2018 PDC World Darts Championship

Michael van Gerwen, the number one seed, was the reigning and defending champion, prior to the tournament.

The 2018 PDC World Darts Championship is the 25th World Darts Championship to be organised by the Professional Darts Corporation; and the tenth to be held at Alexandra Palace, London. It was held between 14 December 2017 and 1 January 2018, the culmination of the 2017 Professional Darts Corporation season.[1] 72 players competed in the championship; with the 32 highest ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit being seeded, and the next sixteen highest ranked players from the 2017 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit and the top eight ranked players from a number of international and invitational qualifiers also going straight into the first round. The remaining sixteen international and invitational qualifiers competed in a preliminary round.

Michael van Gerwen, the winner of the 2014 and 2017 championships, was top of the two-year PDC Order of Merit and number one seed going into the tournament.[2] The tournament was to be the last for Phil Taylor, who had won the PDC World Championship fourteen times previously, most recently in 2013.[3] As well as van Gerwen and Taylor, three other previous PDC world champions qualified as seeds, two-time champions Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis, and 2007 champion Raymond van Barneveld.

The top seeds below van Gerwen were 2017 UK Open winner Peter Wright, Gary Anderson, 2017 World Grand Prix winner Daryl Gurney and 2017 Champions League of Darts winner Mensur Suljović.[2] Rob Cross, the runner-up at the 2017 European Championship, made his World Championship debut as the 20th seed.[2]

Richard North, in his debut year, was the highest ranked non-seed on the 2017 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit. As well as North, three other qualifiers through the Pro Tour made their debut, Peter Jacques, Steve Lennon and Martin Schindler.[2] The list of qualifiers also included the 2017 Youth Champion Dimitri Van den Bergh and the 2004 runner-up Kevin Painter.

Amongst the international and invitational qualification tournaments there was, for the first time, a South and Central American Qualifier.[4] The majority of tournaments were the same as had been for the previous championship, but there was no longer a Philippines Championship.[5] Gordon Mathers was the first player to qualify for the Championships, having finished top of the Dartplayers Australia rankings.[6] The top two players on the Nordic & Baltic rankings also qualified,[5] as did the winners of the fifteen international qualifiers, including the 2017 PDC World Youth Championship.

The final four qualification places were announced on 19 October,[5] with places being given to the highest ranked Eastern European, Krzysztof Ratajski, the National Darts Federation of Canada number one Jeff Smith, the highest ranked African, Devon Petersen, and the then-undetermined 2017 Development Tour winner, Luke Humphries.[7] The sudden announcement of these places, and the granting of them to Ratajski, who had declined an invitation to the rival 2018 BDO World Darts Championship before failing to qualify through the 2017 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit; and Jeff Smith, who had failed to qualify for the BDO World Darts Championship and not played a single PDC event in the previous year, were criticized by some, with ITV4 pundit and tour card holder Paul Nicholson saying he had written to the Professional Darts Players Association to seek clarification over the placings.[8]

The final three placings were determined by the PDPA qualifier held at Arena MK on 27 November, with Ted Evetts securing a first round place by winning the tournament, and runner-up Brendan Dolan and third-place playoff winner Jamie Lewis both qualifying to the preliminary round. The third place had become available as the 2017 PDC World Youth Championship, which carries a qualification place, was won by Dimitri Van den Bergh, who qualified through the Pro Tour Order of Merit.[9]

15 of the international and invitational qualifiers were making their PDC World Championship debuts, Seigo Asada,[5] Willard Bruguier,[5] Ted Evetts,[9] Cody Harris,[5] Luke Humphries,[7] Kai Fan Leung,[10] Alan Ljubić,[11] Gordon Mathers,[5] Kenny Neyens,[12] William O'Connor,[5] Diogo Portela,[13] Krzysztof Ratajski,[5] Bernie Smith,[14] Jeff Smith,[5] and Zong Xiao Chen.[15] Portela was the first ever Brazilian to qualify for the World Championships.[16]

The prize money for the tournament was a record high of £1,800,000 in total. The winner's prize money has increased from £350,000 to £400,000.[18]

Rob Cross won the championship in his debut year.

Phil Taylor (pictured in 2009), sixteen-time world darts champion (14 time PDC champion) in his final year before retirement, lost in the final.

The top quarter of the draw saw reigning champion Michael van Gerwen dominate, knocking fellow Dutchman Christian Kist out in the first round,[19] before defeating James Wilson, without losing any of the twelve legs played,[20][21] and Gerwyn Price,[22] to set up a quarter-final with fellow Dutch former world champion Raymond van Barneveld. In the quarter-final, van Gerwen took an early lead, but missed a dart in the fifth set to take a 4–1 lead and ended up being pulled back to 3–3. The two took one more set each before van Gerwen won the deciding set 3–1 to qualify for the semi-final.[23]

In the second quarter, the fourth seed, Daryl Gurney, was eliminated in the second round by John Henderson.[24] Debutant Rob Cross defeated Michael Smith in the second round after Smith missed two match darts,[25] and Cross went on to defeat Henderson[26] to set up a quarter-final against the World Youth Champion Dimitri Van den Bergh, who had defeated fifth seed Mensur Suljović in the third round.[27] In the quarter-final, Cross led his Belgian opponent early on, leading 4–1 in the best-of-nine match after five sets. Van den Bergh took the next three sets in succession, setting up a decider which Cross won 3–1, hitting double one in the final leg to qualify for the semi-final.[23]

The two highest-ranked seeds in the third quarter fell early on. Two-time champion and seventh seed Adrian Lewis was knocked out in the first round by German qualifier Kevin Münch,[28] while the second seed Peter Wright was knocked out in the second round by Jamie Lewis, who had qualified for the event by coming third in the final PDPA Qualifier.[29] Welshman Jamie Lewis went past the unseeded James Richardson in the third round, becoming the first player to go from the preliminary round to the quarter-final in the history of the championship;[30] before whitewashing Darren Webster to reach the semi-final.[23]

Two former world champions, two-time champion Gary Anderson and retiring sixteen-time champion Phil Taylor, met in the last quarter-final. Anderson's run to the quarter-final included a second round win over 63-year-old Singaporean, Paul Lim, a match noted for a leg in which Lim, who in 1990 had become the first player to throw a perfect nine-dart leg in the World Darts Championship,[31] missed a dart at double twelve to repeat the feat.[32] Taylor had faced English opposition in his three previous rounds, beating Chris Dobey[33] in the first round before whitewashing Justin Pipe[34] and Keegan Brown[35] in the next two rounds to set up the quarter-final. Taylor took a 4–1 lead after winning six consecutive legs, and despite Anderson winning the next two sets, Taylor took advantage of missed darts in the eighth set to triumph, 5–3.[23]

The semi-final between Taylor and Lewis was the first to be played, and, despite Lewis winning the first set, Taylor took the next three, with Lewis having missed darts in all three sets to have potentially been 4–0 up. Taylor won the next two sets as well, before Lewis took the first two legs in the seventh set, with Taylor taking advantage of three missed set darts from Lewis to steal the set and qualify for the twenty-first World Darts Championship final in his career.[36]

In the second semi-final, debutant Cross took on reigning world champion van Gerwen. The first eight sets in the match all went with throw, with Cross taking a lead before being pegged back by van Gerwen. Michael van Gerwen got the first break in the ninth set, taking a 5–4 lead to throw for the match, but Cross fought back to win the tenth set 3–1 to force a deciding set. In the deciding set – which had to be won by two clear legs until the eleventh leg was reached – Cross missed a match-winning dart at the bull with the score at 3–2, before van Gerwen won two legs in succession to take a 5–4 lead. With both players under pressure, van Gerwen missed five darts to win the tenth leg, before Cross hit a double 18 to force a sudden death leg. Both Cross and van Gerwen missed match darts at double 16 before Cross hit double 8 to qualify for the final in his debut entry,[37] becoming the first player to make the final on his debut since Kirk Shepherd in 2008.[38]

In the final, held on New Year's Day 2018, Phil Taylor won the bull-off, but opted to allow Cross to throw first. Rob Cross held the first set 3–1, and broke in the second set by the same scoreline, before winning the third set 3–0. Taylor scored his first set with a 3–0 win in the fourth, before missing a dart at double twelve for a potential perfect nine-dart leg in the first leg of the fifth set.[39] Cross won that leg and the next two to restore his three set lead, before breaking Taylor in the first leg of the sixth set, and the fourth leg of the seventh, taking a 6–1 lead in the best-of-thirteen match.[40] Taylor held the eighth set 3–0, but Cross held the first leg in the ninth set, before hitting double-eight to break and go one leg away from the championship, and in the final leg, hit a 140 finish, treble-18, treble-18, double-16 to win the world championship.[41]

Preliminary round

The draw was made on 26 November 2017.[42]

Best of three sets.

Av.	Player	Score	Player	Av.
86.65	Seigo Asada	2 – 1	Gordon Mathers	82.65
92.19	Brendan Dolan	2 – 0	Alan Ljubić	85.36
95.39	Jeff Smith	2 – 0	Luke Humphries	88.56
87.21	Kenny Neyens	1 – 2	Jamie Lewis	93.17
83.96	Willard Bruguier	1 – 2	Cody Harris	84.30
81.74	Kai Fan Leung	0 – 2	Paul Lim	86.25
76.70	Aleksandr Oreshkin	0 – 2	Kevin Münch	84.66
86.97	Zong Xiao Chen	0 – 2	Bernie Smith	87.47

Main draw

The draw for the main round was made live on Sky Sports News on 27 November 2017.[43][44]

	First round (best of 5 sets) 14–21 December [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]					Second round (best of 7 sets) 22–27 December [53][54][55]					Third round (best of 7 sets) 27–28 December [55][26]					Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets) 29 December [23]					Semi-finals (best of 11 sets) 30 December [36]					Final (best of 13 sets) 1 January [41]
	1	Michael van Gerwen 106.17	3
		Christian Kist 100.23	1
						1	van Gerwen 108.65	4
						32	Wilson 96.02	0
	32	James Wilson 97.94	3
		Krzysztof Ratajski 92.59	1
											1	van Gerwen 100.06	4
											16	Price 97.06	2
	16	Gerwyn Price 101.55	3
		Ted Evetts 85.60	0
						16	Price 96.93	4
						17	White 93.62	1
	17	Ian White 96.89	3
		Cody Harris 85.47	1
																1	van Gerwen 102.91	5
																9	van Barneveld 98.76	4
	8	Dave Chisnall 96.75	0
		Vincent van der Voort 98.90	3
							van der Voort 101.17	4
						25	Beaton 94.26	0
	25	Steve Beaton 93.28	3
		William O'Connor 91.27	1
												van der Voort 93.09	1
											9	van Barneveld 101.04	4
	9	Raymond van Barneveld 102.00	3
		Richard North 91.98	0
						9	van Barneveld 102.78	4
						24	K. Anderson 95.95	1
	24	Kyle Anderson 93.08	3
		Peter Jacques 85.79	1
																					1	van Gerwen 102.44	5
																					20	Cross 100.97	6
	5	Mensur Suljović 93.03	3
		Kevin Painter 88.58	0
						5	Suljović 90.66	4
						28	Thornton 93.51	2
	28	Robert Thornton 98.67	3
		Brendan Dolan 94.83	1
											5	Suljović 94.35	0
												Van den Bergh 96.60	4
	12	Jelle Klaasen 96.73	1
		Jan Dekker 95.74	3
							Dekker 97.27	2
							Van den Bergh 94.91	4
	21	Stephen Bunting 98.14	1
		Dimitri Van den Bergh 104.17	3
																	Van den Bergh 98.60	4
																20	Cross 97.13	5
	4	Daryl Gurney 100.51	3
		Ronny Huybrechts 96.74	1
						4	Gurney 95.58	2
						29	Henderson 95.89	4
	29	John Henderson 90.09	3
		Marko Kantele 87.21	0
											29	Henderson 92.81	1
											20	Cross 99.77	4
	13	Michael Smith 92.63	3
		Steve Lennon 94.95	2
						13	M. Smith 103.29	3
						20	Cross 102.65	4
	20	Rob Cross 104.12	3
		Seigo Asada 92.91	0
																										20	Cross 107.67	7
																										6	Taylor 102.26	2
	2	Peter Wright 97.90	3
		Diogo Portela 91.66	1
						2	Wright 103.44	1
							J. Lewis 107.27	4
	31	Jonny Clayton 81.83	0
		Jamie Lewis 99.02	3
												J. Lewis 96.25	4
												Richardson 89.02	1
	15	Alan Norris 95.41	3
		Kim Viljanen 90.38	0
						15	Norris 86.76	1
							Richardson 86.78	4
	18	Kim Huybrechts 86.40	0
		James Richardson 96.91	3
																	J. Lewis 101.26	5
																23	D. Webster 91.88	0
	7	Adrian Lewis 94.04	1
		Kevin Münch 93.48	3
							Münch 81.94	1
							Alcinas 91.11	4
	26	Cristo Reyes 85.26	1
		Toni Alcinas 85.85	3
												Alcinas 88.25	0
											23	D. Webster 94.54	4
	10	Simon Whitlock 87.42	3
		Martin Schindler 84.01	1
						10	Whitlock 92.16	1
						23	D. Webster 90.20	4
	23	Darren Webster 90.81	3
		Devon Petersen 87.16	2
																						J. Lewis 97.35	1
																					6	Taylor 99.87	6
	6	Phil Taylor 96.33	3
		Chris Dobey 91.72	1
						6	Taylor 99.37	4
						27	Pipe 90.30	0
	27	Justin Pipe 89.24	3
		Bernie Smith 87.11	2
											6	Taylor 101.34	4
												Brown 96.56	0
	11	James Wade 93.01	2
		Keegan Brown 95.45	3
							Brown 87.65	4
							Lerchbacher 87.10	2
	22	Mervyn King 82.89	2
		Zoran Lerchbacher 92.09	3
																6	Taylor 102.02	5
																3	G. Anderson 98.68	3
	3	Gary Anderson 100.93	3
		Jeff Smith 78.38	0
						3	G. Anderson 97.46	4
							Lim 90.60	1
	30	Mark Webster 91.67	2
		Paul Lim 95.98	3
											3	G. Anderson 95.26	4
												West 92.60	2
	14	Benito van de Pas 90.58	1
		Steve West 95.97	3
							West 87.92	4
							Wattimena 87.54	1
	19	Joe Cullen 96.11	2
		Jermaine Wattimena 96.83	3

The tournament was available in the following countries on these channels:

Country	Channel
United Kingdom  Ireland	Sky Sports Darts †[56] Talksport[57]
Australia	Fox Sports[58]
Belgium	Eleven Sport Network[59]
Bulgaria  Denmark  Finland  Norway  Sweden Baltic States	Viasat[58]
China	CCTV[60]
Croatia	RTL Televizija[60]
Cyprus  Greece  Israel  Italy  Malta  Turkey	Fox Sports[60]
Czech Republic  Slovakia	Nova Sport[58]
France  Romania  Spain	Eurosport[60]
Germany  Austria   Switzerland	Sport 1[58]
Germany   Switzerland  Austria  Japan  Canada	DAZN[60]
Hungary	Pragosport[58]
Mongolia	MNBA Sports TV
Netherlands	RTL7[58]
New Zealand	Sky Sport[58]
Poland	TVP Sport[58][61]
United States	BBC America[62]
MENA	OSN Sports[58]
Sub-Saharan Africa	Kwesé Sports[58]

Additionally, there was coverage in Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, France, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldova, Monaco, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan on Eurosport Player, and coverage in all countries except the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands on the Professional Darts Corporation's streaming service, PDCTV-HD.[60]

† Sky Sports Arena was renamed as Sky Sports Darts for the duration of the tournament.

• Official website
• Results and Schedule