2016 PDC World Darts Championship explained

Tournament Name:2016 William Hill World Darts Championship
Dates:17 December 2015 –
3 January 2016
Venue:Alexandra Palace
Location:London
Organisation:PDC
Format:Sets
Final – best of 13
Prize Fund:£1,500,000
Winners Share:£300,000
Nine Dart:(semi-finals)
Winner:
Prev:2015
Next:2017

The 2016 William Hill World Darts Championship was the 23rd World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event was held at the Alexandra Palace, London, between 17 December 2015 and 3 January 2016.

Gary Anderson was the defending champion, having won his first world title in the 2015 final by beating 16-times champion Phil Taylor 7–6. He retained his title by beating Adrian Lewis 7–5.[1] He also threw a nine-dart finish in his semi-final against Jelle Klaasen to add a bonus £15,000 to his winnings, and hit two maximum checkouts of 170 in the progress.[2]

There were 654 maximums thrown during the event, beating the record of 625 from the previous year. 34 of these were produced in the final, which was the record for a professional match for 7 years when the 2023 World Darts Championship final produced 37.

Three-time world champion John Part was a notable absentee in this tournament, having failed to qualify for the first time since joining the PDC in 1997.

Format

The tournament featured 72 players. The top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit on 30 November 2015 (after the Players Championship Finals) were seeded for the tournament. They were joined by the 16 highest non-qualified players from the Pro Tour Order of Merit, based on the events played on the 2015 PDC Pro Tour.

These 48 players were joined by two PDPA qualifiers (as determined at a PDPA Qualifying event held in Coventry on 30 November 2015), and 22 international players: the four highest names on the European Order of Merit not already qualified, and 18 further international qualifiers determined by the PDC and PDPA. Some of the international players, such as the four from the European Order of Merit, and the top American and Australian players entered straight into the first round, while others, having won qualifying events in their countries, were entered into the preliminary round.[3]

Thanawat Gaweenuntawong became the first player from Thailand to play at a World Darts Championship.[4]

Prize money

The 2016 World Championship featured a prize fund of at least £1,500,000 – an increase of £250,000 from the 2015 tournament.[5]

The prize money was allocated as follows:

Position (num. of players)Prize money
(Total: £1,500,000)
Winneralign=center (1)align=center £300,000
Runner-upalign=center (1)align=center £150,000
Semi-finalistsalign=center (2)align=center £70,000
Quarter-finalistsalign=center (4)align=center £35,000
Third round losersalign=center (8)align=center £22,000
Second round losersalign=center (16)align=center £15,000
First round losersalign=center (32)align=center £10,000
Preliminary round losersalign=center (8)align=center £4,250
Nine-dart finishalign=center (1)align=center £15,000

Qualifiers

Order of Merit

    1. Michael van Gerwen Gary Anderson

Pro Tour

European Pro Tour

        1. Jan Dekker Jyhan Artut Jermaine Wattimena

PDPA Qualifier
First round qualifier

Preliminary round qualifier

International qualifiers
First round qualifiers

Preliminary round qualifiers

Results

Preliminary round

The format in the preliminary round was extended from a best-of-seven legs to a best-of-three sets format. One match was played in the first eight sessions with the winners playing their first-round matches at the end of the session.

width=35px PlayerScorePlayerwidth=35px Av.
align=center 83.03align=right Andy Boulton 2–1 Per Laursenalign=center 79.27
align=center 64.73align=right Sun Qiang 0–2 Mick McGowanalign=center 74.19
align=center 63.64align=right Thanawat Gaweenuntawong 0–2 René Eidamsalign=center 69.25
align=center 87.69align=right Kim Viljanen 2–1 Sven Groenalign=center 84.11
align=center 91.79align=right Keita Ono 2–0 Alex Tagaraoalign=center 77.40
align=center 78.83align=right Michael Rasztovits 0–2 Rob Szaboalign=center 78.34
align=center 89.33align=right Aleksandr Oreshkin 2–1 Paul Limalign=center 88.26
align=center 77.12align=right 0–2 John Michaelalign=center 88.01

Main draw

Rounds 1-4

Final

Final: Best of 13 sets.
Referee: George Noble.
Alexandra Palace, London, England, 3 January 2016.
5 – 7 Gary Anderson (2)
3 – 1, 0 – 3, 1 – 3, 3 – 2, 3 – 2, 1 – 3, 1 – 3, 0 – 3, 3 – 0, 0 – 3, 3 – 0, 1 – 3
100.23Average (3 darts)99.26
19180 scores15
131Highest checkout170
38% (19/50)Checkout summary43% (26/60)

Statistics

PlayerEliminatedPlayedSets WonSets LostLegs WonLegs LostLeg Breaks100+140+170+180sHigh checkout[6] Checkout Av.%Average
Winner6170 42.15102.07
Adrian LewisRunner-up616445.95100.67
Raymond van BarneveldSemi-finals5216138.5696.46
Jelle KlaasenSemi-finals5517042.3699.49
Peter WrightQuarter-finals4113140.16100.45
Michael SmithQuarter-finals4 414043.6598.70
James WadeQuarter-finals4114143.4892.64
Alan NorrisQuarter-finals4012343.9796.36
Phil TaylorThird round3117037.1197.11
Mark WebsterThird round3113036.1493.00
Dave ChisnallThird round3016042.39101.49
Michael van GerwenThird round3717052.05104.68
Mensur SuljovićThird round3216037.6694.80
Vincent van der VoortThird round3013437.6895.32
Jamie CavenThird round31 12741.6792.22
Benito van de PasThird round35 14833.7088.76
Mervyn KingSecond round2012231.9493.28
Kevin PainterSecond round2111038.6492.81
Andrew GildingSecond round20 13247.8386.81
Ronny HuybrechtsSecond round2016440.0091.61
David PallettSecond round2013231.7691.82
Terry JenkinsSecond round2012135.7190.86
Joe MurnanSecond round2011232.4388.32
Darren WebsterSecond round2011634.3891.37
Wes NewtonSecond round2016133.3381.35
Stephen BuntingSecond round208840.3592.45
Kyle AndersonSecond round2012827.9491.44
Dimitri Van den BerghSecond round2412241.1893.87
Steve BeatonSecond round2016440.4893.92
Daryl GurneySecond round207635.0995.08
Christian KistSecond round2111636.3694.94
Ricky EvansSecond round2013044.4488.22
Robert ThorntonFirst round1012133.3388.66
Ian WhiteFirst round108135.2992.43
Simon WhitlockFirst round1012128.5792.85
Kim HuybrechtsFirst round1010632.0092.66
Brendan DolanFirst round1012622.7387.19
Justin PipeFirst round1010450.0075.55
Andy HamiltonFirst round107334.2186.75
Dean WinstanleyFirst round1012032.3588.00
Jamie LewisFirst round107846.1590.34
John HendersonFirst round108046.1581.06
Gerwyn PriceFirst round105423.0883.86
Keegan BrownFirst round107225.0083.61
Rowby-John RodriguezFirst round1117035.2989.37
Max HoppFirst round108125.0089.49
Cristo ReyesFirst round1010526.9287.05
Joe CullenFirst round104033.3393.86
Jyhan ArtutFirst round107616.6781.08
Dirk van DuijvenbodeFirst round1011050.0079.77
Jeffrey de ZwaanFirst round1012830.7796.20
Andy BoultonFirst round208327.0384.17
Jan DekkerFirst round1011483.3389.68
Jermaine WattimenaFirst round107066.6787.10
Darin YoungFirst round1010053.3383.49
John MichaelFirst round2016128.5786.14
Mick McGowanFirst round208036.3680.04
Kim ViljanenFirst round209252.6384.16
Koha KokiriFirst round108022.7393.22
Laurence RyderFirst round108650.0081.37
Rob SzaboFirst round207034.7882.42
René EidamsFirst round2012231.8279.87
Keita OnoFirst round208646.6787.64
Aleksandr OreshkinFirst round2013440.5487.74
Per LaursenPrelim. Round108037.5079.27
Sven GroenPrelim. Round1011033.3384.11
Michael RasztovitsPrelim. Round1012123.5378.83
Paul LimPrelim. Round1011728.5788.26
Sun QiangPrelim. Round104811.1164.73
Alex Tagarao Prelim. Round102425.0077.40
Warrick SchefferPrelim. Round10107.6977.12
Prelim. Round105812.0063.64

Representation from different countries

This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the preliminary round.


ENG

NED

SCO

AUS

BEL

WAL

AUT

GER

NIR

NZL

SPA

THA

GRE

RSA

RUS

USA

JPN

FIN

PHI

DEN

SIN

CHN

IRE
Total
Final1 1 2
Semis1 2 1 4
Quarters4 2 2 8
Round 37 5 2 1 1 16
Round 218 6 2 1 2 1 1 1 32
Round 125 10 4 3 3 3 2 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 64
Prelim.1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 16
Total25 11 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 72

Broadcasting

The tournament was available in the following countries on these channels:[7]

CountryChannel
United Kingdom
Ireland
Sky Sports Darts
RTL7
Germany Sport1/Sport1+
TV3 Sport1/TV3 Sport2
Australia
Italy
Fox Sports
Sky Sport (New Zealand)
Nova Sport 2
OSN
United States ESPN 3
Viasat
Eleven Sport Network

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

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gary Anderson wins the PDC World Darts Championship – as it happened!. 4 January 2016. The Guardian. 4 January 2016.
  2. Web site: Gary Anderson beats Adrian Lewis to win PDC World Darts Championship. 4 January 2016. BBC Sport. 4 January 2016.
  3. Web site: 2016 William Hill World Darts Championship. 16 December 2015. PDC.tv. 17 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151219015015/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/4yj7ldsy9nh71623we4pcdi3p/title/william-hill-world-championship-netzone. 19 December 2015. dead. dmy-all.
  4. Web site: Thanawat Earns World Championship Spot. PDC. 26 August 2015. 26 August 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151002234042/http://www.pdc.tv/world-darts-championship/article/137bqqsr93ise1223kh4h8k25e/title/thanawat. 2 October 2015. dead. dmy-all.
  5. Web site: Record £1.5M Prize Fund Announced. PDC. 8 July 2015. 8 July 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208165122/http://www.pdc.tv/world-darts-championship/article/ck4d0hgejvk517dubl1akbump/title/record-15m-prize-fund-announced. 8 December 2015. dead. dmy-all.
  6. Web site: 2016 PDC World Championship Statistics.
  7. Web site: William Hill World Championship . . 23 December 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151221095040/http://www.pdc.tv/tv-information . 21 December 2015 . dead . dmy-all .