Nine-dart finish

This table shows all 3,944 possible paths for a nine-dart finish playing a 501 double-out dart leg

A single game of darts (known as a leg) requires a player to score exactly 501 points, ending with either the bullseye or a double. Each shot consists of exactly three darts, and 60 is the maximum that can be scored with any one dart. Thus 180 is the maximum score from a shot, and nine throws are the minimum necessary to win.

Although many other combinations are possible, the traditional nine-dart finish requires a score of 60 (treble 20) with each of the first six throws: that is, with the first two shots of three.[1] That leaves 141 to score on the final shot (of three darts), known as the outshot.

This outshot is traditionally performed in one of three ways:

• treble 20 (60), treble 19 (57) and double 12 (24)
• treble 20 (60), treble 15 (45) and double 18 (36)
• treble 17 (51), treble 18 (54) and double 18 (36)

Another way is to score 167 with each set of three darts, scoring a perfect 501 total, in the following way:

• treble 20 (60), treble 19 (57) and bullseye (50)

By throwing each dart of a shot to a different place on the board, this eliminates the chance of any dart being deflected by an already thrown dart into the wrong scoring area but it is usually seen only in exhibition matches, as in tournaments, players are inclined to aim for the treble 20, only switching to the treble 19 for a cover shot.

Arguably the most difficult nine dart finish would be 180 (3×T20), 171 (3×T19), and 150 (3×bullseye) – owing to the difficulty of getting all three darts in the bullseye: it is the smallest double on the board.

A nine dart finish is also attainable in games which require a double to start scoring (a double-in; such games are thus termed double-in double-out with the existing double-out requirement). In such games, throwing for double 20 first can lead to a maximum score of 160 with the first shot, leaving the thrower commonly requiring 180 then 161 (T20, T17, bullseye) with their remaining six darts, though other outshots are possible. It is worth noting that in these games, only throwing for double 20, double 17, or bullseye to start the leg can result in a nine dart finish.

The total number of different ways of achieving 501 with nine darts is 3,944,[2] of which 2,296 finish with the bullseye, 672 end on D20, 792 on D18, 56 end on D17, 120 end on D15, and 8 end on D12.

The first televised nine dart finish was achieved at the MFI World Matchplay on 13 October 1984 by John Lowe,[3] who used the third method (with the T17 first, then T18, D18) above as his outshot after scoring two maximum 180s. For this he received a prize of £102,000, and he went on to win the whole event. This nine dart finish was not broadcast live, nor was Paul Lim's nine dart finish at the 1990 Embassy World Championship. The first ever live broadcast nine dart finish was performed by Shaun Greatbatch against Steve Coote in the Final of the Dutch Open on 3 February 2002, while Phil Taylor achieved the first live nine-darter broadcast on British television during the 2002 World Matchplay.

The first player to manage the outshot in the World Championship was Paul Lim on 9 January 1990 against Jack McKenna. He favoured the first method of those listed above for his outshot.[4] Lim won a £52,000 bonus for the feat, which was more than the eventual tournament winner Phil Taylor who received £24,000 for becoming World Champion.

Even with two versions of the World Championship in operation, Lim's achievement was not repeated for nearly 19 years until 2 January 2009, when Raymond van Barneveld became only the second person to achieve the feat and the first since the split in darts.[5] The finish came against Jelle Klaasen at the quarter-final stage of the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace, and he claimed a £20,000 bonus prize (having rolled over from three previous tournaments since Phil Taylor's nine-darter at the 2008 UK Open). On 28 December 2009 he repeated the feat at the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship during his second round clash with Brendan Dolan netting him a £25,000 prize.[6]

Adrian Lewis achieved a nine-dart finish in the third leg of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship final against Gary Anderson, winning £10,000.[7]

On 23 December 2012 at the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship, Dean Winstanley hit a nine-dart finish in the third leg of the third set in his second round defeat to Vincent van der Voort.[8] Another nine-dart finish at this Championship was achieved by Michael van Gerwen in his semi-final victory over James Wade in the third leg of the fifth set. The leg after the nine-darter (the fourth leg of the fifth set) van Gerwen hit another eight perfect darts but missed the last dart at the double to achieve consecutive nine-dart finishes.[9] Both shared the £15,000 prize.

On 14 December 2013 at the 2014 PDC World Darts Championship, Terry Jenkins and Kyle Anderson both hit nine darters in their first round matches against Per Laursen and Ian White respectively. Unusually, both players lost their matches.[10]

On 30 December 2014 in the third round of the 2015 PDC World Darts Championship, Adrian Lewis hit his second World Championship nine-dart finish and his third overall. He lost the match 3–4 to Barneveld.

On 2 January 2016 in the semi finals of the 2016 PDC World Darts Championship, Gary Anderson hit a nine-dart finish to defeat Klaasen 6–0 to reach his 3rd World Championship final. He would then go on to defeat Lewis 7–5 in the final to retain his title and become only the 4th person to successfully retain his title after winning it for the first time.

Phil Taylor has achieved this feat more than any other darts player on television,[11] having done so 11 times. The first came on 1 August 2002 during a quarter final tie against Chris Mason, at the 2002 PDC World Matchplay in Blackpool.[12] It was the first live-televised nine-dart finish on British television, and Taylor received £100,000.

Despite having achieved the feat a record 11 times, Taylor has never hit a nine-darter in the World Championship, missing a chance on the outside wire of double 12 in his last match in the 2018 Final.

The youngest player to throw a televised nine-darter is Michael van Gerwen, who hit the perfect leg in the semi-finals of the 2007 Masters of Darts tournament in the Netherlands. The event was screened live in the Netherlands. Van Gerwen was just 17 years, 298 days old at the time. The Dutch youngster scored 174 (T20, T19, T19) and 180, then checked out 147 with T20, T17, D18. Van Gerwen's nine-darter was the first live televised nine-darter that did not start with two 180s. Van Gerwen has since hit six more televised nine-darters.

The 2007 International Darts League became the first televised tournament to witness two nine-darters when Phil Taylor's 9-dart finish against Raymond van Barneveld was matched the following day (9 May) by another perfect game from Tony O'Shea against Adrian Lewis.

In the Second Round of the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton, James Wade hit his first televised nine-dart-finish against Gary Anderson. The event was shown live on ITV4, making it the first time a nine-darter had been seen live on free-to-air television in the United Kingdom. Wade lost the match 10-8.

Mervyn King hit his first televised nine-dart finish in the 2009 South African Masters on September 2009 against James Wade — he became the first player to hit a televised nine-darter outside of Europe.[13]

On 24 May 2010, in the Premier League final against James Wade, Taylor made history by being the first player to ever hit two 9-dart finishes in a single match. These were his seventh and eighth nine-dart finishes.[14] On 10 February 2017, Michael van Gerwen became the second player to hit two 9-dart finishes in a match, in a 2017 UK Open qualification event against Ryan Murray.[15]

Brendan Dolan became the first player ever to hit a nine-darter in a double-in double-out game. He did this in the semi-final of the 2011 World Grand Prix against James Wade on 8 October 2011. He opened with double 20, before hitting successive treble 20s (160, 180) and then finished on 161 with T20, T17 and a bullseye.[16] He later changed his nickname to "The History Maker" to reflect his feat.

In October 2014 at the 2014 World Grand Prix, James Wade followed soon after by Robert Thornton became the first players to both hit a nine-darter in the same match. This tournament was double-in double-out, meaning the 2nd and 3rd televised double-in double-out nine-dart-finishes were hit in the same match.This also makes James Wade the only man ever to have hit a 'standard' nine-darter and a double-in double-out nine-darter.

Currently over 200 professional darts players have achieved nine-dart finishes, both televised and untelevised. Prior to 2006 there had been around 10.[17]

As of 29 December 2020, 59 nine-darters have been thrown in televised matches by 29 different men. 35 of those 55 hit two 180s and finished with a 141 check-out. Only 3 have been double-in double-out.[18] English players have achieved a total of 30 nine-darters, 11 have been achieved by Dutch players, four by Scottish players, three by Australian players, two by Belgian players and one nine-darter has been achieved by players from Singapore, Canada, Northern Ireland and Wales.

No.	Date	Player	Opponent	Tournament	Method	Prize	Referee	Commentators	Ref.
1	13 October 1984	John Lowe	Keith Deller	MFI World Matchplay	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T17, T18, D18	£102,000	Freddie Williams	Dave Lanning
2	9 January 1990	Paul Lim	Jack McKenna	BDO World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£52,000	Martin Fitzmaurice	Tony Green
3	3 February 2002	Shaun Greatbatch	Steve Coote	Dutch Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T15, D18		Steve Nicolas	Albert Mantingh
4	1 August 2002	Phil Taylor	Chris Mason	World Matchplay	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£100,000	Russ Bray	Dave Lanning Sid Waddell
5	5 June 2004	Phil Taylor (2)	Matt Chapman	UK Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	501 bottles of Budweiser	Bruce Spendley	John Gwynne Stuart Pyke
6	12 June 2005	Phil Taylor (3)	Roland Scholten	UK Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	501 bottles of Budweiser	Bruce Spendley	John Gwynne Dave Lanning
7	23 March 2006	Raymond van Barneveld	Peter Manley	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Bruce Spendley	John Gwynne Sid Waddell	[19]
8	17 February 2007	Michael van Gerwen	Raymond van Barneveld	Masters of Darts	T20, 2 x T19; 3 x T20; T20, T17, D18	€10,000	Russ Bray	Leo Oldenburger Jacques Nieuwlaat [nb 1]	[20]
9	8 May 2007	Phil Taylor (4)	Raymond van Barneveld	International Darts League	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	Opel Tigra Twin Top	Bruce Spendley	Leo Oldenburger Jacques Nieuwlaat
10	9 May 2007	Tony O'Shea	Adrian Lewis		3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	Opel Tigra Twin Top	Bruce Spendley	Leo Oldenburger Jacques Nieuwlaat
11	9 June 2007	Phil Taylor (5)	Wes Newton	UK Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£20,000	Russ Bray	John Gwynne Rod Harrington	[21]
12	17 November 2007	John Walton	Martin Phillips	World Masters	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£2,000	Nick Rolls	Tony Green David Croft	[22]
13	6 June 2008	Phil Taylor (6)	Jamie Harvey	UK Open	3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12	£25,000	Russ Bray	Stuart Pyke Sid Waddell	[23]
14	20 November 2008	James Wade	Gary Anderson	Grand Slam of Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Bruce Spendley	Stuart Pyke Alan Warriner-Little
15	2 January 2009	Raymond van Barneveld (2)	Jelle Klaasen	PDC World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£20,000	George Noble	Nigel Pearson Sid Waddell	[24]
16	27 September 2009	Mervyn King	James Wade	South African Masters	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£10,000	Russ Bray	John Gwynne Rod Harrington
17	13 December 2009	Darryl Fitton	Ross Montgomery	Zuiderduin Masters	2 x T20, T19; 3 x T20; 2 x T20, D12		Rab Butler	Jacques Nieuwlaat
18	28 December 2009	Raymond van Barneveld (3)	Brendan Dolan	PDC World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£25,000	George Noble	Stuart Pyke Rod Harrington	[25]
19	29 April 2010	Raymond van Barneveld (4)	Terry Jenkins	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Bruce Spendley	John Gwynne Rod Harrington	[26]
20	24 May 2010	Phil Taylor (7)	James Wade		T20, 2 x T19; 3 x T20; T20, T17, D18		George Noble	Dave Lanning Sid Waddell	[27]
21	24 May 2010	Phil Taylor (8)	James Wade		3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		George Noble	Dave Lanning Sid Waddell	[27]
22	5 June 2010	Mervyn King (2)	Gary Anderson	UK Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£5,000	George Noble	John Gwynne Rod Studd	[28]
23	17 July 2010	Raymond van Barneveld (5)	Denis Ovens	World Matchplay	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£5,000	Paul Hinks	Stuart Pyke Sid Waddell	[29][30]
24	3 January 2011	Adrian Lewis	Gary Anderson	PDC World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£10,000	George Noble	Different (2D or 3D format)[nb 2]	[31][32]
25	16 July 2011	John Part	Mark Webster	World Matchplay	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£10,000	Paul Hinks	Sid Waddell Rod Harrington	[33]
26	31 July 2011	Adrian Lewis (2)	Raymond van Barneveld	European Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Paul Hinks	Stuart Pyke Chris Mason	[34]
27	8 October 2011	Brendan Dolan	James Wade	World Grand Prix	double-in double-out D20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, bullseye	£5,000	George Noble	John Gwynne Rod Harrington	[35]
28	16 February 2012	Phil Taylor (9)	Kevin Painter	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; T20, 2 x T19; T20, T17, D18		Bruce Spendley	Rod Studd Wayne Mardle	[36]
29	17 May 2012	Simon Whitlock	Andy Hamilton		3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T15, D18		George Noble	John Gwynne Rod Studd	[37]
30	8 June 2012	Gary Anderson	Davey Dodds	UK Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£10,000	Russ Bray	John Gwynne Stuart Pyke	[38]
31	25 July 2012	Michael van Gerwen (2)	Steve Beaton	World Matchplay	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£2,500	George Noble	John Gwynne Rod Harrington Andrew Flintoff	[39]
32	26 July 2012	Wes Newton	Justin Pipe		3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12	£2,500	Russ Bray	John Gwynne Stuart Pyke	[40]
33	23 December 2012	Dean Winstanley	Vincent van der Voort	PDC World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£7,500	Bruce Spendley	John Gwynne Nigel Pearson	[41]
34	30 December 2012	Michael van Gerwen (3)	James Wade		3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12	£7,500	Russ Bray	John Gwynne Stuart Pyke	[42]
35	14 December 2013	Terry Jenkins	Per Laursen	PDC World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£15,000	Russ Bray	Wayne Mardle John Part	[43]
36	14 December 2013	Kyle Anderson	Ian White		3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£15,000	Paul Hinks	Stuart Pyke Rod Studd	[44]
37	23 July 2014	Phil Taylor (10)	Michael Smith	World Matchplay	3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12	£10,000	Kirk Bevins	Stuart Pyke Wayne Mardle
38	8 October 2014	James Wade (2)	Robert Thornton	World Grand Prix	double-in double-out D20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, bullseye	£2,500	Paul Hinks	Rod Studd Stuart Pyke
39	8 October 2014	Robert Thornton	James Wade		double-in double-out D20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, bullseye	£2,500	Paul Hinks	Rod Studd Stuart Pyke
40	26 October 2014	Michael van Gerwen (4)	Raymond van Barneveld	European Championship	2 x T20, T19; 3 x T20; 2 x T20, D12	£5,000	Russ Bray	Stuart Pyke Alan Warriner-Little
41	14 November 2014	Kim Huybrechts	Michael van Gerwen	Grand Slam of Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Kirk Bevins	Rod Studd Wayne Mardle
42	30 December 2014	Adrian Lewis (3)	Raymond van Barneveld	PDC World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£10,000	George Noble	David Croft Wayne Mardle
43	1 February 2015	Darryl Fitton (2)	Martin Adams	Dutch Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	Škoda Fabia	Nick Rolls	Niels de Ruijter
44	22 August 2015	Phil Taylor (11)	Peter Wright	Sydney Darts Masters	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Russ Bray	Stuart Pyke Paul Nicholson
45	8 November 2015	Dave Chisnall	Peter Wright	Grand Slam of Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£30,000	George Noble	Rod Studd Rod Harrington
46	2 January 2016	Gary Anderson (2)	Jelle Klaasen	PDC World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£15,000	Paul Hinks	Rod Studd Wayne Mardle
47	5 March 2016	Michael van Gerwen (5)	Rob Cross	UK Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£10,000	Russ Bray	Stuart Pyke Chris Mason
48	14 April 2016	Adrian Lewis (4)	James Wade	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12		Paul Hinks	Rod Studd Rod Harrington
49	13 April 2017	Adrian Lewis (5)	Raymond van Barneveld	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Paul Hinks	Stuart Pyke Wayne Mardle
50	29 October 2017	Kyle Anderson (2)	Michael van Gerwen	European Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£25,000	Paul Hinks	John Rawling Chris Mason
51	26 July 2018	Gary Anderson (3)	Joe Cullen	World Matchplay	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£45,000	Russ Bray	Rod Studd John Part
52	14 November 2018	Dimitri Van den Bergh	Stephen Bunting	Grand Slam of Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£25,000	Russ Bray	Nigel Pearson Wayne Mardle	[45]
53	23 November 2019	Michael van Gerwen (6)	Adrian Lewis	Players Championship Finals	3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12		Paul Hinks	John Rawling Alan Warriner-Little	[46]
54	27 February 2020	Michael Smith	Daryl Gurney	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Paul Hinks	Nigel Pearson Wayne Mardle
55	7 March 2020	Jonny Clayton	Chris Dobey	UK Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Paul Hinks	Chris Murphy Paul Nicholson	[47]
56	8 March 2020	Michael van Gerwen (7)	Daryl Gurney		3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		Huw Ware	John Rawling Alan Warriner-Little	[48]
57	29 August 2020	Peter Wright	Daryl Gurney	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		George Noble	John Part Wayne Mardle	[49]
58	29 October 2020	José de Sousa	Jeffrey de Zwaan	European Championship	3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12		Kirk Bevins	John Rawling Chris Mason	[50]
59	29 December 2020	James Wade (3)	Stephen Bunting	PDC World Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12		George Noble	Wayne Mardle Rod Harrington

In 1984, John Lowe pocketed £102,000 for the first TV perfect leg. With nine-dart finishes now thrown on a regular basis the reward for throwing one has decreased. Until 2013 the PDC had a rolling £400 prize-pool for a nine-dart leg.[51] As long as it wasn't won, it increased by £400 for the next event. In 2013 the bonus stopped being awarded.[52] For all PDC Premier events, including the Grand Slam of Darts, the PDC has a rolling £5000 prize-pool for a nine-dart leg.[53] As long as it isn't won, the prize for hitting a nine-dart leg is increased by £5000. If multiple players hit a nine-dart finish in one premier event, the money is split evenly across all players who achieved a nine-dart finish in that event. So the prize for a nine-darter varies for every PDC premier event. In the 2015 tournament, achieving the perfect leg in the PDC World Championships would win £10,000, (in the 2014 tournament the prize was £30,000). The reward for a 9-darter during the most recent BDO World Darts Championship was £52,000.

In 2019, a special prize of £100,000 was available to any player who hits two nine-dart finishes at the PDC World Championships, a feat which has never previously been achieved at any World Championship. As such, it didn't happen, and by the end of 2019, all prize money for nine-dart finishes were withdrawn, owing to the ever increasing prize fund for tournaments.

No female darts player has recorded a televised nine-dart finish to date.

Mandy Solomons was the first woman to ever record a nine-dart finish in actual competition. It came in a match against Robert Hughes during the qualifying rounds for the 1996 BDO World Championship on 30 November 1995 at Earls Court, London. It was the first time female players were allowed to enter the qualifying rounds for the BDO World Championship. Hughes did end up winning the match 2–0 though.[54] Solomons was also one of the first women to record a nine-dart finish in a regional Super League match.[55]

Claire Stainsby and Glen Durrant made history when they recorded the first ever nine-dart finish in mixed pairs competition at the 2013 BDO International Open in Brean, Somerset.[56][57] Durrant opened up with a 177, Stainsby followed that up with a 180 to leave Durrant on 144, which he ended up taking out for the first nine-dart finish in mixed pairs competition.[58] As a result, Claire Stainsby was inducted into the BDO 9 Dart Club, thus becoming the first and so far only female to be inducted.[59]

Ten-time World Champion Trina Gulliver revealed she has twice missed her last dart to record a nine-dart finish. One was a double 18 for $100,000 at an event in Canada and another missed double was for a car at an event in Ireland.[60]

15-year-old Beau Greaves hit a nine-darter in a competition at Balby Bridge on 17 April 2019.[61]

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