The 2011 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2011 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship) was the eighteenth World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at the Alexandra Palace, London from 16 December 2010 to 3 January 2011. A total of 72 players took part, 16 of whom began at the preliminary round stage, with the eight winners joining the remaining 56 players in the first round proper.

Phil Taylor was the defending champion, having won the 2010 tournament. He was knocked out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage by Mark Webster, who in turn was defeated by Adrian Lewis in the semi-finals. Lewis went on to win the tournament, beating Gary Anderson 7–5 in the final to become only the fifth different PDC World Champion and the first to have won it without having won the rival BDO World Championship.

The final between Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson was notable for a number of reasons. It was the last match that Sid Waddell commentated on at the PDC World Darts Championship before his death in 2012. It was the first ever nine-dart finish in a PDC World Championship final, hit by Lewis in the third leg of the match and not accomplished again until Michael Smith did so in 2023 against Michael van Gerwen. And it was also the first PDC World Championship final involving 2 players that were playing in their first World final.

4-time PDC World Championship semi-finalist Wayne Mardle was a notable absentee, missing out on his first World Championship since 1999. The 3-time PDC World Championship finalist Peter Manley was also another notable absentee, having missed out in his first World Championship since qualifying every year from 1997 to 2010.

Format and qualifiers The televised stages featured 72 players from a minimum of 22 countries. The top 32 players in the PDC Order of Merit on 29 November 2010 were seeded for the tournament. They were joined by the 16 highest non qualified players in the Players Championship Order of Merit from events played on the PDC Pro Tour.

These 48 players were joined by two PDPA qualifiers (which were determined at a PDPA Qualifying event held in Derby on November 29, 2010), and 22 international players: the 4 highest names in the European Order of Merit not already qualified, the 2 highest names in the North American Order of Merit not already qualified and 16 further international qualifiers determined by the PDC and PDPA.

Some of the international players, such as the 4 from the European Order of Merit, and the top American and Australian players were entered straight into the first round, while others, having won qualifying events in their countries, were entered into the preliminary round.

Order of Merit Phil Taylor James Wade Raymond van Barneveld Simon Whitlock Adrian Lewis Mervyn King Terry Jenkins Ronnie Baxter Colin Lloyd Mark Walsh Gary Anderson Andy Hamilton Wayne Jones Colin Osborne Wes Newton Paul Nicholson Co Stompé Kevin Painter Jamie Caven Vincent van der Voort Robert Thornton Dennis Priestley Alan Tabern Steve Beaton Mark Webster Jelle Klaasen Andy Smith Mark Dudbridge Denis Ovens Barrie Bates Michael van Gerwen John Part

Pro Tour Steve Farmer Richie Burnett Steve Brown Justin Pipe Tony Eccles Dennis Smith Nigel Heydon Brendan Dolan Steve Hine Steve Maish Kevin McDine Mark Hylton Chris Thompson Peter Wright Steve Evans Joe Cullen Kirk Shepherd

European Order of MeritFirst round qualifiers Antonio Alcinas Andree Welge Bernd Roith Mensur Suljović

PDPA qualifiersFirst round qualifier Alex Roy Preliminary round qualifier Matt Padgett

International qualifiersFirst round qualifiers Darin Young Shane Tichowitsch Rob Modra

Preliminary round qualifiers Andrei Ratnikov Gary Mawson Jyhan Artut Dietmar Burger Magnus Caris Juanito Gionson Morihiro Hashimoto Boris Krčmar Per Laursen Scott MacKenzie Norman Madhoo Mickey Mansell Devon Petersen Preston Ridd Roland Scholten Veijo Viinikka

1 Rob Modra was unable to get a visa, so therefore, he was replaced by Kirk Shepherd, the next highest ranked player in the Players Championship Order of Merit.2 Andrei Ratnikov was unable to travel to England for family reasons, so therefore, he was replaced by the Matt Padget, the runner up of the PDPA qualifier. Shepherd replaces Modra , pdc.tv, 14 December 2010

Prize money The 2011 World Championship featured a prize fund of £1,000,000 – the same as in the previous year. The Third Place Playoff did not take place this year.

The prize money is allocated as follows:

Position (num. of players) Prize money(Total: £1,000,000)Winner (1) £200,000Runner-Up (1) £100,000Semi-finalists (2) £50,000Quarter-finalists (4) £25,000Third round losers (8) £15,000Second round losers (16) £10,000First round losers (32) £6,000Preliminary round losers (8) £3,500Nine-dart finish (1) £10,000

Draw

Preliminary round The preliminary round was played from Dec 16 to Dec 23 with one match per day. The format was best of 7 legs.

Player 1 Score Player 2 Gary Mawson 92.444–1 Juanito Gionson 90.81 Roland Scholten 82.154–2 Veijo Viinikka 75.93 Matt Padgett 83.102–4 Morihiro Hashimoto 87.30 Per Laursen 91.054–2 Boris Krčmar 84.89 Jyhan Artut 83.864–3 Scott MacKenzie 84.94 Mickey Mansell 82.700–4 Preston Ridd 84.68 Devon Petersen 90.164–3 Norman Madhoo 82.05 Magnus Caris 80.244–3 Dietmar Burger 76.81

Last 64 The winner of the eight preliminary-round matches joined 56 other players in the first round.

The first round draw took place on Tuesday 30 November live in the studio of Sky Sports News, and was conducted by 1983 World champion Keith Deller and Sky Sports darts' analyst and former World Matchplay champion, Rod Harrington.World Championship Draw

Finals

Rounds 1-4

Final

Final: Best of 13 sets. Referees: George Noble (first half) and Russ Bray (second half).Alexandra Palace, London, England, 3 January 2011. (5) Adrian Lewis 7 – 5 Gary Anderson (11) 3 – 1, 3 – 0, 0 – 3, 3 – 1, 1 – 3, 1 – 3, 3 – 1, 3 – 2, 1 – 3, 3 – 1, 1 – 3, 0 – 3, 3 – 0 99.80 Average (3 darts) 99.41 20 180 scores 10 141 Highest checkout 164 0% (0/0) Checkout summary 0% (0/0)

Statistics

Player Eliminated Played Sets Won Sets Lost Legs Won Legs Lost 100+ 140+ 180s High checkout Average Adrian Lewis Winner 6 29 13 101 70 221 119 60 167 97.35 Gary Anderson Runner-up 6 27 12 93 62 167 136 58 164 103.06 Mark Webster Semi-finals 5 20 9 73 49 148 102 24 167 96.76 Terry Jenkins Semi-finals 5 18 13 71 54 182 91 29 170 93.73 Phil Taylor Quarter-finals 4 13 6 46 32 109 68 17 126 97.60 Raymond van Barneveld Quarter-finals 4 12 10 50 43 112 79 23 156 95.88 Wes Newton Quarter-finals 4 15 5 51 32 103 61 11 136 92.47 Vincent van der Voort Quarter-finals 4 13 9 44 42 111 60 19 148 91.98 Simon Whitlock Third round 3 9 4 33 17 57 46 16 164 96.69 Andy Smith Third round 3 7 8 31 28 85 40 19 140 93.09 Mark Hylton Third round 3 9 8 37 33 87 47 18 138 91.82 Mark Walsh Third round 3 7 8 32 36 86 45 16 146 91.53 Robert Thornton Third round 3 8 5 27 28 87 33 10 125 91.21 Colin Osborne Third round 3 10 5 35 29 71 37 14 139 91.16 Mensur Suljović Third round 3 7 7 29 31 76 32 13 136 88.27 Peter Wright Third round 3 8 7 32 29 77 48 6 120 87.57 Dennis Priestley Second round 2 5 4 21 17 47 28 12 111 94.74 Ronnie Baxter Second round 2 3 4 15 15 32 27 6 118 94.55 Mervyn King Second round 2 6 4 22 18 63 36 6 136 94.35 Brendan Dolan Second round 2 3 4 15 14 42 20 5 108 93.70 Paul Nicholson Second round 2 5 4 18 18 37 35 7 141 93.66 Wayne Jones Second round 2 5 5 20 18 60 31 9 120 92.76 James Wade Second round 2 5 4 22 17 48 28 2 121 90.54 Mark Dudbridge Second round 2 4 5 18 21 42 19 12 107 90.13 Per Laursen Second round 3 3 4 17 19 56 23 3 106 89.30 Alan Tabern Second round 2 6 6 27 25 86 32 12 160 89.30 Steve Brown Second round 2 4 5 15 19 43 19 9 126 88.48 Colin Lloyd Second round 2 5 6 19 25 45 29 6 136 87.75 Denis Ovens Second round 2 3 5 13 18 36 22 2 106 87.69 Jamie Caven Second round 2 3 5 17 20 54 17 6 161 86.60 Kevin McDine Second round 2 4 5 17 22 48 14 8 120 84.79 Andy Hamilton Second round 2 3 4 15 15 42 10 6 106 82.96 Tony Eccles First round 1 0 3 6 9 13 11 8 170 94.84 Steve Farmer First round 1 0 3 3 9 10 15 1 161 93.90 Steve Maish First round 1 0 3 2 9 10 9 2 58 93.76 Justin Pipe First round 1 1 3 7 9 21 11 4 167 91.83 Nigel Heydon First round 1 1 3 8 10 30 12 2 61 91.53 Steve Beaton First round 1 2 3 11 13 29 14 4 75 89.79 Co Stompé First round 1 1 3 6 11 18 11 4 111 88.74 Chris Thompson First round 1 1 3 6 10 26 10 2 96 88.47 Shane Tichowitsch First round 1 1 3 3 11 15 12 2 40 87.58 Morihiro Hashimoto First round 2 0 3 4 11 19 6 4 61 87.37 Steve Evans First round 1 0 3 2 9 18 8 0 35 87.35 John Part First round 1 0 3 5 9 15 7 7 100 86.76 Roland Scholten First round 2 0 3 7 11 21 12 4 112 86.40 Richie Burnett First round 1 2 3 7 10 27 10 2 64 86.02 Antonio Alcinas First round 1 0 3 2 9 14 6 2 20 85.92 Kirk Shepherd First round 1 1 3 5 10 16 9 1 40 85.74 Steve Hine First round 1 1 3 7 11 29 6 1 88 85.70 Alex Roy First round 1 1 3 7 10 14 8 4 68 85.70 Devon Petersen First round 2 1 3 12 14 22 13 5 146 84.99 Gary Mawson First round 2 0 3 8 10 16 14 3 81 84.97 Kevin Painter First round 1 0 3 2 9 17 5 1 156 84.84 Andree Welge First round 1 2 3 9 10 25 6 3 63 84.65 Michael van Gerwen First round 1 1 3 6 9 12 9 4 82 84.17 Jelle Klaasen First round 1 1 3 5 10 13 9 2 111 84.03 Bernd Roith First round 1 0 3 2 9 16 7 0 96 83.12 Jyhan Artut First round 2 1 3 10 14 29 10 4 112 82.29 Magnus Caris First round 2 0 3 6 12 25 8 2 55 81.96 Joe Cullen First round 1 2 3 6 13 20 7 4 59 81.77 Darin Young First round 1 0 3 3 9 12 6 2 32 80.57 Dennis Smith First round 1 0 3 3 9 15 7 1 40 80.10 Barrie Bates First round 1 1 3 8 9 29 10 0 116 78.80 Preston Ridd First round 2 0 0 5 9 13 6 1 104 77.99 Juanito Gionson Prelim. Round 1 0 0 1 4 11 2 1 96 90.81 Scott MacKenzie Prelim. Round 1 0 0 3 4 8 4 0 60 84.94 Boris Krčmar Prelim. Round 1 0 0 2 4 4 4 1 76 84.89 Matt Padgett Prelim. Round 1 0 0 2 4 6 3 0 40 83.10 Michael Mansell Prelim. Round 1 0 0 0 4 5 5 0 — 82.70 Norman Madhoo Prelim. Round 1 0 0 3 4 6 4 1 36 82.05 Dietmar Burger Prelim. Round 1 0 0 3 4 12 1 0 64 76.81 Veijo Viinikka Prelim. Round 1 0 0 2 4 6 2 1 40 75.93

Representation from different countries This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the preliminary round.

ENG NED SCO AUS WAL AUT GER NIR NZL CAN SPA RSA USA JPN FIN PHI DEN CRO HKG SWE GUY Total Final 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Semis 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Quarters 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 Round 3 8 2 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Round 2 21 2 3 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 32 Round 1 34 6 3 3 4 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 64 Prelim. 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 16 Total 35 6 3 3 4 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 72

Television coverage Sky Sports broadcast all 72 matches live in high-definition in the United Kingdom. Dave Clark presented the coverage with analysis from Rod Harrington and Eric Bristow. They also commentated on matches along with Sid Waddell (in his final PDC World Darts Championship commentating appearance), John Gwynne, Nigel Pearson, Rod Studd and Stuart Pyke. This was the first PDC World Championship where Dave Lanning wasn't commentating having retired prior to the tournament. Due to the ill health of Harrington, Wayne Mardle replaced him post-Christmas and featured both commentating and co-presenting alongside Clark. Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff was also a guest commentator twice during tournament. Interviews were handled by either Clark, Bristow or Studd.