2017 Grand Slam of Darts explained

Tournament Name:	2017 bwin Grand Slam of Darts
Dates:	11–19 November 2017
Venue:	Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Location:	Wolverhampton
Organisation:	PDC
Format:	Legs
Prize Fund:	£450,000
Winners Share:	£110,000
High Checkout:	170 Rob Cross Peter Wright
Winner:	Michael van Gerwen
Prev:	2016
Next:	2018

The 2017 Grand Slam of Darts, was the eleventh staging of the tournament, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place from 11–19 November 2017 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England.

The tournament's defending champion was Michael van Gerwen, who won the tournament in 2016 by defeating James Wade 16–8 in the final. He retained his title for a 3rd consecutive year by beating Peter Wright 16–12 in this year's final.^[1]

Prize money

The prize fund for the Grand Slam was increased from £400,000 in 2016 to £450,000 in 2017, with the winner getting £110,000, as opposed to £100,000.^[2]

Position (num. of players)		Prize money (Total: £450,000)
Winner	align=center	(1)	align=center	£110,000
Runner-up	align=center	(1)	align=center	£55,000
Semi-finalists	align=center	(2)	align=center	£28,500
Quarter-finalists	align=center	(4)	align=center	£16,000
Last 16 (second round)	align=center	(8)	align=center	£10,000
Third in group	align=center	(8)	align=center	£5,000
Fourth in group	align=center	(8)	align=center	£3,000

Group winner bonus	align=center	(8)	align=center	£2,500

Qualifying

PDC qualifying tournaments

PDC Main Tournaments
width=300	Tournament	width=50	Year	width=80	Position	width=200	Player	width=200	Qualifiers
PDC World Darts Championship	2017	Winner	Michael van Gerwen^[3]	Michael van Gerwen Phil Taylor Daryl Gurney Corey Cadby Peter Wright Mensur Suljović Gary Anderson James Wade Simon Whitlock Berry van Peer Gerwyn Price Rob Cross Dave Chisnall Mark Webster
Grand Slam of Darts	2016	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
Premier League Darts	2017	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
World Matchplay	2017	Winner	Phil Taylor^[4]
World Grand Prix	2017	Winner	Daryl Gurney
PDC World Youth Championship	2016	Winner	Corey Cadby
Masters	2017	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
UK Open	2017	Winner	Peter Wright
European Championship	2017	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship Finals	2016	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
Champions League of Darts	2017	Winner	Mensur Suljović
World Series of Darts Finals	2017	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
PDC World Cup of Darts	2017	Winners	Michael van Gerwen
PDC World Darts Championship	2017	Runner-Up	Gary Anderson
Grand Slam of Darts	2016	Runner-Up	James Wade
Premier League Darts	2017	Runner-Up	Peter Wright
World Matchplay	2017	Runner-Up	Peter Wright
World Grand Prix	2017	Runner-Up	Simon Whitlock
PDC World Youth Championship	2016	Runner-Up	Berry van Peer
Masters	2017	Runner-Up	Gary Anderson
UK Open	2017	Runner-Up	Gerwyn Price
European Championship	2017	Runner-Up	Rob Cross
Players Championship Finals	2016	Runner-Up	Dave Chisnall
Champions League of Darts	2017	Runner-Up	Gary Anderson
World Series of Darts Finals	2017	Runner-Up	Gary Anderson
PDC World Cup of Darts	2017	Runners-Up	Gerwyn Price Mark Webster
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

At most sixteen players could qualify through this method, where the position in the list depicts the priority of the qualification.

In case the list of qualifiers from the main tournaments produced fewer than sixteen players, the field of sixteen players is filled from the reserve lists. The first list consists of the winners from 2017 European Tour events, in which the winners shall be selected in Order of Merit position order at the cut-off date.

PDC European Tour
width=150	Tournament	width=200	Event	width=80	Position	width=200	Player	width=200	Qualifiers
2017 European Tour
	Winner	Peter Wright	Michael Smith
German Darts Masters	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
German Darts Open	Winner	Peter Wright
European Darts Grand Prix	Winner	Peter Wright
Gibraltar Darts Trophy	Winner	Michael Smith^[5]
European Darts Matchplay	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
Austrian Darts Open	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
European Darts Open	Winner	Peter Wright
Dutch Darts Masters	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
German Darts Grand Prix	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
International Darts Open	Winner	Peter Wright
European Darts Trophy	Winner	Michael van Gerwen
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Had there still been less than sixteen qualified players after the winners of European Tour events were added, the winners of 2017 Players Championships events would have been added, followed by the winners of qualifying tournaments for the 2017 UK Open. As there are already 16 qualified players after the first two qualification methods, no player will qualify via Players Championships and UK Open qualifying events. This resulted in Adrian Lewis missing the tournament for the first time.

PDC qualifying event

A further eight places in the Grand Slam of Darts will be filled by qualifiers from a PDC qualifier that took place in Wigan on 6 November.These are the qualifiers:

BDO qualifying tournaments

width=300	Tournament	width=50	Year	width=80	Position	width=200	Player
BDO World Darts Championship	2017	Winner	Glen Durrant
BDO World Darts Championship	2017	Runner-Up	Danny Noppert
World Masters	2016	Winner	Glen Durrant
BDO World Trophy	2017	Winner	Peter Machin

BDO ranking qualifiers

The remaining five BDO representatives were the top five non-qualified players from the BDO Invitational Rankings at 30 September 2017.

The five qualifiers were confirmed on 10 October 2017, and were:^[6]

Pools

(PDC Seeded Players)	(PDC Qualifiers)		(BDO Qualifiers)
width=220	Pool A	width=220	Pool B	width=220	Pool C	width=220	Pool D
Michael van Gerwen (1) Peter Wright (2) Gary Anderson (3) Daryl Gurney (4) Phil Taylor (5) Mensur Suljović (6) Dave Chisnall (7) Raymond van Barneveld (8)	Michael Smith Simon Whitlock James Wade Alan Norris Gerwyn Price Stephen Bunting Rob Cross Darren Webster	Mark Webster James Wilson Robbie Green Joe Murnan Jeffrey de Zwaan Berry van Peer Steve Lennon Corey Cadby	Mark McGeeney Glen Durrant Jamie Hughes Scott Mitchell Ross Montgomery Cameron Menzies Danny Noppert Peter Machin

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 in Brackets: Number = Seeds; BDO = BDO Darts player; Q = Qualifier
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

width=20	Pos.	width=185	Player	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	L	width=20	LF	width=20	LA	width=25	+/−	width=20	Pts	width=70	Status
1	Michael van Gerwen (1)	3	3	0	15	7	+8	6	Q
2		3	2	1	14	8	+6	4	Q
3		3	1	2	8	13	–5	2	Eliminated
4	Joe Murnan (Q)	3	0	3	6	15	–9	0	Eliminated

11 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
100.95 Michael van Gerwen	5 – 1	Ross Montgomery 97.24
103.87 Rob Cross	5 – 1	Joe Murnan 87.26

12 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
108.28 Michael van Gerwen	5 – 4	Rob Cross 104.70
	3 – 5	Ross Montgomery 100.96

14 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
108.29 Michael van Gerwen	5 – 2	Joe Murnan 93.40
105.76 Rob Cross	5 – 2	Ross Montgomery 87.43

Group B

width=20	Pos.	width=185	Player	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	L	width=20	LF	width=20	LA	width=25	+/−	width=20	Pts	width=70	Status
1		3	3	0	15	7	+8	6	Q
2	Steve Lennon (Q)	3	1	2	10	10	0	2	Q
3		3	1	2	10	13	–3	2	Eliminated
4	Jamie Hughes (BDO)	3	1	2	6	11	–5	2	Eliminated

11 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
	5 – 1	Jamie Hughes 85.13
102.83 Gerwyn Price	5 – 3	Steve Lennon 96.90

12 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
	5 – 4	Gerwyn Price 101.10
100.20 Steve Lennon	5 – 0	Jamie Hughes 74.29

14 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
	5 – 2	Steve Lennon 94.74
	1 – 5	Jamie Hughes 92.34

Group C

width=20	Pos.	width=185	Player	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	L	width=20	LF	width=20	LA	width=25	+/−	width=20	Pts	width=70	Status
1		3	2	1	13	10	+3	4	Q
2		3	2	1	11	9	+2	4	Q
3	Robbie Green (Q)	3	1	2	12	11	+1	2	Eliminated
4	Peter Machin (BDO)	3	1	2	7	13	–6	2	Eliminated

11 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
99.13 Phil Taylor	5 – 1	Peter Machin 85.82
	1 – 5	Robbie Green 88.42

12 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
99.39 Phil Taylor	5 – 4	Robbie Green 98.98
91.47 James Wade	5 – 1	Peter Machin 85.12

14 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
	3 – 5	James Wade 90.84
	3 – 5	Peter Machin 79.53

Group D

width=20	Pos.	width=185	Player	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	L	width=20	LF	width=20	LA	width=25	+/−	width=20	Pts	width=70	Status
1		3	3	0	15	5	+10	6	Q
2	Darren Webster (Q)	3	1	2	9	12	–3	2	Nine Dart Shootout
2		3	1	2	10	13	–3	2	Nine Dart Shootout
4	Danny Noppert (BDO)	3	1	2	8	12	–4	2	Eliminated

11 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
97.00 Daryl Gurney	5 – 1	Danny Noppert 92.65
	3 – 5	Mark Webster 90.51

12 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
96.08 Daryl Gurney	5 – 3	Mark Webster 90.55
103.44 Darren Webster	5 – 2	Danny Noppert 98.57

14 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
98.80 Daryl Gurney	5 – 1	Darren Webster 88.59
	2 – 5	Danny Noppert 90.08

Nine dart shootout

With Mark Webster and Darren Webster finishing level on points and leg difference, a nine-dart shootout between the two took place to see who would play the Group C winner Phil Taylor in the second round. The match took place after the conclusion of Tuesday's group matches, and was the second year in succession that a nine-dart shootout was required. Mark Webster threw first.

width=20	POS	width=120	Player	width=3	1	width=3	2	width=3	3	width=20	4	width=20	5	width=20	6	width=3	7	width=20	8	width=20	9	width=20	Pts	width=150	Status
2		20	60	20	60	1	60	20	3	57	301
3	Mark Webster	60	60	20	20	19	19	20	60	20	298	Eliminated

Group E

width=20	Pos.	width=185	Player	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	L	width=20	LF	width=20	LA	width=25	+/−	width=20	Pts	width=70	Status
1	Glen Durrant (BDO)	3	2	1	14	10	+4	4	Q
2		3	2	1	12	9	+3	4	Q
3	Alan Norris (Q)	3	1	2	12	14	−2	2	Eliminated
4		3	1	2	9	14	−5	2	Eliminated

11 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
	2 – 5	Glen Durrant 106.05
86.82 Alan Norris	5 – 4	Corey Cadby 85.33

12 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
	3 – 5	Glen Durrant 103.50
98.88 Peter Wright	5 – 0	Corey Cadby 90.21

13 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
97.49 Corey Cadby	5 – 4	Glen Durrant 96.80
98.68 Peter Wright	5 – 4	Alan Norris 92.50

Group F

width=20	Pos.	width=185	Player	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	L	width=20	LF	width=20	LA	width=25	+/−	width=20	Pts	width=70	Status
1	Stephen Bunting (Q)	3	3	0	15	10	+5	6	Q
2		3	1	2	11	12	−1	2	Q
3	Scott Mitchell (BDO)	3	1	2	11	13	−2	2	Eliminated
4		3	1	2	12	14	−2	2	Eliminated

11 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
93.30 Dave Chisnall	5 – 2	Scott Mitchell 100.02
97.02 Stephen Bunting	5 – 4	Jeffrey de Zwaan 96.69

12 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
	2 – 5	Stephen Bunting 90.55
	3 – 5	Scott Mitchell 86.95

13 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
	4 – 5	Jeffrey de Zwaan 98.08
97.28 Stephen Bunting	5 – 4	Scott Mitchell 93.50

Group G

width=20	Pos.	width=185	Player	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	L	width=20	LF	width=20	LA	width=25	+/−	width=20	Pts	width=70	Status
1		3	3	0	15	10	+5	6	Q
2		3	2	1	14	12	+2	4	Q
3	James Wilson (Q)	3	1	2	12	12	0	2	Eliminated
4	Mark McGeeney (BDO)	3	0	3	8	15	−7	0	Eliminated

11 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
93.83 Mensur Suljović	5 – 2	Mark McGeeney 81.03
97.13 Michael Smith	5 – 3	James Wilson 91.91

12 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
102.84 Mensur Suljović	5 – 4	Michael Smith 100.79
92.47 James Wilson	5 – 2	Mark McGeeney 85.22

13 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
98.48 Mensur Suljović	5 – 4	James Wilson 99.72
104.90 Michael Smith	5 – 4	Mark McGeeney 100.40

Group H

width=20	Pos.	width=185	Player	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	L	width=20	LF	width=20	LA	width=25	+/−	width=20	Pts	width=70	Status
1		3	3	0	15	6	+9	6	Q
2	Berry van Peer	3	2	1	11	13	−2	4	Q
3	Cameron Menzies (BDO)	3	1	2	12	12	0	2	Eliminated
4		3	0	3	8	15	−7	0	Eliminated

11 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
96.55 Gary Anderson	5 – 3	Cameron Menzies 91.98
86.48 Simon Whitlock	4 – 5	Berry van Peer 87.00

12 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
111.79 Gary Anderson	5 – 1	Berry van Peer 68.85
90.31 Simon Whitlock	2 – 5	Cameron Menzies 90.79

13 November

width=223		width=100	width=223
104.73 Gary Anderson	5 – 2	Simon Whitlock 96.43
81.19 Berry van Peer	5 – 4	Cameron Menzies 81.52

Knockout stage

Notes and References

Web site: Grand Slam of Darts: Michael van Gerwen wins his third title after beating Peter Wright and Phil Taylor on finals day .
Web site: Record Prize Money On Offer In 2017. PDC. 23 August 2017.
Web site: Machin Set For bwin Grand Slam Debut. Dave. Allen. PDC. 23 August 2017.
Web site: Sweet 16 For Taylor In BetVictor World Matchplay. PDC. 23 August 2017.
Web site: Banks. Jamie. Four-Some Smith's Gibraltar Joy. PDC. 23 August 2017.
Web site: Allen. Dave. BDO Confirm Final Grand Slam Qualifiers. Professional Darts Corporation. 11 October 2017. 10 October 2017.