GARY ANDERSON and Mark Webster have accepted their invitations to participate in the £300,000 PartyPoker.net Grand Slam of Darts, to be televised by ITV. The duo reached the final of the recent Topic International Darts League in Holland, with Scotsman Anderson taking the title with a 13-9 win.
The pair have followed Lakeside finalist Phill Nixon, Holland's Niels de Ruiter and Shaun Greatbatch in accepting their invitations to the inaugural Grand Slam of Darts.
They will join the likes of Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld at the Wolverhampton Civic from 17-25 November to compete for the second largest prize fund in the sport.
"I'm looking forward to playing in this tournament," said Anderson, who defeated James Wade and Adrian Lewis - players inside the PDC's top 12 - on the way to the first major title of his career.
"I was delighted to win the IDL and this is another chance for me to compete against the best players in the world."
Welshman Webster followed up his run in Holland with victory in the Welsh Open last weekend, and burst onto the scene last year to reach the semi-finals at the World Masters.
"I applaud the ambition and courage of both Gary and Mark in accepting the challenge of competing in the Grand Slam of Darts," said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn.
"They both performed exceptionally well in the IDL and fully deserved their invitations to this tournament.
"It is great to see players grasping the opportunities to play on the really big stage for massive prize funds.
Hearn also expressed his disappointment that the BDO/WDF World Masters event has now been rescheduled from October and coincides with the first weekend of the Grand Slam of Darts.
"I was very surprised to hear this news," added Hearn. "The decision to move the World Masters to a date that clashes with the Grand Slam of Darts is total lunacy and I’m not sure who is to blame.
“If the BDO have moved the dates then all they are doing is depriving two of their players the chance of competing in the Grand Slam of Darts, as the finalists would have received an invitation.
”If it is a BBC decision, then they really should be ashamed of themselves for putting on their network an event worth only £30,000 last year up against ITV’s big-money Grand Slam of Darts.
“Either way, let’s hope common sense prevails and the decision is reversed because the people who are going to suffer from this are darts fans and darts players.”
