2017 PDC World Darts Championship


The 2017 PDC 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, equalling the record of John Lowe.
For the first time in the history of the World Darts Championship, 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 in his semi-final victory over Raymond van Barneveld, breaking a 15-year record that had been held by Phil Taylor since 2002 ; Van Barneveld himself set a new record for the highest losing 3-dart average in the same tie, just 5 days after Cristo Reyes had broken the record in his second-round match, 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:

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.

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
  1. Michael van Gerwen
  2. Gary Anderson
  3. Peter Wright
  4. Phil Taylor
  5. Adrian Lewis
  6. James Wade
  7. Dave Chisnall
  8. Mensur Suljović
  9. Robert Thornton
  10. Jelle Klaasen
  11. Michael Smith
  12. Raymond van Barneveld
  13. Kim Huybrechts
  14. Ian White
  15. Benito [van de Pas]
  16. Stephen Bunting
  17. Simon Whitlock
  18. Terry Jenkins
  19. Gerwyn Price
  20. Vincent [van der Voort]
  21. Alan Norris
  22. Mervyn King
  23. Brendan Dolan
  24. Daryl Gurney
  25. Mark Webster
  26. Justin Pipe
  27. Steve Beaton
  28. Kyle Anderson
  29. Joe Cullen
  30. Jamie Caven
  31. Jamie Lewis
  32. John Henderson
  33. Cristo Reyes
Pro Tour
  1. James Wilson
  2. Steve West
  3. Chris Dobey
  4. Robbie Green
  5. Josh Payne
  6. Jermaine Wattimena
  7. Ronny Huybrechts
  8. Joe Murnan
  9. Darren Webster
  10. Devon Petersen
  12. Christian Kist
  13. Jonny Clayton
  14. Ricky Evans
  15. Andrew Gilding
  16. Kevin Painter
European Pro Tour
  1. Jeffrey de Graaf
  2. Max Hopp
  4. Ron Meulenkamp
PDPA Qualifier
First round qualifier
Preliminary round qualifiers
International qualifiers

First round qualifiers
Preliminary round qualifiers

Preliminary round

Best of three sets.
PlayerScorePlayer
86.63Jerry Hendriks

Statistics

PlayerEliminatedPlayedSets WonSets LostLegs WonLegs LostLeg Breaks100+140+170+180sHigh checkoutCheckout Av.%Average
#expr: 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 #expr: 0+2+1+1+2+3#expr: 9+14+14+17+19+27#expr: 1+11+8+8+13+17#expr: 5+4+5+6+6+7#expr: 15+24+28+36+36+57#expr: 4+21+14+13+23+26#expr: 0+2+2+4+6+4#expr: 5+11+8+7+15+20

Top averages

This table shows the highest averages achieved by players throughout the tournament.
* 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

Michael van Gerwen scored a total of 75265 points scored with 2109 darts used. This gives a tournament three dart average 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, 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.

Media coverage

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