The PDC World Masters, known for sponsorship purposes as the Winmau World Masters and formerly known as simply the Masters, is a professional darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). The tournament was introduced in 2013 and has been held at Arena MK in Milton Keynes, England, since 2015. Since the 2025 edition, the tournament has featured the top 24 darts players according to the PDC Order of Merit, plus eight qualifiers from a preliminary round to complete a 32-player field.

History The inaugural edition of The Masters, held in 2013, was won by Phil Taylor, who defeated Adrian Lewis 10–1 in the final. James Wade won the following year by defeating Mervyn King 11–10 in the 2014 final. Michael van Gerwen became the third different champion in three years when he defeated Raymond van Barneveld 11–6.

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 Arena MK (renamed Marshall Arena in 2019) in Milton Keynes, England. The tournament has been held in late January/early February ever since.

In 2024, the PDC announced The Masters would get rebranded into the "Winmau World Masters" for the 2025 edition, emulating the World Masters tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation and later the World Darts Federation which was also sponsored by Winmau.

Format From 2013 to 2020, the tournament featured the Top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit, in a fixed draw (1 plays 16, 2 plays 15 and so on). The first round and the quarter-finals were played over best of 19 legs, the semi-finals and the final were played over best of 21 legs.

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 ranked 9 to 24 playing in the first round over best of 11 legs.

From the 2025 tournament, the field expanded to 32 players, with the Top 16 being seeded in the first round and drawn to play the players ranked 17 to 24 and eight more qualifiers. The eight qualifiers are determined through a preliminary round held the day before the main tournament, featuring the remaining PDC Tour Card holders and players from the PDC's affiliated tours. The 2025 tournament also saw the introduction of set play, with all sets being played to the best of three legs.

Masters finals Year Champion Score Runner-up Prize money Sponsor Venue Total Champion The Masters (non-ranking event) 2013 Phil Taylor Adrian Lewis £160,000 £50,000 £20,000 Coral 2014 James Wade Mervyn King Unibet 2015 £200,000 £60,000 £25,000 Arena MK, Milton Keynes 2016 Dave Chisnall 2017 Gary Anderson 2018 2019 BetVictor 2020 Peter Wright Michael Smith Ladbrokes 2021 Jonny Clayton Mervyn King £220,000 2022 2023 Chris Dobey Rob Cross £275,000£65,000£30,000Cazoo 2024 Stephen Bunting Michael van Gerwen World Masters (ranking event) 2025 Luke Humphries Jonny Clayton £500,000 £100,000 £50,000 Winmau Arena MK, Milton Keynes 2026 Luke Littler Luke Humphries

Records and statistics

As of 2026, Michael van Gerwen, James Wade and Dave Chisnall are the only players to appear in all 14 editions of the Masters.

Total finalist appearances RankPlayerNationalityWonRunner-upFinalsAppearances1 Netherlands516142 England11214 Wales1128 England11255 England1015 Scotland10113 England1018 England1015 England1018 England101211 Netherlands0226 England0225 England0221414 England0118 Scotland01111 England01110 England0119

Active players are shown in bold Only players who reached the final are included In the event of identical records, players are sorted by date first achieved

Champions by country CountryPlayersTotalFirst titleLast title7720132026152015201911202020201120212021

High averages Masters highest one-match averagesAveragePlayerYear (+ round)OpponentResult(l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.112.77 Jonny Clayton2025, first round Martin Schindler3–1 (s)112.49 Michael van Gerwen2015, final Raymond van Barneveld11–6 (l)112.32 Rob Cross2023, second round Gary Anderson10–6 (l)112.20 Michael van Gerwen2016, first round Stephen Bunting10–1 (l)111.17 Gary Anderson2023, second round Rob Cross6–10 (l)111.14 Michael van Gerwen2018, quarter-final James Wade10–2 (l)110.28 Michael van Gerwen2015, quarter-final Dave Chisnall10–9 (l)110.05 Phil Taylor2014, first round Wes Newton10–4 (l)109.74 Gary Anderson2017, first round Benito van de Pas10–3 (l)109.42 Michael van Gerwen2017, final Gary Anderson11–7 (l)

Masters highest one-match losing averagesAveragePlayerYear (+ round)OpponentResult111.17 Gary Anderson2023, second round Rob Cross6–10 (l)108.50 Luke Littler2025, quarter-final Jonny Clayton2–4 (s)108.09 Dave Chisnall2015, quarter-final Michael van Gerwen9–10 (l)106.95 Adrian Lewis2014, quarter-final James Wade6–10 (l)106.48 Dave Chisnall2018, first round Raymond van Barneveld9–10 (l)

Different players with a 100+ match average (Updated 01/02/26)PlayerTotalHighest Av.Year (+ round) Michael van Gerwen20112.492015, final Gary Anderson10111.172023, second round Phil Taylor10110.052014, first round Jonny Clayton9112.772025, first round Peter Wright8104.722021, quarter-finals Luke Littler7108.502025, quarter-final Luke Humphries7107.802026, semi-final Dave Chisnall6109.262024, first round Raymond van Barneveld6103.512018, quarter-finals Adrian Lewis5107.932013, quarter-finals James Wade5105.562014, semi-finals Michael Smith5105.492022, second round Gerwyn Price4108.512026, first round Mensur Suljović4106.122019, first round Stephen Bunting4102.502024, final Rob Cross3112.322023, second round Joe Cullen3106.302022, second round Dimitri Van den Bergh3105.312022, first round Mervyn King3101.972021, first round Luke Woodhouse2108.642026, first round Simon Whitlock2105.902021, second round Nathan Aspinall2105.802026, first round Martin Schindler2105.052025, first round Damon Heta2102.962024, second round Gian van Veen2102.932026, semi-final Kim Huybrechts1106.432013, first round Ross Smith1102.142026, second round Ian White1101.782022, first round Josh Rock1101.662026, second round José de Sousa1101.292021, first round Andrew Gilding1101.262025, first round James Hurrell1101.102026, first round Justin Pipe1100.402014, first round Vincent van der Voort1100.142016, first round

Media coverage The Masters is broadcast by ITV4 in the United Kingdom, DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and Viaplay in the Netherlands. The preliminary rounds are also broadcast on pdc.tv.

References

External links Masters at Darts Database The Masters page on the PDC website