Players Championship Finals

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]

Players Championship Finals
Tournament information
VenueButlins Resort
LocationMinehead
CountryEngland
Established2009
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£500,000
Month(s) PlayedNovember
Current champion(s)
Michael van Gerwen

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 in Minehead and has remained at that venue for all subsequent tournaments.[6]

Finals
Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
2009 Phil Taylor (98.04) 16–9 Robert Thornton (88.52) £200,000 £50,000 £25,000 coral.co.uk Circus Tavern, Purfleet
2010 Paul Nicholson (92.75) 13–11 Mervyn King (89.74) £250,000 £60,000 £24,000 totesport.com
2011 (Feb) Phil Taylor (97.01) 13–12 Gary Anderson (96.31) Perform Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2011 (Dec) Kevin Painter (96.28) 13–9 Mark Webster (93.31) Cash Converters
2012 Phil Taylor (103.57) 13–6 Kim Huybrechts (91.70) Butlins Resort, Minehead
2013 Michael van Gerwen (102.45) 11–7 Phil Taylor (102.64)
2014 Gary Anderson (101.01) 11–6 Adrian Lewis (95.37) £300,000 £65,000 £35,000
2015 Michael van Gerwen (100.32) 11–6 Adrian Lewis (89.17)
2016 Michael van Gerwen (108.34) 11–3 Dave Chisnall (99.24) £400,000 £75,000
2017 Michael van Gerwen (105.50) 11–2 Jonny Clayton (94.64) £460,000 £100,000 £40,000 Mr Green Sport
2018 Daryl Gurney (95.61) 11–9 Michael van Gerwen (100.20) Ladbrokes
2019 Michael van Gerwen (97.92) 11–9 Gerwyn Price (96.48) £500,000 £50,000
2020

Records and statistics
As of 24 November 2019.

Total finalist appearances
Rank Player Nationality Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
1 Michael van Gerwen Netherlands51611
2 Phil Taylor England3149
3 Gary Anderson Scotland11210
4 Kevin Painter England1019
Paul Nicholson Australia1015
Daryl Gurney Northern Ireland1015
7 Adrian Lewis England02211
8 Mervyn King England01112
Robert Thornton Scotland0119
Dave Chisnall England0119
Kim Huybrechts Belgium0118
Mark Webster Wales0117
Gerwyn Price Wales0115
Jonny Clayton Wales0114

Champions by country
Country Players Total First title Last title
 Netherlands 1 5 2013 2019
 England 2 4 2009 2012
 Australia 1 1 2010 2010
 Scotland 1 1 2014 2014
 Northern Ireland 1 1 2018 2018

Nine-dart finishes

Two nine-darters have been thrown at the Players Championship Finals. The first one was in 2016.

Player Year (+ Round) Method Opponent Result
Alan Norris 2016, Last 64 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Michael Smith Won
Michael van Gerwen 2019, Last 32 3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12 Adrian Lewis Won

High averages
Players Championship Finals ten highest one-match averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
111.58 Phil Taylor 2013, Quarter-Final Raymond van Barneveld 9–2
111.12 Ian White 2018, Last 64 Scott Taylor 6–2
110.62 Gary Anderson 2014, Last 32 Christian Kist 6–5
110.02 Gary Anderson 2018, Quarter-Final Jonny Clayton 10–4
109.54 Simon Whitlock 2012, Last 16 Ronnie Baxter 10–1
108.75 Gerwyn Price 2019, Quarter-Final Stephen Bunting 10–3
108.74 Jelle Klaasen 2014, Last 32 James Wade 6–4
108.63 Phil Taylor 2009, Last 16 Vincent van der Voort 6–3
108.49 Phil Taylor 2009, Last 32 Michael van Gerwen 6–3
108.34 Michael van Gerwen 2016, Final Dave Chisnall 11–3
Five highest losing averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
105.85 Daryl Gurney 2016, Last 32 Kim Huybrechts 1–6
105.79 Gerwyn Price 2018, Last 64 Krzysztof Ratajski 5–6
105.51 Dave Chisnall 2015, Quarter-Final Michael van Gerwen 7–10
104.58 Phil Taylor 2014, Quarter-Final Gary Anderson 6–10
104.48 Adrian Lewis 2013, Last 16 Michael van Gerwen 6–9
Different players with a 100+ match average – updated 24/11/19
Player Total Highest Av. Year (+ Round)
Michael van Gerwen 27 108.34 2016, Final
Phil Taylor 18 111.58 2013, Quarter-Final
Gary Anderson 15 110.62 2014, Last 32
Adrian Lewis 6 105.03 2014, Last 32
Gerwyn Price 5 108.75 2019, Quarter-Final
Raymond van Barneveld 5 107.40 2016, Last 64
Stephen Bunting 5 107.03 2019, Last 16
Daryl Gurney 5 105.85 2016, Last 32
Peter Wright 5 104.61 2016, Last 32
Ian White 4 111.12 2018, Last 64
Kim Huybrechts 4 108.10 2016, Last 32
Mervyn King 4 105.09 2019, Last 16
Rob Cross 3 104.04 2017, Last 32
James Wade 3 102.95 2014, Last 32
Colin Lloyd 3 102.36 2010, Last 16
Simon Whitlock 2 109.54 2012, Last 16
Jelle Klaasen 2 108.74 2014, Last 32
Alan Norris 2 106.24 2016, Last 64
Dave Chisnall 2 105.51 2015, Quarter-Final
Vincent van der Voort 2 104.86 2014, Last 32
Wes Newton 2 103.14 2011(Feb), Last 32
Terry Jenkins 2 100.89 2014, Last 32
Andy Smith 2 100.36 2011(Feb), Quarter-Final
Robbie Green 1 105.79 2016, Last 32
Benito van de Pas 1 105.39 2015, Last 16
Krzysztof Ratajski 1 105.38 2018, Last 64
Robert Thornton 1 104.21 2013, Last 32
Dean Winstanley 1 103.94 2014, Last 32
Darren Webster 1 103.32 2017, Last 32
Mensur Suljović 1 102.79 2016, Last 64
José de Sousa 1 102.76 2019, Last 32
Gabriel Clemens 1 102.20 2019, Last 16
Andy Hamilton 1 102.16 2012, Quarter-Final
Joe Cullen 1 101.33 2016, Last 32
Jeffrey de Graaf 1 101.22 2016, Last 32
Christian Kist 1 100.40 2014, Last 32
Michael Smith 1 100.36 2019, Last 16
Mark Webster 1 100.02 2011(Feb), Last 32
Five highest tournament averages (min 3 matches)
Average Player Year Round (+result)
105.42 Gary Anderson 2018 Semi-Final
105.20 Phil Taylor 2014 Quarter-Final
104.72 Gary Anderson 2014 Final (Won)
104.37 Phil Taylor 2013 Final (Lost)
104.23 Michael van Gerwen 2017 Final (Won)

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
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