The 2017 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2016/17 William Hill World Darts Championship) was the twenty-fourth World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at Alexandra Palace in London from 15 December 2016 to 2 January 2017.

Phil Taylor made a twenty-eighth successive appearance at a World Championship (including the BDO version), equalling the record of John Lowe.

For the first time in the history of the World Darts Championship (PDC and BDO), no Englishman progressed to the semi-finals. It was also the first time since 2009 that the final was contested by the top 2 seeds.

Michael van Gerwen set a new record for the highest World Darts Championship 3-dart average (114.05) in his semi-final victory over Raymond van Barneveld, breaking a 15-year record that had been held by Phil Taylor since 2002 (111.21); Van Barneveld himself set a new record for the highest losing 3-dart average (109.34) in the same tie, just 5 days after Cristo Reyes had broken the record in his second-round match (106.07), also against Van Gerwen.

Van Gerwen won his second World Championship title by defeating two-times defending champion Gary Anderson 7–3 in the final. The match also featured 42 180s, which is a record for a match commissioned by the Professional Darts Cooperation.

Format The field consisted of 72 players, including 16 in a preliminary round. Therefore, 64 players were entered into Round 1. The schedule was announced on 15 July 2016.

The 72 players consist of: Top 32 players in the PDC Main Order of Merit Top 16 Pro Tour Order of Merit players Top 4 European players from the Pro Tour Order of Merit 16 International qualifiers 4 PDPA qualifiers

Prize money The prize money was £1,650,000 in total. The winner's prize money was increased from £300,000 to £350,000. Prize money for a nine-dart finish was originally set at £5,000, but the PDC increased it to £25,000 due to 'the stature of the tournament', though none were thrown.

Position (num. of players) Prize money(Total: £1,650,000)Winner (1) £350,000Runner-up (1) £160,000Semi-finalists (2) £80,000Quarter-finalists (4) £38,000Third round losers (8) £25,000Second round losers (16) £17,000First round losers (32) £10,000Preliminary round losers (8) £4,500Nine-dart finish (0) £25,000

Qualifiers The draw was made on 28 November live on Sky Sports News. The preliminary round draw was made the previous night.

Order of Merit Michael van Gerwen Gary Anderson Peter Wright Phil Taylor Adrian Lewis James Wade Dave Chisnall Mensur Suljović Robert Thornton Jelle Klaasen Michael Smith Raymond van Barneveld Kim Huybrechts Ian White Benito van de Pas Stephen Bunting Simon Whitlock Terry Jenkins Gerwyn Price Vincent van der Voort Alan Norris Mervyn King Brendan Dolan Daryl Gurney Mark Webster Justin Pipe Steve Beaton Kyle Anderson Joe Cullen Jamie Caven Jamie Lewis John Henderson Cristo Reyes

Pro Tour James Wilson Steve West Chris Dobey Robbie Green Josh Payne Jermaine Wattimena Ronny Huybrechts Joe Murnan Darren Webster Devon Petersen

Christian Kist Jonny Clayton Ricky Evans Andrew Gilding Kevin Painter

European Pro Tour Jeffrey de Graaf Max Hopp

Ron Meulenkamp

PDPA QualifierFirst round qualifier Mark Frost

Preliminary round qualifiers Kevin Simm Simon Stevenson John Bowles

International qualifiers First round qualifiers Magnus Caris Mick McGowan John Michael Preliminary round qualifiers Corey Cadby Masumi Chino Jerry Hendriks Dragutin Horvat Boris Koltsov

Warren Parry David Platt Tengku Shah Ross Snook Sun Qiang Gilbert Ulang Kim Viljanen

1 Kyle Anderson, who would have been the 28th seed, withdrew from the tournament after being unable to secure a British visa. As a result, Cristo Reyes moved into the top 32 seeds, and 2004 runner-up Kevin Painter qualified through the Pro Tour.

Preliminary round Best of three sets. Player Score Player 86.63 Jerry Hendriks 2 – 0 Warren Parry 85.42 83.44 Tengku Shah 2 – 1 Masumi Chino 80.18 76.40 Ross Snook 0 – 2 Kim Viljanen 83.57 76.05 Kevin Simm 2 – 0 Gilbert Ulang 73.00 88.96 John Bowles 0 – 2 David Platt 86.92 68.04 Sun Qiang 0 – 2 Corey Cadby 102.48 76.51 Boris Koltsov 1 – 2 Dragutin Horvat 75.58 90.35 Zoran Lerchbacher 2 – 1 Simon Stevenson 85.44

Main draw

Finals

Rounds 1-4

Final

Final: Best of 13 sets. Referees: George Noble (first half) and Paul Hinks (second half).Alexandra Palace, London, England, 2 January 2017. (1) Michael van Gerwen 7 – 3 Gary Anderson (2) 3 – 2, 2 – 3, 2 – 3, 3 – 2, 3 – 0, 3 – 1, 3 – 0, 3 – 1, 2 – 3, 3 – 2 108.06 Average (3 darts) 104.93 20 180 scores 22 125 Highest checkout 81 44.26% (27/61) Checkout summary 37.78% (17/45)

Statistics

Player Eliminated Played Sets Won Sets Lost Legs Won Legs Lost Leg Breaks 100+ 140+ 170+ 180s High checkout Checkout Av.% Average Michael van Gerwen Winner 6 170 42.74 106.37 Gary Anderson Runner-up 6 157 40.97 103.45 Semi-finals 5 167 42.95 100.62 Peter Wright Semi-finals 5 144 46.26 102.45 Daryl Gurney Quarter-finals 4 161 34.23 95.76 Phil Taylor Quarter-finals 4 167 39.39 97.92 Dave Chisnall Quarter-finals 4 130 39.86 97.53 James Wade Quarter-finals 4 155 49.04 96.59 Darren Webster Third round 3 157 41.18 99.43 Mark Webster Third round 3 129 31.71 89.89 Adrian Lewis Third round 3 161 44.74 97.98 Kim Huybrechts Third round 3 138 47.06 95.09 Benito van de Pas Third round 3 143 45.78 96.42 Jelle Klaasen Third round 3 140 50.79 92.57 Michael Smith Third round 3 143 32.31 95.04 Ian White Third round 3 130 50.91 91.99 Cristo Reyes 2 130 60.53 100.81 Simon Whitlock Second round 2 170 38.46 99.10 Mensur Suljović Second round 2 120 27.63 89.87 Robert Thornton Second round 2 124 27.54 89.65 Joe Cullen Second round 2 117 37.84 91.81 Alan Norris Second round 2 64 26.53 94.32 Kevin Painter Second round 2 124 31.11 87.83 Max Hopp Second round 2 102 41.67 91.08 Andrew Gilding Second round 2 143 44.19 88.58 Terry Jenkins Second round 2 140 39.13 94.18 Chris Dobey Second round 2 112 42.86 90.71 Brendan Dolan Second round 2 142 51.61 94.23 Steve Beaton Second round 2 124 35.56 93.15 Mervyn King Second round 2 148 36.14 90.55 Jamie Lewis Second round 2 110 43.33 91.22 Jonny Clayton Second round 2 120 30.65 88.13 Kim Viljanen First round 2 120 41.18 82.54 Dimitri Van den Bergh First round 1 98 40.00 99.11 Stephen Bunting First round 1 118 37.93 91.02 Dragutin Horvat First round 2 101 20.51 81.88 Ron Meulenkamp First round 1 116 33.33 88.56 Joe Murnan First round 1 70 36.36 88.84 Zoran Lerchbacher First round 2 75 27.91 86.08 Jermaine Wattimena First round 1 90 29.41 91.90 Magnus Caris First round 1 60 28.57 80.64 Corey Cadby First round 2 152 60.87 100.55 Robbie Green First round 1 86 28.57 90.08 John Michael First round 1 141 57.89 86.05 David Platt First round 2 156 38.10 86.93 Jamie Caven First round 1 60 27.27 81.51 James Wilson First round 1 40 25.00 94.69 Vincent van der Voort First round 1 90 20.00 88.79 Mark Frost First round 1 73 25.00 73.74 John Henderson First round 1 121 50.00 88.19 Tengku Shah First round 2 101 29.55 85.65 Josh Payne First round 1 75 37.50 88.94 Rowby-John Rodriguez First round 1 85 34.78 94.90 Justin Pipe First round 1 78 20.59 85.94 Jeffrey de Graaf First round 1 127 38.10 89.79 Christian Kist First round 1 105 33.33 88.67 Ronny Huybrechts First round 1 69 50.00 87.72 Devon Petersen First round 1 100 33.33 79.29 Ricky Evans First round 1 120 34.78 93.20 Steve West First round 1 109 37.14 86.66 Jerry Hendriks First round 2 156 40.00 86.59 Mick McGowan First round 1 95 36.84 87.01 Kevin Simm First round 2 100 26.19 79.11 Gerwyn Price First round 1 53 26.92 86.89 Warren Parry Prelim. Round 1 102 33.33 85.42 Masumi Chino Prelim. Round 1 117 26.32 80.18 Ross Snook Prelim. Round 1 38 25.00 76.40 Gilbert Ulang Prelim. Round 1 56 28.57 73.00 John Bowles Prelim. Round 1 110 28.57 88.96 Sun Qiang Prelim. Round 1 0 0/0 68.04 Boris Koltsov Prelim. Round 1 97 40.00 76.51 Simon Stevenson Prelim. Round 1 76 29.41 85.44

Top averages This table shows the highest averages achieved by players throughout the tournament. # Player Round Score1Michael van GerwenSF114.05 *2Raymond van BarneveldSF109.34 **3Michael van GerwenF108.064Gary Anderson3107.685Cristo Reyes2106.076Gary AndersonQF105.907Michael van Gerwen2105.248Gary AndersonF104.93 ***9Peter WrightQF104.7910Darren Webster2104.64 * The highest average in the history of the PDC World Championship.

** The highest losing average in the history of the PDC World Championship.

*** The highest losing average in the final of a PDC World Championship.

Best ever World Championship tournament average by Michael van Gerwen Round Opponent Sets Legs Points Darts used 3 Dart Average 1st round Kim Viljanen 3 – 0 9 – 1 4995 – 3776 145 – 139 103.34 – 81.50 2nd round Cristo Reyes 4 – 2 14 – 11 11682 – 11385 333 – 322 105.24 – 106.07 3rd round Darren Webster 4 – 1 14 – 8 10548 – 9788 303 – 296 104.44 – 99.20 Quarter-final Daryl Gurney 5 – 1 17 – 8 12060 – 11166 351 – 340 103.08 – 98.52 Semi final Raymond van Barneveld 6 – 2 19 – 13 15017 – 14396 395 – 395 114.05 – 109.34 Final Gary Anderson 7 – 3 27 – 17 20963 – 19867 582 – 568 108.06 – 104.95 Total Player 29 – 9 100 – 58 75265 – 70378 2109 – 2060 107.06 – 102.49

Michael van Gerwen scored a total of 75265 points scored with 2109 darts used. This gives a tournament three dart average (3DA) of 107.06, which is the highest tournament average in the history of the PDC World Championship. Note: the tournament match average reported elsewhere is 106.37 (sum of the match averages divided by number of matches), also a record.

Representation from different countries This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the preliminary round. Twenty-two countries were represented in the World Championship, one less than in the previous championship.

ENG NED SCO WAL BEL AUS AUT NIR GER SPA RSA IRL SWE GRE FIN MAL CAN CHN JPN NZL PHI RUS Total Final – 1 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 2 Semis – 2 2 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 4 Quarters 3 2 2 – – – – 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 8 Round 3 7 4 2 1 1 – – 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 16 Round 215 4 3 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – 32 Round 1 26 10 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 – – – – – – 64 Prelim. 3 1 – – – 2 1 – 1 – – – – – 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 16 Total 28 10 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 72

Media coverage

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

CountryChannel United Kingdom Ireland Sky Sports Darts † Netherlands RTL 7RTL 7 Darts Radio Germany Sport 1 and DAZN Denmark TV3 Sport1/TV3 Sport2 Norway Viasport 3 Baltic States Viasat Sport Australia Greece Turkey Cyprus Malta Israel Italy Fox Sports New Zealand Sky Sport (New Zealand) Czech Republic Slovakia Bulgaria Nova Sport Hungary Sport1 or Sport2 United States Brazil ESPN 3/WatchESPN Belgium Eleven Sport Network MENA OSN Sports Sub-Saharan Africa Kwesé Sports 1 or 2 China CCTV5+

† Sky Sports F1 was renamed as Sky Sports Darts for the duration of the tournament.

References

External links Official site PDC netzone - Schedule and results, Live.dartsdata.com - Live Scores, results and match statistics.