Masters (darts)
| The Masters | |
|---|---|
| Tournament information | |
| Venue | Marshall Arena |
| Location | Milton Keynes |
| Country | Scotland (2013–2014) England (since 2015) |
| Established | 2013 |
| Organisation(s) | PDC |
| Format | Legs |
| Prize fund | £220,000 (2021–present)[1] |
| Month(s) Played | November (2013–14) January–February (2015, 2020) January (2016–18, 2021) February (2019) |
| Current champion(s) | |
 Peter Wright | |
The Masters (also known as the Ladbrokes Masters for sponsorship purposes)[2] is a non-ranking PDC darts tournament which features the top 16 darts players according to the PDC Order of Merit. The reigning champion is Peter Wright, who won his first Masters title by defeating Michael Smith 11–10.
History
The inaugural tournament, held in 2013, was won by Phil Taylor, who defeated Adrian Lewis 10–1 in the final.[3] James Wade won the following year by defeating Mervyn King 11–10 in the 2014 final.[4] Michael van Gerwen became the third different champion in 3 years when he defeated Raymond van Barneveld 11–6.[5]
In 2013 and 2014, the tournament took place in the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland and was played in early November. However, the tournament was moved to early February in 2015 and had a new venue at the Arena MK (renamed Marshall Arena in 2019) in Milton Keynes, England. The tournament has been held in late January/early February ever since.
Format
From 2013 to 2020, the tournament featured the top 16 of the Order of Merit, in a fixed draw (1 plays 16, 2 plays 15 and so on). The first round and the quarter finals are played over best of 19 legs, the semi-finals and the final are played over best of 21 legs.[6]
For the 2021 tournament, the participants increased from the Top 16 to the Top 24, with the Top 8 automatically going to the second round and the players seeded 9 to 24 playing in the best of 11 legs first round.
Masters finals
| Year | Champion (average in final) | Score | Runner-up (average in final) | Prize money | Sponsor | Venue | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Champion | Runner-up | ||||||
| 2013 |  Phil Taylor (108.50)
|
10–1 | Adrian Lewis (100.03)
|
£160,000 | £50,000 | £20,000 | Coral | Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh
|
| 2014 | James Wade (91.39)
|
11–10 | Mervyn King (92.15)
|
Unibet | ||||
| 2015 |  Michael van Gerwen (112.49)
|
11–6 | Raymond van Barneveld (96.13)
|
£200,000 | £60,000 | £25,000 | Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes (known as Arena MK until 2018) | |
| 2016 | Michael van Gerwen (98.94)
|
11–6 | Dave Chisnall (96.71)
| |||||
| 2017 | Michael van Gerwen (109.42)
|
11–7 | Gary Anderson (103.58)
| |||||
| 2018 | Michael van Gerwen (105.85)
|
11–9 | Raymond van Barneveld (100.55)
| |||||
| 2019 | Michael van Gerwen (99.82)
|
11–5 | James Wade (87.44)
|
BetVictor | ||||
| 2020 | Peter Wright (95.01)
|
11–10 | Michael Smith (89.71)
|
Ladbrokes | ||||
| 2021 | £220,000 | |||||||
Records and statistics
- As of 2 February 2020.
Total finalist appearances
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Won | Runner-up | Finals | Appearances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael van Gerwen | Netherlands
|
5 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 2 | James Wade | England
|
1 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | Phil Taylor | England
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Peter Wright | Scotland
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 5 | Raymond van Barneveld | Netherlands
|
0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Gary Anderson | Scotland
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Dave Chisnall | England
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| Mervyn King | England
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Adrian Lewis | England
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| Michael Smith | England
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
- 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 | 5 | 2015 | 2019 |
| England
|
2 | 2 | 2013 | 2014 |
| Scotland
|
1 | 1 | 2020 | 2020 |
High averages
| Masters highest one-match averages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year (+ Round) | Opponent | Result |
| 112.49 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2015, Final | Raymond van Barneveld
|
11–6 |
| 112.20 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2016, First Round | Stephen Bunting
|
10–1 |
| 111.14 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2018, Quarter-Final | James Wade
|
10–2 |
| 110.28 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2015, Quarter-Final | Dave Chisnall
|
10–9 |
| 110.05 | Phil Taylor
|
2014, First Round | Wes Newton
|
10–4 |
| 109.74 | Gary Anderson
|
2017, First Round | Benito van de Pas
|
10–3 |
| 109.42 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2017, Final | Gary Anderson
|
11–7 |
| 109.28 | Phil Taylor
|
2013, Quarter-Final | Wes Newton
|
8–2 |
| 108.50 | Phil Taylor
|
2013, Final | Adrian Lewis
|
10–1 |
| 108.09 | Dave Chisnall
|
2015, Quarter-Final | Michael van Gerwen
|
9–10 |
| Masters highest one-match losing averages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year (+ Round) | Opponent | Result |
| 108.09 | Dave Chisnall
|
2015, Quarter-Final | Michael van Gerwen
|
9–10 |
| 106.95 | Adrian Lewis
|
2014, Quarter-Final | James Wade
|
6–10 |
| 106.48 | Dave Chisnall
|
2018, First Round | Raymond van Barneveld
|
9–10 |
| 106.43 |  Kim Huybrechts
|
2013, First Round | Adrian Lewis
|
5–6 |
| 104.64 | Phil Taylor
|
2014, Semi-Final | James Wade
|
9–11 |
| Different players with a 100+ match average (Updated 2 February 2020) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Total | Highest Av. | Year (+ Round) |
| Michael van Gerwen
|
18 | 112.49 | 2015, Final |
| Phil Taylor
|
10 | 110.05 | 2014, First Round |
| Gary Anderson
|
7 | 109.74 | 2017, First Round |
| Raymond van Barneveld
|
6 | 103.51 | 2018, Quarter-Finals |
| Adrian Lewis
|
5 | 107.93 | 2013, Quarter-Finals |
| Dave Chisnall
|
4 | 108.09 | 2015, Quarter-Finals |
 Mensur Suljović
|
4 | 106.12 | 2019, First Round |
| Peter Wright
|
3 | 104.36 | 2016, Quarter-Finals |
| Michael Smith
|
3 | 101.85 | 2020, First Round |
| James Wade
|
2 | 105.56 | 2014, Semi-Finals |
| Kim Huybrechts
|
1 | 106.43 | 2013, First Round |
| Rob Cross
|
1 | 102.08 | 2018, First Round |
| Justin Pipe
|
1 | 100.40 | 2014, First Round |
| Vincent van der Voort
|
1 | 100.14 | 2016, First Round |
| Masters highest tournament averages (min 3 matches) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year | Round (+result) | |
| 106.07 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2017 | Final (Won) | |
| 105.49 | Gary Anderson
|
2017 | Final (Lost) | |
| 105.41 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2018 | Final (Won) | |
| 105.38 | Phil Taylor
|
2013 | Final (Won) | |
| 105.08 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2016 | Final (Won) | |
Media coverage
The Masters is broadcast by ITV4 in the United Kingdom and RTL7 in the Netherlands.[6]
References
- ^ "The Masters Roll of Honour".
- ^ Allen, Dave (19 November 2018). "Ladbrokes Agree Four-Year Multi-Event Sponsorship". PDC.
- ^ "2013 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller.nl. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
- ^ "2014 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller.nl. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
- ^ "2015 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller.nl. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
- ^ a b "Toernooicenter The Unibet Masters 2016". RTL 7 Darts.