2017 Premier League Darts Explained

2017 Betway Premier League Darts
Winner
Michael van Gerwen
Runner-up
Peter Wright
Score
11–10
Dates
2 February–18 May 2017
Edition
13th
Number of players
10
Venues
16
Nine Dart Finish
Adrian Lewis
Premier League Darts
	2017	2018 >

The 2017 Betway Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the thirteenth edition of the tournament. The event began on Thursday 2 February at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle and ended with the Play-offs at The O2 Arena in London on Thursday 18 May. This was the fourth year that the tournament was sponsored by Betway.

Michael van Gerwen, the 2016 champion, retained his title by winning the last-leg decider against Peter Wright in the final, after Wright missed six darts to win 11–9. Kim Huybrechts became the first player in Premier League Darts history to fail to win a match in the tournament.^[1]

Format

The tournament format is identical to that since 2013. During the first nine weeks (Phase 1) each player plays the other nine players once. The bottom two players are then eliminated from the competition. In the next six weeks (phase 2) each player plays the other seven players once. Phase 2 consists of four weeks where five matches are played followed by two weeks where four matches are played. At the end of phase 2 the top four players contest the two semi-finals and the final in the play-off week.

Venues

In the only change from 2016, Brighton returned to the calendar, replacing Bournemouth.

Newcastle	Nottingham	Leeds	Brighton
Metro Radio Arena Thursday 2 February	Motorpoint Arena Nottingham Thursday 9 February	First Direct Arena Thursday 16 February	Brighton Centre Thursday 23 February
Exeter	Glasgow	Rotterdam	Manchester
Westpoint Arena Thursday 2 March	The SSE Hydro Thursday 9 March	Rotterdam Ahoy Thursday 16 March	Manchester Arena Thursday 23 March
Cardiff	Dublin	Liverpool	Belfast
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff Thursday 30 March	3Arena Thursday 6 April	Echo Arena Liverpool Thursday 13 April	SSE Arena Belfast Thursday 20 April
Birmingham	Sheffield	Aberdeen	London
Barclaycard Arena Thursday 27 April	Sheffield Arena Thursday 4 May	GE Oil and Gas Arena Thursday 11 May	The O2 Thursday 18 May

Players

The players in this year's tournament were announced following the 2017 PDC World Darts Championship final on 2 January 2017, with the top four of the PDC Order of Merit joined by six Wildcards – two chosen by Sky Sports and four by the PDC.

Previous PDC wildcards Robert Thornton and Michael Smith were dropped in favour of Jelle Klaasen and Kim Huybrechts. The 2017 edition marks the first time in which the six-time champion Phil Taylor appears as a wildcard entry, having finished outside the Order of Merit places. It is also the first Premier League without a player making his debut in the competition.

Player	data-sort-type="number"	Appearance in Premier League	Consecutive Streak	Order of Merit Rank	data-sort-type="number"	Previous best performance	Qualification
	5th	5	1	Winner (2013, 2016)	PDC Order of Merit
Gary Anderson	7th	7	2	Winner (2011, 2015)	PDC Order of Merit
Peter Wright	4th	4	3	5th (2014, 2016)	PDC Order of Merit
Adrian Lewis	10th	8	4	Runner-up (2011)	PDC Order of Merit
James Wade	9th	3	5	Winner (2009)	PDC Wildcard
	13th	13	6	Winner (2005–2008, 2010, 2012)	Sky Sports Wildcard
Dave Chisnall	4th	4	7	Semi-finals (2015)	PDC Wildcard
Jelle Klaasen	2nd	1	9	7th (2009)	PDC Wildcard
Raymond van Barneveld	12th	12	10	Winner (2014)	Sky Sports Wildcard
Kim Huybrechts	2nd	1	13	10th (2015)	PDC Wildcard

Prize money

The prize-money was increased to £825,000 from £725,000 in 2016.^[2]

Stage	Prize money
Winner	£250,000
Runner-up	£120,000
Semi-finalists	£80,000
5th place	£65,000
6th place	£55,000
7th place	£50,000
8th place	£45,000
9th place	£30,000
10th place	£25,000
League Winner Bonus	£25,000
Total	£825,000

League stage

^[3]

2 February – Week 1 (Phase 1)

Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[4]
Kim Huybrechts 100.62	5–7	James Wade 96.07
Raymond van Barneveld 99.33	7–5	Adrian Lewis 98.96
Phil Taylor 96.23	7–3	Dave Chisnall 96.84
Gary Anderson 103.19	6–6	Michael van Gerwen 107.94
Peter Wright 93.93	7–4	Jelle Klaasen 95.94
Night's Total Average: 98.90
Highest Checkout: Dave Chisnall 160
Most 180s: Dave Chisnall 5
Night's 180s: 29

9 February – Week 2 (Phase 1)

Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[5]
Adrian Lewis 94.40	7–2	Dave Chisnall 90.48
James Wade 98.88	6–6	Phil Taylor 92.07
Jelle Klaasen 97.41	3–7	Gary Anderson 100.04
Peter Wright 89.83	3–7	Michael van Gerwen 105.21
Kim Huybrechts 96.99	6–6	Raymond van Barneveld 93.91
Night's Total Average: 95.92
Highest Checkout: Michael van Gerwen 170
Most 180s: Raymond van Barneveld 7
Night's 180s: 29

16 February – Week 3 (Phase 1)

First Direct Arena, Leeds

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[6]
Gary Anderson 106.59	5–7	Peter Wright 109.48
Adrian Lewis 88.01	4–7	James Wade 98.21
Phil Taylor 96.39	7–4	Raymond van Barneveld 97.32
Michael van Gerwen 102.78	7–4	Jelle Klaasen 96.24
Dave Chisnall 101.20	7–4	Kim Huybrechts 105.06
Night's Total Average: 99.13
Highest Checkout: Dave Chisnall 141
Most 180s: Gary Anderson 6
Night's 180s: 32

23 February – Week 4 (Phase 1)

Brighton Centre, Brighton

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[7]
Dave Chisnall 93.28	3–7	Jelle Klaasen 98.90
Michael van Gerwen 104.67	6–6	Adrian Lewis 101.20
Gary Anderson 96.80	6–6	James Wade 89.61
Phil Taylor 96.44	6–6	Kim Huybrechts 94.56
Raymond van Barneveld 103.40	6–6	Peter Wright 95.87
Night's Total Average: 97.47
Highest Checkout: Adrian Lewis 170
Most 180s: Jelle Klaasen, Raymond van Barneveld & Michael van Gerwen 4
Night's 180s: 24

2 March – Week 5 (Phase 1)

Westpoint Arena, Exeter

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[8]
Dave Chisnall 101.13	7–2	Raymond van Barneveld 96.83
Jelle Klaasen 87.57	6–6	Kim Huybrechts 93.96
Gary Anderson 105.31	6–6	Phil Taylor 103.98
Adrian Lewis 109.15	2–7	Peter Wright 119.50
James Wade 89.35	5–7	Dave Chisnall* 92.58
Night's Total Average: 99.94
Highest Checkout: Peter Wright 125
Most 180s: Dave Chisnall 10
Night's 180s: 39

• Michael van Gerwen was originally scheduled to play against James Wade, but withdrew due to a back injury, Dave Chisnall played twice in Round 5. Van Gerwen played Wade on 23 March (Round 8), giving Chisnall the night off.^[9]

9 March – Week 6 (Phase 1)

The SSE Hydro, Glasgow

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[10]
Adrian Lewis 98.71	7–4	Phil Taylor 96.82
James Wade 94.52	5–7	Peter Wright 95.42
Kim Huybrechts 101.72	5–7	Michael van Gerwen 106.30
Jelle Klaasen 95.42	5–7	Raymond van Barneveld 96.46
Dave Chisnall 92.67	3–7	Gary Anderson 101.71
Night's Average: 97.98
Highest Checkout: Raymond van Barneveld 154
Most 180s: Adrian Lewis 7
Night's 180s: 37

16 March – Week 7 (Phase 1)

Ahoy, Rotterdam

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[11]
James Wade 94.32	7–3	Jelle Klaasen 86.21
Peter Wright 93.79	7–4	Dave Chisnall 90.52
Raymond van Barneveld 103.71	7–2	Gary Anderson 102.69
Kim Huybrechts 90.17	3–7	Adrian Lewis 96.18
Phil Taylor 93.87	4–7	Michael van Gerwen 100.50
Night's Average: 95.20
Highest Checkout: Raymond van Barneveld 156
Most 180s: Adrian Lewis & Raymond van Barneveld 5
Night's 180s: 21

23 March – Week 8 (Phase 1)

Manchester Arena, Manchester

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[12]
Michael van Gerwen 104.20	7–4	James Wade 100.84
Kim Huybrechts 91.55	2–7	Gary Anderson 101.86
Peter Wright 102.45	5–7	Phil Taylor 98.75
Jelle Klaasen 81.25	5–7	Adrian Lewis 84.39
Raymond van Barneveld 101.20	7–5	Michael van Gerwen 101.93
Night's Average: 96.84
Highest Checkout: Peter Wright 156
Most 180s: Michael van Gerwen 9
Night's 180s: 33

30 March – Week 9 (Phase 1) – Judgement Night

Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Cardiff

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[13]
Peter Wright N/A	7–0	Kim Huybrechts* N/A
Phil Taylor 97.50	7–5	Jelle Klaasen 91.78
Gary Anderson 107.13	7–3	Adrian Lewis 96.67
Raymond van Barneveld 95.38	7–2	James Wade 84.97
Michael van Gerwen 104.25	7–1	Dave Chisnall 100.79
Night's Average: 97.31
Highest Checkout: Gary Anderson 170
Most 180s: Gary Anderson & Dave Chisnall 5
Night's 180s: 20

• Kim Huybrechts was unable to travel to Cardiff due to family reasons. Because he was already eliminated in week 8, Peter Wright was awarded the win by default and the game was not rescheduled, giving Wright the night off.^[14]

6 April – Week 10 (Phase 2)

3Arena, Dublin

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[15]
James Wade 110.82	5–7	Michael van Gerwen 113.62
Raymond van Barneveld 100.51	3–7	Phil Taylor 105.87
Dave Chisnall 106.40	6–6	Peter Wright 101.82
Adrian Lewis 99.76	7–3	Gary Anderson 95.20
James Wade 93.58	2–7	Raymond van Barneveld 100.07
Night's Average: 102.77
Highest Checkout: Dave Chisnall 145
Most 180s: Raymond van Barneveld 9
Night's 180s: 41

13 April – Week 11 (Phase 2)

Echo Arena Liverpool, Liverpool

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[16]
Gary Anderson 101.46	6–6	Dave Chisnall 98.98
Michael van Gerwen 103.48	6–6	Peter Wright 99.79
Adrian Lewis 111.52	7–4	Raymond van Barneveld 99.29
Phil Taylor 98.96	5–7	James Wade 93.88
Peter Wright 103.85	2–7	Gary Anderson 113.44
Night's Average: 102.47
Highest Checkout: Adrian Lewis 141
Most 180s: Gary Anderson & Dave Chisnall 8
Night's 180s: 39

20 April – Week 12 (Phase 2)

SSE Arena Belfast, Belfast

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[17]
Dave Chisnall 103.97	7–3	Adrian Lewis 95.56
Phil Taylor 104.38	7–4	Gary Anderson 102.60
Peter Wright 92.53	7–3	James Wade 92.24
Michael van Gerwen 103.09	7–2	Raymond van Barneveld 93.55
Dave Chisnall 104.72	7–2	Phil Taylor 94.91
Night's Average: 98.76
Highest Checkout: Raymond van Barneveld 140
Most 180s: Dave Chisnall 6
Night's 180s: 23

27 April – Week 13 (Phase 2)

Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[18]
James Wade 93.74	7–4	Adrian Lewis 96.68
Dave Chisnall 99.04	6–6	Michael van Gerwen 101.95
Phil Taylor 95.69	3–7	Peter Wright 94.32
Gary Anderson 105.47	7–4	Raymond van Barneveld 101.98
Adrian Lewis 94.53	0–7	Michael van Gerwen 110.75
Night's Average:
Highest Checkout: Gary Anderson 161
Most 180s: Michael van Gerwen 8
Night's 180s: 19

4 May – Week 14 (Phase 2)

Sheffield Arena, Sheffield

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[19]
Peter Wright 100.53	7–2	Adrian Lewis 92.80
Raymond van Barneveld 100.65	5–7	Dave Chisnall 109.36
James Wade 87.35	3–7	Gary Anderson 94.32
Michael van Gerwen 102.99	3–7	Phil Taylor 100.41
Night's Average: 98.55
Highest Checkout: Dave Chisnall 142
Most 180s: Gary Anderson & Dave Chisnall 4
Night's 180s: 23

11 May – Week 15 (Phase 2)

GE Oil and Gas Arena, Aberdeen

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[20]
Dave Chisnall 98.68	6–6	James Wade 96.29
Phil Taylor 99.09	7–5	Adrian Lewis 97.50
Peter Wright 97.27	7–1	Raymond van Barneveld 94.74
Michael van Gerwen 103.56	7–4	Gary Anderson 100.46
Night's Total Average: 98.45
Highest Checkout: Gary Anderson 145
Most 180s: Dave Chisnall 7
Night's 180s: 27

Play-offs – 18 May

The O2 Arena, London

width=225		width=50	Score	width=225
^[21]
Semi-finals (best of 19 legs)
Michael van Gerwen 102.22	10–7	Gary Anderson 102.68
Peter Wright 100.04	10–9	Phil Taylor 97.62
Final (best of 21 legs)
Michael van Gerwen 104.76	11–10	Peter Wright 101.06
Night's Total Average:
Highest Checkout: Gary Anderson 160
Most 180s: Michael van Gerwen 13
Night's 180s: 35

Table and streaks

Table

After the first nine weeks (phase 1), the bottom two in the table are eliminated. In the next six weeks (phase 2) the eight remaining players each play a further seven matches. The top four players then compete in the playoffs.

Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.

	width=200	Name	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	LF	LA	+/-	LWAT	100+	140+	180s	A^[22]	HC	C%
1		16	10	4	2	24	102	70	+32	34	174	154	54	104.92	170	40.54%
2	RU	16	10	3	3	23	98	68	+30	30	203	144	46	98.86	156	38.89%
3		16	8	3	5	19	92	85	+7	32	206	133	37	98.15	142	40.17%
4		16	7	4	5	18	91	79	+12	35	192	127	53	102.16	170	39.91%
5		16	6	4	6	16	82	87	−5	25	166	107	65	99.76	160	39.47%
6		16	6	2	8	14	79	89	−10	26	186	131	58	98.69	156	37.09%
7		16	5	3	8	13	82	95	−13	23	278	133	28	95.29	121	37.36%
8		16	6	1	9	13	76	90	−14	25	197	122	46	96.84	170	36.89%
9		9	1	1	7	3	42	58	−16	15	120	51	19	92.30	152	34.71%
10		9	0	3	6	3	37	60	−23	11	93	70	24	95.58	140	34.58% Streaks Player Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 15 Play-offs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 SF F Michael van Gerwen Peter Wright Phil Taylor Gary Anderson Dave Chisnall rowspan=4 colspan=2 Raymond van Barneveld James Wade Jelle Klaasen rowspan=2 colspan=13 Kim Huybrechts Legend: Win Draw Loss Did not play Awarded by forfeit Eliminated Positions by Week Player Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 5 2 1 1 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 7 4 4 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 4 7 6 5 4 5 3 4 4 3 6 3 5 5 6 3 6 4 4 5 3 4 3 3 4 10 10 8 10 5 7 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 5 5 3 4 6 6 7 6 4 3 3 3 4 5 5 6 6 4 5 3 3 4 5 3 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 7 7 6 7 7 8 8 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 9 9 10 9 10 10 10 9 9 align=center ; rowspan=2; colspan=6; style="background:#fcc;" Eliminated 8 8 9 8 9 9 9 10 10 External links PDC Professional Darts Corporation, official website PDC Professional Darts Corporation, official website, Tournaments

Notes and References

1. Web site: Premier League Darts: Michael Van Gerwen beats Peter Wright to win third title. 18 May 2017. BBC Sport. 19 May 2017.
2. Web site: Record Prize Money On Offer In 2017. PDC. 19 December 2016.
3. Web site: 2017 Betway Premier League Fixtures. PDC. 16 January 2017.
4. Web site: Betway Premier League Night One. PDC. 2 February 2017.
5. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Two. PDC. 9 February 2017.
6. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Three. PDC. 16 February 2017.
7. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Four. PDC. 23 February 2017.
8. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Five. PDC. 2 March 2017.
9. Web site: Injured Van Gerwen Misses Exeter. PDC. 1 March 2017.
10. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Six. PDC. 9 March 2017.
11. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Seven. PDC. 16 March 2017.
12. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Eight. PDC. 23 March 2017.
13. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Nine. PDC. 30 March 2017.
14. Web site: Huybrechts To Miss Cardiff Night. PDC. 30 March 2017.
15. Web site: Betway Premier League Night Ten. PDC. 6 April 2017.
16. Web site: Betway Premier League Night 11. PDC. 13 April 2017.
17. Web site: Betway Premier League Night 12. PDC. 20 April 2017.
18. Web site: Betway Premier League Night 13. PDC. 27 April 2017.
19. Web site: Betway Premier League Night 14. PDC. 4 May 2017.
20. Web site: Betway Premier League Night 15. PDC. 11 May 2017.
21. Web site: Stunning Final-Leg Glory For Van Gerwen. PDC. 18 May 2017.
22. Web site: 2017 Premier League Stats: Tournament Average. 2 February 2017.