Masters (darts)

The Masters (also known as the Ladbrokes Masters for sponsorship purposes)[2] is a non-ranking PDC darts tournament which features the top 24 darts players according to the PDC Order of Merit as of 2021. The reigning champion is Jonny Clayton, who won his first Masters title by defeating Mervyn King 11-8.

The Masters
Tournament information
VenueMarshall Arena
LocationMilton Keynes
CountryScotland (2013–2014)
England (since 2015)
Established2013
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£220,000 (2021–present)[1]
Month(s) PlayedNovember (2013–14)
January/February (2015–present)
Current champion(s)
Jonny Clayton

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 Jonny Clayton (104.10) 11–8 Mervyn King (94.95) £220,000

Records and statistics
As of 31 January 2021.

Total finalist appearances
Rank Player Nationality Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
1 Michael van Gerwen Netherlands 5 0 5 9
2 James Wade England 1 1 2 9
3 Jonny Clayton Wales 1 0 1 3
Phil Taylor England 1 0 1 5
Peter Wright Scotland 1 0 1 9
6 Mervyn King England 0 2 2 4
Raymond van Barneveld Netherlands 0 2 2 6
8 Gary Anderson Scotland 0 1 1 7
Dave Chisnall England 0 1 1 9
Adrian Lewis England 0 1 1 8
Michael Smith England 0 1 1 6
  • 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
 Wales 1 1 2021 2021

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
105.90 Simon Whitlock 2021, Second Round Peter Wright 8–10
Different players with a 100+ match average (Updated 31/01/21)
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
Peter Wright 5 104.72 2021, Quarter-Finals
Dave Chisnall 4 108.09 2015, Quarter-Finals
Mensur Suljović 4 106.12 2019, First Round
Jonny Clayton 4 105.41 2021, Quarter-Finals
James Wade 3 105.56 2014, Semi-Finals
Mervyn King 3 101.97 2021, First Round
Michael Smith 3 101.85 2020, First Round
Gerwyn Price 2 105.60 2021, Quarter-Finals
Kim Huybrechts 1 106.43 2013, First Round
Simon Whitlock 1 105.90 2021, Second Round
Joe Cullen 1 102.26 2021, First Round
Rob Cross 1 102.08 2018, First Round
Stephen Bunting 1 101.89 2021, First Round
José de Sousa 1 101.29 2021, 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
  1. "The Masters Roll of Honour".
  2. Allen, Dave (19 November 2018). "Ladbrokes Agree Four-Year Multi-Event Sponsorship". PDC.
  3. "2013 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller.nl. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  4. "2014 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller.nl. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  5. "2015 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller.nl. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  6. "Toernooicenter The Unibet Masters 2016". RTL 7 Darts.
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