2019 Premier League Darts

2019 Premier League Darts
Winner
Runner-up
Score
Dates
7 February – 23 May
Edition
15th
Number of players
9 (plus 9 guests)
Venues
16
Premier League Darts
< 2018 | 2019 | 2020 >

The 2019 Unibet Premier League Darts is an ongoing darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the fifteenth edition of the tournament. The event began on Thursday 7 February at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle and will end with the Play-offs at The O2 Arena in London on Thursday 23 May.

Michael van Gerwen is the three time defending champion after defeating Michael Smith 11–4 in the 2018 final.

Format

The tournament format was modified for this season.

Phase 1: During the first nine nights, eight of the nine players play each other in four matches and the ninth player plays one match against one of the nine contenders. At the end of Phase 1, the bottom player is eliminated from the competition.

Phase 2: In the seven nights (weeks 9 to 15), each player plays the other seven players once. In a change from previous years, each player only plays once each night. Phase 2 matches have been increased to a maximum of fourteen legs allowing for a 7-7 draw. In previous years the maximum number of legs was twelve. At the end of Phase 2 the bottom four players in the league table are eliminated from the competition.

Play-off Night: The top four players in the league table contest the two knockout semi-finals with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd. The semi-finals are first to 10 legs (best of 19), and the final is first to 11 legs (best of 21).

Venues

Newcastle	Glasgow	Dublin	Exeter
Utilita Arena Thursday 7 February	SSE Hydro Thursday 14 February	3Arena Thursday 21 February	Westpoint Arena Thursday 28 February
Aberdeen	Nottingham	Berlin	Rotterdam
BHGE Arena Thursday 7 March	Motorpoint Arena Nottingham Thursday 14 March	Mercedes-Benz Arena Thursday 21 March	Ahoy Rotterdam Wednesday 27 & Thursday 28 March
Belfast	Liverpool	Cardiff	Birmingham
SSE Arena Belfast Thursday 4 April	M&S Bank Arena Thursday 11 April	Motorpoint Arena Cardiff Thursday 18 April	Arena Birmingham Thursday 25 April
Manchester	Sheffield	Leeds	London
Manchester Arena Thursday 2 May	FlyDSA Arena Thursday 9 May	First Direct Arena Thursday 16 May	The O2 Thursday 23 May

Players

The players in this year's tournament were announced following the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship final on 1 January, with the top four of the PDC Order of Merit joined by six Wildcards.

Gary Anderson, who qualified as fourth on the Order of Merit, withdrew on 4 February, three days prior to the tournament beginning, with a back injury.

Player	Appearance in Premier League	Consecutive Streak	Order of Merit Rank	Previous best performance	Qualification
Michael van Gerwen	7th	7	1	Winner (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018)	PDC Order of Merit
Rob Cross	2nd	2	2	Semi-final (2018)	PDC Order of Merit
Peter Wright	6th	6	3	Runner-up (2017)	PDC Order of Merit
Daryl Gurney	2nd	2	5	5th (2018)	PDC Wildcard
Michael Smith	3rd	2	6	Runner-up (2018)	PDC Wildcard
Gerwyn Price	2nd	2	7	10th (2018)	PDC Wildcard
James Wade	10th	1	10	Winner (2009)	PDC Wildcard
Mensur Suljović	2nd	2	8	9th (2018)	Sky Sports Wildcard
Raymond van Barneveld	14th	14	28	Winner (2014)	Sky Sports Wildcard

Nine contenders were chosen to appear on each of the nine Phase 1 nights in the slots which were available as a result of the withdrawal of Gary Anderson due to extended treatment for a back injury. The nine main players could earn league points if they won or drew against the contenders. The contenders were not part of the competition but were given an opportunity to develop their careers at a major darts event.

Player	Venue	Order of Merit Rank
Chris Dobey	Newcastle	35
Glen Durrant	Glasgow	74
Steve Lennon	Dublin	37
Luke Humphries	Exeter	56
John Henderson	Aberdeen	20
Nathan Aspinall	Nottingham	34
Max Hopp	Berlin	31
Dimitri Van den Bergh	Rotterdam (27 March)	33
Jeffrey de Zwaan	Rotterdam (28 March)	43

Prize money

The prize-money for the 2019 tournament was set to increase to £855,000 from £825,000 in 2018. However, following the introduction of the nine contenders, it was still set to increase but the final figure would depend on their results.

Stage	Prize Money
Winner	£250,000
Runner-up	£120,000
Semi-finalists	£80,000
5th place	£70,000
6th place	£60,000
7th place	£55,000
8th place	£50,000
9th place	£35,000
'Contenders' win	£5,000
'Contenders' draw	£3,500
'Contenders' lose	£2,500
League Winner Bonus	£25,000
Total	£825,000

League stage

Players in italics are "Contenders", and will only play on that night.

7 February – Week 1 (Phase 1)

Utilita Arena, Newcastle

	Score
James Wade 99.24	7–4	Raymond van Barneveld 95.15
Gerwyn Price 104.11	7–4	Daryl Gurney 98.78
Chris Dobey 98.53	6–6	Mensur Suljović 100.99
Michael van Gerwen 104.98	7–5	Michael Smith 95.23
Peter Wright 101.56	6–6	Rob Cross 103.57
Night's Average: 100.19
Highest Checkout: Michael Smith 150
Most 180s: Gerwyn Price and Chris Dobey 6
Night's 180s: 37

14 February – Week 2 (Phase 1)

SSE Hydro, Glasgow

	Score
Peter Wright 88.95	6–6	Michael Smith 97.61
Rob Cross 102.58	7–4	James Wade 100.81
Raymond van Barneveld 88.79	6–6	Gerwyn Price 95.60
Daryl Gurney 100.05	7–3	Glen Durrant 99.89
Mensur Suljović 101.07	3–7	Michael van Gerwen 99.82
Night's Average: 97.52
Highest Checkout: Daryl Gurney 121 (x2)
Most 180s: Michael Smith 6
Night's 180s: 29

21 February – Week 3 (Phase 1)

3Arena, Dublin

	Score
Gerwyn Price 96.22	6–6	James Wade 103.89
Steve Lennon 90.80	5–7	Peter Wright 96.95
Michael van Gerwen 101.34	7–2	Rob Cross 91.86
Michael Smith 93.18	5–7	Daryl Gurney 99.14
Mensur Suljović 94.50	6–6	Raymond van Barneveld 91.65
Night's Average: 96.10
Highest Checkout: Daryl Gurney 140
Most 180s: James Wade and Gerwyn Price 5
Night's 180s: 33

28 February – Week 4 (Phase 1)

Westpoint Arena, Exeter

	Score
Luke Humphries	–	Gerwyn Price
Daryl Gurney	–	Rob Cross
Mensur Suljović	–	Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen	–	James Wade
Michael Smith	–	Raymond van Barneveld
Night's Average:
Highest Checkout:
Most 180s:
Night's 180s:

7 March – Week 5 (Phase 1)

BHGE Arena, Aberdeen

	Score
Michael Smith	–	Rob Cross
Daryl Gurney	–	James Wade
Mensur Suljović	–	Gerwyn Price
Raymond van Barneveld	–	Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen	–	John Henderson
Night's Average:
Highest Checkout:
Most 180s:
Night's 180s:

14 March – Week 6 (Phase 1)

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham

	Score
Nathan Aspinall	–	Michael Smith
James Wade	–	Mensur Suljović
Rob Cross	–	Raymond van Barneveld
Gerwyn Price	–	Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright	–	Daryl Gurney
Night's Average:
Highest Checkout:
Most 180s:
Night's 180s:

21 March – Week 7 (Phase 1)

Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin

	Score
Gerwyn Price	–	Rob Cross
James Wade	–	Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen	–	Daryl Gurney
Michael Smith	–	Mensur Suljović
Max Hopp	–	Raymond van Barneveld
Night's Average:
Highest Checkout:
Most 180s:
Night's 180s:

27 March – Week 8A (Phase 1)

Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam

	Score
Gerwyn Price	–	Michael Smith
James Wade	–	Dimitri Van den Bergh
Rob Cross	–	Mensur Suljović
Peter Wright	–	Michael van Gerwen
Raymond van Barneveld	–	Daryl Gurney
Night's Average:
Highest Checkout:
Most 180s:
Night's 180s:

28 March – Week 8B (Phase 1)

Ahoy Rotterdam, Rotterdam

	Score
Daryl Gurney	–	Mensur Suljović
Peter Wright	–	Gerwyn Price
Rob Cross	–	Jeffrey de Zwaan
Raymond van Barneveld	–	Michael van Gerwen
James Wade	–	Michael Smith
Night's Average:
Highest Checkout:
Most 180s:
Night's 180s:

Table and streaks

Table

After the first nine matches (phase 1), the bottom player in the table is eliminated. In the next seven weeks (phase 2) the eight remaining players each play a further seven matches. The top four players then compete in the semi-finals and final on the playoff night.

Contenders are not ranked in the table but the main nine players can earn league points for a win or draw in the games against them.

Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. 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	Matches				Legs				Scoring
			Pld	W	D	L	LF	LA	+/-	LWAT	100+	140+	180s	A	HC	C%
1	Michael van Gerwen	6	3	3	0	0	21	10	+11	9	34	24	10	102.05	100	42.86%
2	Daryl Gurney	4	3	2	0	1	18	15	+3	8	38	31	6	99.32	140	39.13%
3	Gerwyn Price	4	3	1	2	0	19	16	+3	8	34	21	12	98.64	120	42.22%
4	Peter Wright	4	3	1	2	0	19	17	+2	6	40	34	8	95.82	100	41.30%
5	James Wade	3	3	1	1	1	17	17	0	6	50	22	12	101.31	129	47.22%
6	Rob Cross	3	3	1	1	1	15	17	-2	4	31	24	8	99.82	115	44.12%
7	Raymond van Barneveld	2	3	0	2	1	16	19	-3	6	40	25	8	91.86	104	33.33%
8	Mensur Suljović	2	3	0	2	1	15	19	-4	6	52	29	9	98.85	72	40.54%
9	Michael Smith	1	3	0	1	2	16	20	-4	7	44	18	12	95.34	150	38.10%

Streaks

Player	Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 8										Phase 2, Weeks 9 to 14											Play-offs
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8A	8B		9		10		11		12		13	14		SF	F
Michael van Gerwen	W	W	W
Daryl Gurney	L	W	W
Gerwyn Price	D	W	D
Peter Wright	D	D	W
James Wade	W	L	D
Rob Cross	D	W	L
Raymond van Barneveld	L	D	D
Mensur Suljović	D	L	D
Michael Smith	L	D	L

• NB: W = Win, D = Draw, L = Loss, NP = Not Played

External links

• PDC Professional Darts Corporation, official website
• PDC Professional Darts Corporation, official website, Tournaments