The 2020 BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts was the fourteenth staging of the Grand Slam of Darts, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place, behind closed doors, from 16 to 24 November 2020 at the Coventry Arena, Coventry.
The tournament's two-time defending champion was Gerwyn Price, who successfully defended his 2018 title by defeating Peter Wright 16–6 in 2019. Price's title defence came to an end when, after surviving a match dart from Ryan Joyce to progress through the group stage, he eventually lost 10–8 to Nathan Aspinall in the last 16. José de Sousa became the first Portuguese darts player to win a televised title by beating James Wade 16–12 in the final; he also became the first debutant since the tournament's inception to win the title, as well as the first to win the title, without finishing top in the group phase.
Dimitri Van den Bergh broke the record for the highest individual average for this tournament when he beat Ricky Evans 5–1 in the group stage, averaging 114.85, beating Phil Taylor's previous record of 114.65 set in the 2014 tournament. Additionally, Simon Whitlock broke Adrian Lewis' record of hitting the most 180s in a Grand Slam match by scoring 20 maximums in his quarter-final victory over Michael van Gerwen.
Prize money The prize fund for the Grand Slam was the same as 2019, with the winner getting £125,000.
Position (num. of players) Prize money(Total: £550,000)Winner (1) £125,000Runner-up (1) £65,000Semi-finalists (2) £40,000Quarter-finalists (4) £20,000Last 16 (8) £10,000Third in group (8) £7,500Fourth in group (8) £4,000Group winner bonus (8) £3,500
Qualifying The qualification criteria were changed from 2019, with the number of entrants from the British Darts Organisation being reduced from eight to two, with a corresponding increase in PDC players. The winner of the 2020 PDC Home Tour was invited, as were the top players from the PDC's Summer, Autumn and Winter Series events and the winner of the new women's qualifier. The Champions League of Darts was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The qualifiers are:
PDC Qualifying Tournaments PDC Main Tournaments Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers PDC World Darts Championship 2020 Winner Peter Wright Peter Wright Gerwyn Price Glen Durrant Dimitri Van den Bergh Luke Humphries Michael van Gerwen Jonny Clayton Nathan Aspinall James Wade Damon Heta Jermaine Wattimena Lisa Ashton Gary Anderson Dirk van Duijvenbode Adam Gawlas Michael Smith Rob Cross Grand Slam of Darts 2019 Winner Gerwyn Price Premier League Darts 2020 Winner Glen Durrant World Matchplay 2020 Winner Dimitri Van den Bergh World Grand Prix 2020 Winner Gerwyn Price PDC World Youth Championship 2019 Winner Luke Humphries Masters 2020 Winner Peter Wright UK Open 2020 Winner Michael van Gerwen European Championship 2020 Winner Peter Wright Players Championship Finals 2019 Winner Michael van Gerwen World Series of Darts Finals 2020 Winner Gerwyn Price PDC World Cup of Darts 2020 Winners Gerwyn Price Jonny Clayton PDC Home Tour 2020 Winner Nathan Aspinall PDC Summer Series 2020 James Wade PDC Autumn Series 2020 Highest-placed Damon Heta PDC Winter Series 2020 Highest-placed Jermaine Wattimena PDC Women's Qualifier 2020 Winner Lisa Ashton PDC World Darts Championship 2020 Runner-up Michael van Gerwen Grand Slam of Darts 2019 Runner-up Peter Wright Premier League Darts 2020 Runner-up Nathan Aspinall World Matchplay 2020 Runner-up Gary Anderson World Grand Prix 2020 Runner-up Dirk van Duijvenbode PDC World Youth Championship 2019 Runner-up Adam Gawlas Masters 2020 Runner-up Michael Smith UK Open 2020 Runner-up Gerwyn Price European Championship 2020 Runner-up James Wade Players Championship Finals 2019 Runner-up Gerwyn Price World Series of Darts Finals 2020 Runner-up Rob Cross PDC World Cup of Darts 2020 Runners-Up Michael Smith Rob Cross Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.
At most twenty-two players could have qualified through this method, where the position in the list depicts the priority of the qualification.
Since the list of qualifiers from the main tournaments produced fewer than twenty-two players, the field of twenty-two players was filled from the reserve lists. The first list consisted of the winners from 2020 European Tour events, in which the winners were ordered by Order of Merit position order at the cut-off date.
PDC European Tour Tournament Event Position Player Qualifiers 2020 European Tour Winner Gerwyn Price Joe Cullen Devon Petersen José de Sousa German Darts ChampionshipWinner Devon Petersen European Darts Grand PrixWinner José de Sousa International Darts OpenWinner Joe Cullen Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.
Since there were still less than twenty-two qualified players after the winners of European Tour events were added, the winners of 2020 Players Championships events were added, in Order of Merit order.
PDC Pro Tour Tournament Event Position Player Qualifiers 2020 PDC Pro Tour Winner Gary Anderson Ian White Ryan Searle Winner Nathan Aspinall Winner Ryan Searle Winner Krzysztof Ratajski Winner Peter Wright Winner Gerwyn Price Winner Nathan Aspinall Winner Ian White Winner Michael van Gerwen Winner Ryan Joyce Winner Michael van Gerwen Winner James Wade Winner Peter Wright Winner Peter Wright Winner Damon Heta Winner Michael van Gerwen Winner Gerwyn Price Winner Gerwyn Price Winner Michael Smith Winner Michael Smith Winner Gerwyn Price Winner Peter Wright Winner Joe Cullen Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.
PDC Qualifying Event A further eight places in the Grand Slam of Darts were filled by qualifiers from a PDC qualifier on 9 November. These are the qualifiers: Ricky Evans Adam Hunt Krzysztof Ratajski Ryan Joyce Dave Chisnall Simon Whitlock Justin Pipe Gabriel Clemens
BDO Invitees The two BDO world champions were invited. Tournament Year Position Player BDO World Darts Championship 2020 Men's Winner Wayne Warren Mikuru Suzuki
Pools Pool APool BPool CPool D(PDC Seeded Players)(PDC Qualifiers & BDO Representatives) Peter Wright (2) Gerwyn Price (3) Michael Smith (4) Rob Cross (5) Nathan Aspinall (6) James Wade (7) Gary Anderson (8) Dave Chisnall
Ian White Glen Durrant Krzysztof Ratajski Jonny Clayton Joe Cullen Simon Whitlock Ricky Evans Gabriel Clemens Devon Petersen José de Sousa Luke Humphries Ryan Joyce Ryan Searle Justin Pipe Damon Heta Adam Hunt Lisa Ashton Adam Gawlas
Draw
Group stage All group matches are best of nine legs After three games, the top two in each group qualify for the knock-out stage
NB: P = Played; W = Won; L = Lost; LF = Legs for; LA = Legs against; +/− = Plus/minus record, in relation to legs; Pts = Points; Status = Qualified to knockout stage
Group A Pos.PlayerPWLLFLA+/−PtsStatus 1 3 3 0 15 4 +11 6 Q 2 Adam Hunt (Q) 3 1 2 9 12 −3 2 3 Gabriel Clemens (Q) 3 1 2 8 12 −4 2 Eliminated 4 Joe Cullen 3 1 2 10 14 −4 2
16 November 5 – 0
17 November 5 – 1
19 November 2 – 5
Group B Pos.PlayerPWLLFLAPtsStatus 1 3 3 0 15 8 +7 6 Q 2 3 2 1 11 11 0 4 3 Ryan Searle 3 1 2 11 14 −3 2 Eliminated 4 Adam Gawlas 3 0 3 11 15 −4 0
16 November 5 – 3
17 November 1 – 5
18 November 5 – 3
Group C Pos.PlayerPWLLFLA+/−PtsStatus 1 Michael Smith (4) 3 3 0 15 5 +10 6 Q 2 José de Sousa 3 2 1 12 10 +2 4 3 3 1 2 11 14 –3 2 Eliminated 4 Lisa Ashton 3 0 3 6 15 −9 0
16 November
17 November
19 November 5 – 1
Group D Pos.PlayerPWLLFLAPtsStatus 1 3 3 0 15 8 +7 6 Q 2 Rob Cross (5) 3 2 1 12 8 +4 4 3 3 1 2 11 14 −3 2 Eliminated 4 Justin Pipe (Q) 3 0 3 7 15 −8 0
16 November 5 – 4
17 November 2 – 5
18 November 5 – 2
Group E Pos.PlayerPWLLFLAPtsStatus 1 3 3 0 15 6 +9 6 Q 2 Ian White 3 1 2 10 11 −1 2 3 Peter Wright (2) 3 1 2 11 13 –2 2 Eliminated 4 3 1 2 8 14 −6 2
16 November 2 – 5 Devon Petersen 99.55
17 November 5 – 2
19 November 5 – 1
Group F Pos.PlayerPWLLFLA+/−PtsStatus 1 James Wade (7) 3 3 0 15 7 +8 6 Q 2 Damon Heta 3 2 1 12 10 +2 4 3 3 1 2 12 11 +1 2 Eliminated 4 Glen Durrant 3 0 3 4 15 −11 0
16 November 1 – 5
17 November 5 – 3
18 November 4 – 5
Group G Pos.PlayerPWLLFLA+/−PtsStatus 1 Gerwyn Price (3) 3 3 0 15 11 +4 6 Q 2 Jonny Clayton 3 2 1 13 9 +4 4 3 Ryan Joyce (Q) 3 1 2 13 11 +2 2 Eliminated 4 3 0 3 5 15 −10 0
16 November 5 – 4
17 November 5 – 3
19 November 5 – 4
Group H Pos.PlayerPWLLFLA+/−PtsStatus 1 3 3 0 15 3 +12 6 Q 2 Nathan Aspinall (6) 3 2 1 11 6 +5 4 3 Ricky Evans (Q) 3 1 2 7 13 −6 2 Eliminated 4 Wayne Warren (BDO) 3 0 3 4 15 −11 0
16 November 5 – 1
17 November 1 – 5
18 November 5 – 1
Knockout stage
References