World Grand Prix (darts)

The BoyleSports World Grand Prix is a PDC darts tournament held in Dublin each October. Its original venue was the Casino Rooms in Rochester, Kent in 1998 and 1999, and then for one year only in 2000 at the Crosbie Cedars Hotel in Rosslare, County Wexford. In 2001, the tournament moved further north to the Citywest in Dublin. In 2009, the tournament moved from the Reception Hall at the main Citywest Hotel to the newly completed bigger venue on site, the Citywest Hotel Convention Centre. In 2012, the tournament moved back to the Reception Hall for that year, before returning to the Convention Centre in 2013. When the World Grand Prix was founded in 1998, it replaced the earlier World Pairs tournament which ran from 1995 to 1997.

World Grand Prix
Tournament information
VenueCitywest
LocationDublin
CountryRepublic of Ireland
Established1998
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatSets
"double in, double out"
Prize fund£400,000 (2014)
Month(s) PlayedOctober
Current champion(s)
Michael van Gerwen

The World Grand Prix was sponsored by bookmakers Paddy Power from 2001 to 2003, before Sky Bet took over in 2004. The subsidiary Sky Poker was the tournament's sponsor in 2008. In 2010, online gambling company Bodog became the event's title sponsor, while PartyPoker.com took over as sponsor in 2011. In 2016, Unibet took over as sponsor, with BoyleSports sponsoring the event in 2019.

Although he has dominated the event with eleven title wins, Phil Taylor has been knocked out of the World Grand Prix five times in the first round. In 2001, he lost 2–1 to qualifier Kevin Painter, in 2004 by 2–0 in sets to Andy Callaby, in 2007 by 2–0 in sets to Adrian Gray, in 2015 by 2–0 in sets to Vincent van der Voort and in 2016 by 2–1 to Steve West.

The current champion is Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands, who defeated English Dave Chisnall 5–2 in the final on 13 October 2019 for his fifth World Grand Prix title.

Tournament format

The tournament is unusual in that it is the only televised event in which players must commence and finish each leg on a double (including the bullseye).

There have been several different formats for the tournament. The first event in 1998 event was a straight knock-out tournament played in a setplay format with each set being contested over the best of three legs. The following year this changed to the best of five legs per set. Furthermore, a group stage was introduced in 1999, with there only being four seeded players for the event, all of whom reached the semi-finals. In 2000, the tournament reverted to being a straight knock-out and has remained so ever since.

The double-start format also makes landing a perfect nine-dart finish even more difficult, as it limits the number of combinations and guarantees that a player must finish on the bullseye (unless they start with one). The first nine-darter in Grand Prix history was completed by Brendan Dolan in the 2011 semi-final. In 2014, James Wade (who was coincidentally on the receiving end of Dolan’s nine dart finish) and Robert Thornton both hit perfect legs in the same match, the first time this happened in any televised event. On all three occasions, the leg started with a score of 160 (starting on double 20), followed by 180, followed by finishing 161 with treble 20, treble 17, and bullseye.

World Grand Prix Finals
Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
1998 Phil Taylor (94.61) 13–8 Rod Harrington (86.64) £38,000 £9,000 £5,000 PDC Casino Rooms, Rochester, Kent
1999 Phil Taylor (92.59) 6–1 Shayne Burgess (81.26)
2000 Phil Taylor (91.32) 6–1 Shayne Burgess (81.48) £70,000 £15,000 £7,500 Crosbie Cedars Hotel, Rosslare
2001 Alan Warriner (83.52) 8–2 Roland Scholten (81.84) £78,000 Paddy Power Citywest Hotel, Dublin
Reception Hall
(2001–2008, 2012)
Citywest Hotel, Dublin
Convention Centre
(2009–2011, 2013–present)
2002 Phil Taylor (100.17) 7–3 John Part (88.62) £70,000 £14,000 £7,000
2003 Phil Taylor (94.80) 7–2 John Part (83.25) £76,000 £15,000 £7,500
2004 Colin Lloyd (85.29) 7–3 Alan Warriner (77.91) £100,000 £20,000 £10,000 Sky Bet
2005 Phil Taylor (90.74) 7–1 Colin Lloyd (82.05)
2006 Phil Taylor (88.24) 7–4 Terry Jenkins (82.51) £130,000 £25,000 £12,500
2007 James Wade (86.03) 6–3 Terry Jenkins (84.58) £200,000 £50,000 £20,000
2008 Phil Taylor (97.81) 6–2 Raymond van Barneveld (90.42) £250,000 £25,000 Sky Poker
2009 Phil Taylor (97.07) 6–3 Raymond van Barneveld (86.62) £350,000 £100,000 £40,000 Sky Bet
2010 James Wade (88.92) 6–3 Adrian Lewis (89.33) Bodog
2011 Phil Taylor (90.29) 6–3 Brendan Dolan (84.68) PartyPoker.com
2012 Michael van Gerwen (87.53) 6–4 Mervyn King (81.96)
2013 Phil Taylor (97.67) 6–0 Dave Chisnall (81.29)
2014 Michael van Gerwen (90.81) 5–3 James Wade (89.26) £400,000 £45,000
2015 Robert Thornton (90.79) 5–4 Michael van Gerwen (96.79)
2016 Michael van Gerwen (100.29) 5–2 Gary Anderson (92.73) Unibet
2017 Daryl Gurney (88.50) 5–4 Simon Whitlock (83.53)
2018 Michael van Gerwen (88.85) 5–2 Peter Wright (91.61)
2019 Michael van Gerwen (94.74) 5–2 Dave Chisnall (93.32) £450,000 £110,000 £50,000 BoyleSports
2020

Records and statistics
As of 12 October 2019.

Total finalist appearances
Rank Player Nationality Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
1 Phil Taylor England1101119
2 Michael van Gerwen Netherlands5169
3 James Wade England21315
4 Colin Lloyd England11214
Alan Warriner England1129
6 Robert Thornton Scotland1018
Daryl Gurney Northern Ireland1016
8 John Part Canada02214
Raymond van Barneveld Netherlands02213
Terry Jenkins England02212
Dave Chisnall England0228
Shayne Burgess England0224
13 Adrian Lewis England01115
Mervyn King England01113
Brendan Dolan Northern Ireland01110
Gary Anderson Scotland01110
Simon Whitlock Australia01110
Roland Scholten Netherlands0119
Peter Wright Scotland0118
Rod Harrington England0115

Nine-dart finishes

Three nine-darters have been thrown at the World Grand Prix. The first one was in 2011.

Player Year (+ Round) Method (double-in double-out) Opponent Result
Brendan Dolan 2011, Semi-Final D20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, bullseye James Wade 5–2
James Wade 2014, 2nd Round D20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, bullseye Robert Thornton 3–2
Robert Thornton 2014, 2nd Round D20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, bullseye James Wade 2–3

High averages

An average over 100 in a match in the World Grand Prix has been achieved 16 times, of which Phil Taylor is responsible for 9.

Ten highest World Grand Prix one-match averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
106.45 Alan Warriner 2001, 1st Round Andy Jenkins 2–0
104.86 Gary Anderson 2013, 1st Round Jelle Klaasen 2–0
104.47 Michael van Gerwen 2013, 1st Round John Part 2–0
103.09 Michael van Gerwen 2016, Quarter-Final Simon Whitlock 3–1
103.02 Phil Taylor 2011, Semi-Final Richie Burnett 5–2
102.48 Phil Taylor 2010, 1st Round Brendan Dolan 2–0
102.26 Phil Taylor 2011, 1st Round Peter Wright 2–1
101.75 Phil Taylor 2010, 2nd Round Andy Smith 3–0
101.71 Phil Taylor 1999, Quarter-Final Peter Evison 3–0
101.54 Michael van Gerwen 2018, Quarter-Final Dave Chisnall 3–1
Five highest losing averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
97.78 Dave Chisnall 2018, Quarter-Final Michael van Gerwen 1–3
97.20 Gary Anderson 2015, Last 16 Ian White 1–3
97.03 Phil Taylor 2015, Last 32 Vincent van der Voort 0–2
96.79 Michael van Gerwen 2015, Final Robert Thornton 4–5
95.71 Phil Taylor 2012, Last 16 Robert Thornton 2–3
Different players with a 100+ match average – updated 04/10/18
Player Total Highest Av. Year (+ Round)
Phil Taylor 9 103.02 2011, Semi-Final
Michael van Gerwen 4 104.47 2013, Last 32
Alan Warriner 1 106.45 2001, Last 32
Gary Anderson 1 104.86 2013, Last 32
Dave Chisnall 1 101.10 2017, Last 32
Five highest tournament averages
Average Player Year
99.46 Michael van Gerwen 2016
99.23 Phil Taylor 2010
98.62 Phil Taylor 2009
98.50 Phil Taylor 2008
98.22 Phil Taylor 2012

World Team Championship

The World Team Championship event which preceded the introduction of this event was held between 1995 and 1997.[1]

Year Winners Score Runners Up Venue
1995 Eric Bristow
Dennis Priestley		 14–9 (legs) Keith Deller
Jamie Harvey		 Butlin's Wonder West World, Ayr
1996 Bob Anderson
Phil Taylor		 18–15 (legs) Chris Mason
Steve Raw		 Willows Variety Centre, Salford
1997 Raymond van Barneveld
Roland Scholten		 18–15 (legs) Richie Burnett
Rod Harrington		 Butlin's South Coast World, Bognor Regis

Media coverage

The World Grand Prix has been broadcast in the UK by Sky Sports since the first tournament.

References
  1. "PDC World Pairs Winners". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2011.

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