Players Championship Finals

Players Championship Finals
Tournament information
VenueButlins Resort
LocationMinehead
CountryEngland
Established2009
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£600,000
Month(s) PlayedNovember
Current champion(s)
 Luke Humphries

The Players Championship Finals is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament originally featured the top 32 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit, a separate ranking system that only takes into account the non-televised Players Championship events on the PDC Pro Tour. In 2016, the field increased to 64 players.[1]

The tournament was first announced at the PDC Awards Dinner in January 2008 by PDC chairman Barry Hearn.[2] It was initially held from late January to February,[3] and originally took place at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, the venue for the first 14 PDC World Championships.[4] For the third edition, the event moved to the Doncaster Dome.[5] The 2012 edition took place in December at Butlins Minehead and has remained at that venue for all subsequent tournaments,[6] with the exception of the 2020 tournament, which was moved to Coventry, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finals

Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
2009 England Phil Taylor (98.04) 16–9 Scotland Robert Thornton (88.52) £200,000 £50,000 £25,000 Coral.co.uk Circus Tavern, Purfleet
2010 Australia Paul Nicholson (92.75) 13–11 England Mervyn King (89.74) £250,000 £60,000 £24,000 totesport.com
2011 (Feb) England Phil Taylor (97.01) 13–12 Scotland Gary Anderson (96.31) Perform Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2011 (Dec) England Kevin Painter (96.28) 13–9 Wales Mark Webster (93.31) Cash Converters
2012 England Phil Taylor (103.57) 13–6 Belgium Kim Huybrechts (91.70) Butlins Resort, Minehead
2013 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (102.45) 11–7 England Phil Taylor (102.64)
2014 Scotland Gary Anderson (101.01) 11–6 England Adrian Lewis (95.37) £300,000 £65,000 £35,000
2015 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (100.32) 11–6 England Adrian Lewis (89.17)
2016 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (108.34) 11–3 England Dave Chisnall (99.24) £400,000 £75,000
2017 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (105.50) 11–2 Wales Jonny Clayton (94.64) £460,000 £100,000 £40,000 Mr Green Sport
2018 Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney (95.61) 11–9 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (100.20) Ladbrokes
2019 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (97.92) 11–9 Wales Gerwyn Price (96.48) £500,000 £50,000
2020 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (104.98) 11–10 England Mervyn King (99.78) Ricoh Arena, Coventry
2021 Scotland Peter Wright (95.49) 11–10 England Ryan Searle (92.10) Butlins Resort, Minehead
2022 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (99.92) 11–6 England Rob Cross (100.33) Cazoo
2023 England Luke Humphries (100.75) 11–9 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (103.19) £600,000 £120,000 £60,000
2024 England Luke Humphries (103.69) 11–7 England Luke Littler (100.08) Ladbrokes

Records and statistics

As of 24 November 2024

Total finalist appearances

Rank Player Nationality Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
1 Michael van Gerwen Netherlands Netherlands 7 2 9 16
2 Phil Taylor England England 3 1 4 9
3 Luke Humphries England England 2 0 2 6
4 Gary Anderson Scotland Scotland 1 1 2 15
5 Daryl Gurney Northern Ireland Northern Ireland 1 0 1 10
Paul Nicholson Australia Australia 1 0 1 5
Kevin Painter England England 1 0 1 9
Peter Wright Scotland Scotland 1 0 1 13
9 Mervyn King England England 0 2 2 16
Adrian Lewis England England 0 2 2 14
11 Dave Chisnall England England 0 1 1 14
Jonny Clayton Wales Wales 0 1 1 9
Rob Cross England England 0 1 1 8
Kim Huybrechts Belgium Belgium 0 1 1 13
Luke Littler England England 0 1 1 1
Gerwyn Price Wales Wales 0 1 1 10
Ryan Searle England England 0 1 1 8
Robert Thornton Scotland Scotland 0 1 1 9
Mark Webster Wales Wales 0 1 1 7
  • Active players are shown in bold
  • Only players who reached the final are included
  • In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by family name

Champions by country

Country Players Total First title Last title
 Netherlands 1 7 2013 2022
 England 3 6 2009 2024
 Scotland 2 2 2014 2021
 Australia 1 1 2010 2010
 Northern Ireland 1 1 2018 2018

Nine-dart finishes

Four nine-darters have been thrown at the Players Championship Finals. The first one was in 2016, which is the only one of the four that wasn't done on the Main Stage.

Player Year (+ Round) Method Opponent Result
England Alan Norris 2016, Last 64 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 England Michael Smith Won
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2019, Last 32 3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12 England Adrian Lewis Won
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2022, Final 2 x T20, T19; 3 x T20; 2 x T20, D12 England Rob Cross Won
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2023, Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 England Luke Humphries Lost

High averages

Players Championship Finals ten highest one-match averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
118.52 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2023, Last 32 England Ross Smith 6–1
112.73 England Luke Littler 2024, Last 64 England Rob Cross 6–0
112.27 Northern Ireland Josh Rock 2023, Last 32 Germany Gabriel Clemens 3–6
112.05 Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode 2022, Last 16 England Ryan Searle 10–9
111.58 England Phil Taylor 2013, Quarter-Final Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 9–2
111.12 England Ian White 2018, Last 64 England Scott Taylor 6–2
110.62 Scotland Gary Anderson 2014, Last 32 Netherlands Christian Kist 6–5
110.02 Scotland Gary Anderson 2018, Quarter-Final Wales Jonny Clayton 10–4
110.01 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2020, Quarter-Final Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode 10–5
109.88 England Dave Chisnall 2023, Last 32 England Chris Dobey 6–4
Five highest losing averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
112.27 Northern Ireland Josh Rock 2023, Last 32 Germany Gabriel Clemens 3–6
107.79 Croatia Boris Krčmar 2020, Last 64 England Michael Smith 5–6
107.12 Netherlands Jermaine Wattimena 2020, Last 32 England Luke Humphries 4–6
105.85 Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney 2016, Last 32 Belgium Kim Huybrechts 1–6
105.79 Wales Gerwyn Price 2018, Last 64 Poland Krzysztof Ratajski 5–6
Different players with a 100+ match average – updated 24/11/24
Player Total Highest Av. Year (+ Round)
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 40 118.52 2023, Last 32
England Phil Taylor 18 111.58 2013, Quarter-Final
Scotland Gary Anderson 16 110.62 2014, Last 32
England Luke Humphries 10 107.60 2020, Last 32
Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney 8 108.81 2024, Last 64
Scotland Peter Wright 8 104.83 2020, Last 64
England Stephen Bunting 7 107.03 2019, Last 16
England Luke Littler 6 112.73 2024, Last 64
England Ian White 6 111.12 2018, Last 64
Wales Gerwyn Price 6 108.75 2019, Quarter-Final
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 6 107.40 2016, Last 64
England Mervyn King 6 105.12 2020, Last 64
England Adrian Lewis 6 105.03 2014, Last 32
England Rob Cross 6 104.17 2022, Quarter-Final
England James Wade 6 102.95 2014, Last 32
Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode 5 112.05 2022, Last 16
England Dave Chisnall 5 109.88 2023, Last 32
Belgium Kim Huybrechts 5 108.10 2016, Last 32
England Ryan Searle 5 106.62 2023, Last 32
England Michael Smith 5 103.04 2020, Last 32
Netherlands Jermaine Wattimena 4 107.12 2020, Last 32
Netherlands Danny Noppert 3 106.59 2022, Last 64
England Ross Smith 3 105.26 2024, Quarter-Final
England Colin Lloyd 3 102.36 2010, Last 16
Australia Simon Whitlock 2 109.54 2012, Last 16
England Ryan Meikle 2 108.76 2021, Last 64
Netherlands Jelle Klaasen 2 108.74 2014, Last 32
England Alan Norris 2 106.24 2016, Last 64
Netherlands Vincent van der Voort 2 104.86 2014, Last 32
England Chris Dobey 2 103.50 2021, Last 64
England Wes Newton 2 103.14 2011(Feb), Last 32
Portugal José de Sousa 2 102.96 2020, Last 16
Germany Gabriel Clemens 2 102.20 2019, Last 16
England Nathan Aspinall 2 101.66 2020, Last 32
England Andrew Gilding 2 100.91 2022, Last 64
England Terry Jenkins 2 100.89 2014, Last 32
England Andy Smith 2 100.36 2011(Feb), Quarter-Final
Netherlands Jeffrey de Zwaan 2 100.32 2020, Last 64
Northern Ireland Josh Rock 1 112.27 2023, Last 32
Croatia Boris Krčmar 1 107.79 2020, Last 64
England Robbie Green 1 105.79 2016, Last 32
Netherlands Benito van de Pas 1 105.39 2015, Last 16
Poland Krzysztof Ratajski 1 105.38 2018, Last 64
England Ritchie Edhouse 1 105.35 2024, Last 32
Scotland Robert Thornton 1 104.21 2013, Last 32
Netherlands Gian van Veen 1 104.21 2024, Last 64
England Dean Winstanley 1 103.94 2014, Last 32
Germany Ricardo Pietreczko 1 103.36 2023, Last 32
England Darren Webster 1 103.32 2017, Last 32
Republic of Ireland William O'Connor 1 102.85 2020, Last 64
Austria Mensur Suljović 1 102.79 2016, Last 64
Germany Martin Schindler 1 102.17 2022, Last 64
Republic of Ireland Steve Lennon 1 102.16 2020, Last 64
England Andy Hamilton 1 102.16 2012, Quarter-Final
South Africa Devon Petersen 1 101.46 2020, Last 64
Belgium Mike De Decker 1 101.33 2024, Last 32
England Joe Cullen 1 101.33 2016, Last 32
Wales Jonny Clayton 1 101.28 2020, Last 64
Netherlands Jeffrey de Graaf 1 101.22 2016, Last 32
England Scott Williams 1 101.08 2024, Last 16
Scotland Andy Boulton 1 100.86 2021, Last 64
Netherlands Niels Zonneveld 1 100.85 2023, Last 64
Republic of Ireland Keane Barry 1 100.70 2022, Last 32
Netherlands Christian Kist 1 100.40 2014, Last 32
England Wayne Jones 1 100.13 2020, Last 64
England Callan Rydz 1 100.10 2021, Last 32
Wales Mark Webster 1 100.02 2011(Feb), Last 32
Five highest tournament averages (min 3 matches)
Average Player Year Round (+result
105.42 Scotland Gary Anderson 2018 Semi-Final
105.20 England Phil Taylor 2014 Quarter-Final
105.16 England Luke Littler 2024 Final (Lost)
104.72 Scotland Gary Anderson 2014 Final (Won)
104.37 England Phil Taylor 2013 Final (Lost)

Television coverage

In the UK and Ireland, the first two tournaments were broadcast on ITV4 with the third edition being screened by PDC TV. The fourth edition returned to ITV4 where it has stayed ever since and ITV4 signed a long-term deal to cover the European Championships, Players Championships, UK Open and new tournament the Masters from 2014 to 2016.[7]

TV broadcasters

  • 2009–2010: ITV4
  • February 2011: PDC TV
  • December 2011–present: ITV4

References

  1. ^ 2008 Order of Merit explanation Archived 2008-12-19 at the Wayback Machine from the Professional Darts Corporation, retrieved 19-11-2008
  2. ^ PDC website report – PDC To Introduce New Events from the Professional Darts Corporation, retrieved 19-11-2008
  3. ^ PDC website report – 2009 PDC Calendar from the Professional Darts Corporation, retrieved 19-11-2008
  4. ^ PDC website report – PDC Return To Circus Tavern Archived 2008-11-04 at the Wayback Machine from the Professional Darts Corporation, retrieved 19-11-2008
  5. ^ "2011 Players Championship Finals Tickets". Professional Darts Corporation. PDC & Perform Ltd. 2 December 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  6. ^ "Butlins Minehead To Host Cash Converters Players Championship". Planet Darts. 30 March 2012.
  7. ^ pdc.tv Archived September 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine