2026 PDC World Masters

The 2026 PDC World Masters was a professional darts tournament that was held from 29 January to 1 February 2026 at Arena MK in Milton Keynes, England. The preliminary rounds of the tournament were held at Arena MK on 28 January 2026. Organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, it was the second edition of the PDC World Masters, previously called the Masters, since the event's rebrand in 2025. The winner received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £500,000.
The main tournament featured a 32-player field. The top 24 players on the PDC Order of Merit following the 2026 PDC World Championship automatically qualified for the main tournament. They were joined by eight qualifiers who advanced from the preliminary rounds, which featured players from outside of the top 24 and players from the PDC's affiliated tours. Two-time world champion Peter Wright failed to qualify for the tournament for the first time, while Gian van Veen reached the semi-finals in his World Masters debut.
Luke Humphries was the defending champion, having defeated Jonny Clayton 6–5 in the 2025 final. Humphries reached his second successive final, where he was defeated 6–5 by Luke Littler, who won his first World Masters title. Littler survived match darts against Mike De Decker and Gerwyn Price during his campaign.
Humphries hit a nine-dart finish during his second-round victory over Luke Woodhouse.

Overview

Background

The inaugural edition of the Masters, the 2013 Masters, was staged by the Professional Darts Corporation from 1 to 3 November 2013 at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Phil Taylor won the first final, defeating Adrian Lewis 10–1. Since 2015, the tournament has been held in Milton Keynes, England. The tournament initially featured the top 16 players in the world before increasing to the top 24 in 2021.
In August 2024, it was announced that the field would expand to 32 players and the Masters would become a ranked event, starting from the 2025 edition. This preceded a bigger announcement that was made on 28 October 2024. The PDC announced a complete revamp of the competition, rebranding it from the Masters to the World Masters, emulating the World Masters which was first held in 1975 and organised by the British Darts Organisation and later the World Darts Federation. The revamp saw a change in format from leg play to set play, and saw preliminary rounds introduced to determine the eight qualifiers who would join the top 24 players on the PDC Order of Merit in the main competition.
Sponsored by darts manufacturer Winmau, the 2026 PDC World Masters was held from 29 January to 1 February 2026, preceded by the preliminary rounds held on 28 January; all matches were held at Arena MK in Milton Keynes. Luke Humphries entered the tournament as defending champion, having defeated Jonny Clayton 6–5 in the 2025 final.

Format

The top 16 players on the PDC Order of Merit were seeded for the first round and were drawn against the remaining 16 participants. All matches were played in traditional World Masters set format, where all sets are played to the best of three legs. The number of sets required to win increased as the tournament progressed.

Round	Best of	First to
Preliminary	5	3
First	5	3
Second	7	4
Quarter-finals	7	4
Semi-finals	9	5
Final	11	6

Prize money

The total prize fund for the tournament was £500,000. The winner's prize money was £100,000.

Broadcasts

The tournament was broadcast on ITV4 and ITVX in the United Kingdom. Other broadcasters included Viaplay in the Netherlands and the Nordic countries; DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; Fox Sports in Australia; Sky Sport in New Zealand; VTM in Belgium; Nova in Czechia and Slovakia; FanDuel TV Extra in the United States and Canada; AMC Network in Hungary; Zonasport in Croatia; TV3 in the Baltic states; Arena Sport in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo; and Eurasian Broadcasting in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It was also available for subscribers outside of Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the PDC's streaming service, PDCTV.

Qualifiers

The top 24 players on the PDC Order of Merit following the 2026 World Championship automatically qualified for the main tournament, with the 16 highest-ranked players being seeds. They were joined by eight qualifiers from the preliminary rounds to complete a 32-player field.
Two-time world champion Peter Wright, who won the 2020 Masters, failed to reach the main tournament for the first time. Other notable players to be eliminated in the preliminary rounds were the 2023 world champion Michael Smith, 2022 Masters champion Joe Cullen, and 2025 World Masters semi-finalist Dimitri Van den Bergh.

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Summary

Preliminary rounds

The preliminary rounds took place on 28 January. The field for the preliminary rounds comprised all PDC Tour Card holders ranked outside of the top 24, invited players from each of the PDC's secondary tours and Global Affiliate Tours, and four representatives from the Junior Darts Corporation. Eight players from the preliminary rounds qualified for the main tournament.
Jimmy van Schie, the reigning WDF world champion, progressed to the main competition in his first tournament as a PDC Tour Card holder, having transitioned to the PDC by earning a Tour Card at 2026 Q-School. He defeated Ritchie Edhouse and Richard Veenstra in the knockout stage before beating Scott Williams 3–1 to advance. Fellow tour newcomer Shane McGuirk, the 2024 WDF world champion, also reached the main tournament. Compatriots Wessel Nijman and Niels Zonneveld joined Van Schie to complete the trio of Dutch players to advance from the preliminary rounds, defeating Gabriel Clemens and Kim Huybrechts in their respective final matches. James Hurrell recorded a three-dart average of 111.33 in his 3–0 win over the 2022 Masters champion Joe Cullen, before beating Alan Soutar 3–1 to qualify. Jeffrey de Graaf reached the main tournament with successive 3–0 victories against Wesley Plaisier, Rhys Griffin and Jack Tweddell. Madars Razma defeated Krzysztof Ratajski 3–1 to earn his place, while Connor Scutt also advanced by beating Graham Hall by the same scoreline. Jamai van den Herik hit a nine-dart finish during his loss to Dominik Grüllich in the group stage.

First round

The first round took place on 29 and 30 January. Five-time Masters champion and three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen, who had recently won the Bahrain Darts Masters, was eliminated in a 3–1 defeat to the Australian number one Damon Heta, who converted a 101 checkout to win the match. "It was special that I got the win, it didn't matter who I played," said Heta afterwards. "Me and Michael have had a few battles over the years, but to get a win over him is definitely a feather in the cap." Making his full debut after failing to qualify for the main stage of the 2025 edition, the 2026 World Championship runner-up Gian van Veen lost the opening set of his match with Ryan Joyce but came back to claim a 3–1 victory. Van Veen admitted that he "made it a little bit difficult" for himself, acknowledging that his proficiency on double 16 helped him take the win. The 2021 world champion Gerwyn Price produced a three-dart average of 108.51 as he defeated James Hurrell 3–0. "I think I was a little bit ruthless in that game," commented Price, who said he needed to play well against a "fantastic" Hurrell. The 2021 Masters champion Jonny Clayton hit checkouts of 161 and 136 on his way to beating Wessel Nijman 3–1. Two-time world champion Gary Anderson and the 2014 Masters champion James Wade both advanced by winning in a deciding set, getting past Niels Zonneveld and Madars Razma, respectively. Shane McGuirk went 1–0 ahead against Nathan Aspinall before Aspinall won 3–1 with a run of six consecutive legs, while 2023 Masters champion Chris Dobey defeated Jermaine Wattimena 3–0.
Reigning world champion Luke Littler and the 2024 World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker traded the first two sets of their match, with De Decker taking the next to lead 2–1. After Littler missed double 15 for a nine-dart finish, De Decker missed a match dart on double 11 for a 142 checkout. Littler then levelled the match before winning the next two legs to claim a 3–2 victory. He labelled the contest "tough" and said that De Decker deservedly took the second and third sets. After missing darts to win the opening set, the defending champion Luke Humphries defeated Dave Chisnall 3–1. "If you're not hitting your doubles you're going to put yourself under pressure, but I'm really pleased with the way I ended that match," commented Humphries, who called the World Masters a "cut-throat tournament". Luke Woodhouse achieved his highest televised three-dart average, 108.64, as he beat Martin Schindler 3–0. "I've just shown tonight what I'm capable of, so now it's about doing it over a long period of time and in the big TV events," said Woodhouse afterwards. The 2024 Masters champion Stephen Bunting defeated Jeffrey de Graaf 3–1, while 2018 world champion Rob Cross earned a 3–1 win over recent World Championship semi-finalist Ryan Searle. Ross Smith landed a 150 checkout in the penultimate set of his match against Jimmy van Schie before triumphing 3–1. Josh Rock and Danny Noppert were also 3–1 winners, defeating Connor Scutt and Daryl Gurney, respectively.