2016 Premier League Darts

The 2016 Betway Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the twelfth edition of the tournament.

2016 Betway Premier League Darts
Winner
Michael van Gerwen
Runner-up
Phil Taylor
Score
11–3
Date
4 February–19 May 2016
Edition
12th
Number of players
10
Venues
16
Premier League Darts
< 2015 | 2016 | 2017 >

The event began on 4 February at the First Direct Arena in Leeds and ended with the Play-offs at The O2 Arena in London on 19 May. The tournament saw its first visit to the Netherlands after agreeing to go to the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam on 12 May, joining 15 other venues across the UK and Ireland.[1][2] This is the third year that the tournament was sponsored by Betway.

Gary Anderson was the defending champion, but he lost to Phil Taylor 10–7 in the semi-finals. Michael van Gerwen won his second Premier League Darts title by beating Taylor 11–3 in the final.[3]

Van Gerwen also recorded the highest televised 3-dart average of 123.40 against Michael Smith during night 4 in Aberdeen.

Format

The tournament format remained identical to that since 2013. During the first nine weeks (Phase 1) each player plays the other nine players once. The bottom two players are eliminated from the competition. In the next six weeks (phase 2), each player plays the other seven players once. Phase 2 consists of four weeks where five matches are played followed by two weeks where four matches are played. At the end of phase 2 the top four players contest the two semi-finals and the final in the play-off week.

Venues

Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena became the first arena from outside the British Isles to host a Premier League event, it replaced the Brighton Centre.

Leeds Newcastle upon Tyne Dublin Aberdeen
First Direct Arena
Thursday 4 February
Metro Radio Arena
Thursday 11 February
3Arena
Thursday 18 February
GE Oil & Gas Arena
Thursday 25 February
Exeter Nottingham Glasgow Liverpool
Westpoint Arena
Thursday 3 March
Motorpoint Arena Nottingham
Thursday 10 March
SSE Hydro
Thursday 17 March
Echo Arena
Thursday 24 March
Cardiff Sheffield Belfast Bournemouth
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
Thursday 31 March
Sheffield Arena
Thursday 7 April
SSE Arena Belfast
Thursday 14 April
Bournemouth International Centre
Thursday 21 April
Birmingham Manchester Rotterdam London
Barclaycard Arena
Thursday 28 April
Manchester Arena
Thursday 5 May
Rotterdam Ahoy
Thursday 12 May
The O2
Thursday 19 May

Players

The players in this year's tournament were announced following the 2016 PDC World Darts Championship final on 3 January 2016, with the top four of the PDC Order of Merit joined by six Wildcards.[1] The ten players made up the top ten in the PDC Order of Merit following the World Championship. Stephen Bunting (world number 16) and Kim Huybrechts (world number 14) did not return from last year. Robert Thornton returned after a year out, and Michael Smith made his début.

Player Appearance in
Premier League
Consecutive
Streak
Order of Merit
Rank
Previous best performance Qualification
Michael van Gerwen 4th 4 1 Winner (2013) Order of Merit
Gary Anderson 6th 6 2 Winner (2011, 2015) Order of Merit
Adrian Lewis 9th 7 3 Runner-up (2011) Order of Merit
Phil Taylor 12th 12 4 Winner (2005–2008, 2010, 2012) Order of Merit
Peter Wright 3rd 3 5 5th (2014) PDC Wildcard
James Wade 8th 2 6 Winner (2009) PDC Wildcard
Robert Thornton 3rd 1 7 5th (2013) PDC Wildcard
Michael Smith 1st 1 8 Debut PDC Wildcard
Raymond van Barneveld 11th 11 9 Winner (2014) Sky Sports Wildcard
Dave Chisnall 3rd 3 10 Semi-finals (2015) Sky Sports Wildcard

Prize money

The 2016 Premier League saw the introduction of a £25,000 League Leader's Bonus for the player who topped the league table following the 15 league nights, taking the total prize fund for the event up to £725,000 from £700,000 in 2015.[4]

StagePrize Money
Winner£200,000
Runner-up£100,000
Semi-finalists (x2)£75,000
5th place£60,000
6th place£50,000
7th place£45,000
8th place£40,000
9th place£30,000
10th place£25,000
League Winner Bonus£25,000
Total£725,000

Results

League stage

[5]

Play-offs – 19 May

The O2 Arena, London

Score
Semi-finals (best of 19 legs)
Michael van Gerwen
103.19
10 – 4 Adrian Lewis
95.47
Phil Taylor
98.21
10 – 7 Gary Anderson
96.86
Final (best of 21 legs)
Michael van Gerwen
104.68
11 – 3 Phil Taylor
98.84
Night's Average: 99.54
Highest Checkout: Michael van Gerwen 121

League summary

Table

After the first nine weeks (phase 1), the bottom two in the table are eliminated. Each remaining player plays a further seven matches (phase 2). The top four players then compete in the playoffs.

When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.

# Name Pts Pld W D L LF LA +/- LWAT 100+ 140+ 180s A[9] HC C%
1 Michael van Gerwen W2616114110563+423918714462107.9317049.30%
2 Phil Taylor RU2416112310065+353622813852101.1514146.51%
3 Gary Anderson20168449281+113022213448100.15 14440.35%
4 Adrian Lewis19169168979+10322231093896.5014440.09%
5 Peter Wright171665586860272391425299.0416140.00%
6 James Wade16167278289−7272561433597.5316142.71%
7 Raymond van Barneveld12165298694−8252441694497.8816138.05%
8 Robert Thornton616221260103−43102201003392.2614535.93%
9 Dave Chisnall391174155−1417101673798.4411635.96%
10 Michael Smith391173460−2614103422491.4012237.36%

Last updated: 12 May 2016
Source: Match reports from the results section.

Top four qualified for the Play-offs after Week 15.
NB: LWAT = Legs Won Against Throw. A = Average C% = Checkout Percentage HC = High Checkout.

Positions by round

Player Round
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Michael van Gerwen 6 6 4 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 1
Phil Taylor 7 7 5 4 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2
Gary Anderson 7 8 9 8 6 6 3 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 3
Adrian Lewis 2 1 2 3 4 3 5 4 4 3 3 4 4 4 4
Peter Wright 3 2 1 1 3 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 6 5 5
James Wade 5 3 6 6 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6
Raymond van Barneveld 3 5 3 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 7 7 7
Robert Thornton 10 10 10 9 10 10 10 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Dave Chisnall 1 4 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 Eliminated
Michael Smith 9 9 8 10 9 9 9 10 10

References

  1. "2016 Betway Premier League Field". PDC. 3 January 2016. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  2. "2016 Betway Premier League Dates". PDC. 14 August 2015. Archived from the original on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  3. "How Van Gerwen won the Premier League". BBC Sport. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  4. "League Leader's Bonus Introduced". PDC. 3 February 2016. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016.
  5. http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1khviz5m0rw812mm94p5cu2ie/title/2016%%5B%5D
  6. "Betway Premier League Fixtures". PDC. 26 January 2016. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  7. "Betway Premier League Night Two". PDC. 26 January 2016.
  8. "News | PDC". Pdc.tv. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  9. "2016 Premier League Stats: Tournament Average". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.