History was made by John Walton who became the first player to hit a perfect nine-dart finish in the televised stage of the tournament.

Michael van Gerwen was unable to defend his title, as he had decided to switch to the rival organisation, the Professional Darts Corporation - thereby making himself ineligible under the BDO's rules.

[citation needed] This meant that players from the BDO were forced into a direct choice between competing at the Masters for valuable ranking points or taking their place at the Grand Slam for better prize money.

[2] The other top BDO players who had qualified, including Gary Anderson, Scott Waites and Mark Webster competed at the Grand Slam and missed the Masters.

[citation needed] Adams plus the next seven highest ranked BDO players who hadn't qualified for the Grand Slam were later given seeding positions through to the BBC televised stages of the tournament for the first time.