World Darts Preview

Phil Taylor leads the way as the traditional Christmas darting feast begins at Alexandra Palace on Friday, live on Sky Sports, and this year £1 million in prize money is on the menu.

As well as having every dart live and exclusive on Sky Sports and in HD, skysports.com will also have live scoring from every match throughout the tournament as well as reports and reaction from Alexandra Palace.

Click Here for our special World Darts microsite.

The world's first £1 million darts tournament kicks off at Alexandra Palace on Friday with 14-time world champion Taylor a big odds-on shot to fill his Christmas sticking with the trophy and make it 15.

72 hopefuls line up in all from 24 countries in an unprecedented event in darts with the eventual winner starting 2010 in great style by picking up the £200,000 first prize on January 3.

Biggest prize

That represents the biggest cheque ever handed out to a darts player with the total prize pot of £1 million an increase of £260,000 on last year as the sport continues to flourish.

The action all gets underway at 7pm on Friday, live on Sky Sports 1 & HD1, with Wayne Mardle hoping to regain some sort of form as he takes on German qualifier Jyhan Artut.

Two-time champion of the world Dennis Priestley represents the old guard as the veteran Yorkshireman plays young gun Kevin McDine.

The champion also makes his entrance on the opening night of action, with Taylor playing veteran Colin Monk as he looks to add another world title after taking home all the major titles in a remarkable 2009 for him.

"It's really exciting for me and if I don't win the World Championship this year, I need my backside kicking because I'm in with my best chance ever," said Taylor.

"I'm playing better than ever now and everything's coming to plan. I've been putting everything into it."

Monk test

Monk, ranked 52nd in the PDC Order of Merit, has yet to defeat Taylor in a competitive game but lost only 6-4 in their last meeting and also hit a nine-dart finish earlier in 2009.

"Nobody wants to draw Phil but I've got to get on with it now," said Monk. "He's only a human being and I've got to hope things go my way and he has a bit of a stinker - but that doesn't happen much to a 14-time World Champion."

Friday's final game sees Scottish ace Robert Thornton take on the winner of the preliminary round clash between Denmark's Per Laursen and Philippines qualifier Christian Perez.

Play continues on Saturday and Sunday with sessions in both the afternoon and evening, with evening-only sessions taking place from Monday December 21 until Wednesday December 23 when the first round concludes.

Holland's Jan van der Rassel, the highest-ranked non-qualified player from the Players Championship Order of Merit this year, came into the tournament on Thursday as a replacement for Chinese number one Shi Yongsheng, who was forced to withdraw after being unable to receive a UK Visa.

Late entry

Van der Rassel takes on Germany's Tomas Seyler in the preliminary round on Tuesday.

World number two Raymond van Barneveld begins his bid for a sixth World Championship title on Sunday when he faces New Zealand's Oceanic Masters champion Warren Parry.

James Wade, the world number three and 2009 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts winner, meets Bristol's Steve Brown in his first round game on Wednesday.

Play in the £1 million event will continue post-Christmas and concludes with the final and a third-fourth place play-off on Sunday January 3.

All sessions are shown live in on Sky Sports in High Definition.