on Lloyd's darts and felt the latter slowed the match.

Lloyd stated a warm arena reduced his hand grip and denied employing gamesmanship to slow Manley.

Manley appeared in his second world championship final, having finished runner-up to Taylor in the 1999 tournament.

[51][54] Taylor led the fourth set 2–0 when he failed to convert a 100 checkout and Manley won the third leg.

In the first leg of the final set, Manley was unable to land a dart in the outer double ten ring and Taylor whitewashed him 7–0 to win the world championship.

[55] After the match, Manley did not shake Taylor's hand and walked off the stage to use the urinal facilities.

[52][54] Taylor said he was delighted to win the championship and represented Manley leaving the stage as less important than it was: "What you must remember is all the professionals are winners and Peter deserved to be up here in the final.