The 2014

BetVictor BetVictor is an online gambling company headquartered in Gibraltar. Founded in 1946, it offers products such as sports betting and online casino. The company is currently owned by Michael Tabor. History The company was founded by William Chand ...

World Matchplay was the 21st annual staging of the darts tournament, the World Matchplay, organised by the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

. The tournament took place at the Winter Gardens,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, from 19–27 July 2014. Phil Taylor won the event for the seventh consecutive year and 15th in total by beating

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

18–9 in the final. Taylor also threw the event's only nine-dart finish which he did in the second round against Michael Smith.

Prize money

The prize fund was increased to £450,000 after being £400,000 for the previous five editions of this event. The bonus for a nine-dart finish stood at £10,000 and was won by Phil Taylor.

Format

In previous stagings of the event all games had to be won by two clear legs with no sudden-death legs. However, in 2013 after consulting the host broadcaster

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

, the PDC decided that games will now only proceed for a maximum of six extra legs before a tie-break leg is required. For example, in a best of 19 legs first round match, if the score reaches 12–12 then the 25th leg will be the decider.

Qualification

The top 16 in the

PDC Order of Merit The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded f ...

qualified as seeded players. The other 16 places went to the top 16 non-qualified players from the PDC ProTour Order of Merit who are unseeded players.

PDC Top 16

''(runner-up)'' # Phil Taylor (winner) #

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

''(quarter-finals)'' #

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, having also played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) between 2004 and 2009. He uses the nickname ...

''(semi-finals)'' #

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

''(quarter-finals)'' # Peter Wright ''(first round)'' # Robert Thornton ''(first round)'' #

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...

''(second round)'' #

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champion ...

''(quarter-finals)'' #

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Ope ...

''(quarter-finals)'' # Gary Anderson ''(semi-finals)'' #

Brendan Dolan Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional darts player from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is best known for becoming the first player to hit a ...

''(first round)'' # Raymond van Barneveld ''(second round)'' # Mervyn King ''(second round)'' #

Justin Pipe Justin Pipe (born 9 November 1971) is an English former professional darts player who has played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was a former top 10 player. Playing career Pipe was a boxer in his youth, and, as a staunc ...

''(first round)'' # Ian White ''(second round)''

PDC ProTour qualifiers

Kim Huybrechts Kim Huybrechts (born 16 November 1985) is a Belgian professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He made the final of a major TV event, the 2012 Players Championship Finals, losing to Phil Taylor 13 ...

''(first round)'' #

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the BDO World Darts Championship in 1996 and is a former World No. 1. Background Beaton was born in Co ...

''(first round)'' #

Vincent van der Voort Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975) is a Dutch professional darts player on the PDC circuit. As of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, his nickname is the "Dutch Destroyer", although he used to go by "Grease Lightning". He is bes ...

''(first round)'' #

Jamie Caven Jamie Robert Caven (born 10 March 1976) is an English former professional darts player who plays in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. He has won seven events on the PDC Pro Tour, including two in the same weekend in May 2013. Caven was ...

''(first round)'' # Michael Smith ''(second round)'' #

Terry Jenkins Terry Jenkins (born 26 September 1963) is an English former professional darts player who was nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the name "Tucker" for his matches. He reached number three in the world rankings and was a runner-up in nin ...

''(first round)'' #

Dean Winstanley Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English professional darts player. He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won ...

''(first round)'' #

Ronnie Baxter Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He used the nickname "The Rocket" for his matches. Baxter was known for his fast robotic throwing a ...

''(first round)'' #

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the ...

''(first round)'' #

Stephen Bunting Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Nicknamed The Bullet, Bunting won the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and is a twice former Wor ...

''(second round)'' #

Darren Webster Darren Michael Webster (born 10 June 1968) is an English darts player nicknamed Demolition Man. Career Webster won the 2005 Open Oust Nederland, beating Co Stompé in the final. Originally nicknamed The Sniper, Webster reached the quarter-fina ...

''(first round)'' #

Andrew Gilding Andrew Gilding (born 7 December 1970) is an English professional darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He made his television debut in 2011. Gilding's best result at a PDC major event was reaching the sem ...

''(first round)'' # Wayne Jones ''(first round)'' # Andy Smith ''(first round)'' # Paul Nicholson ''(second round)'' # Richie Burnett ''(second round)''

Draw

Statistics

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: right" , - ! Player ! Eliminated ! Played ! Legs Won ! Legs Lost ! LWAT ! 100+ ! 140+ ! 180s ! High Checkout ! 3-dart Average , - , align="left", Phil Taylor , Winner , 5 , 74 , 40 , 29 , 148 , 94 , 30 , 160 , 103.92 , - , align="left",

, Final , 5 , 65 , 54 , 22 , 153 , 75 , 36 , 145 , 99.91 , - , align="left", Gary Anderson , Semi-finals , 4 , 54 , 41 , 18 , 124 , 75 , 33 , 145 , 101.30 , - , align="left",

, Semi-finals , 4 , 52 , 41 , 23 , 108 , 73 , 32 , 154 , 95.09 , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , 31 , 28 , 12 , 78 , 36 , 13 , 113 , 101.71 , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , 35 , 30 , 12 , 71 , 50 , 24 , 134 , 97.87 , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , 33 , 23 , 16 , 77 , 48 , 11 , 114 , 95.04 , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , 32 , 38 , 12 , 73 , 51 , 11 , 160 , 85.92 , - , align="left", Michael Smith , Second round , 2 , 16 , 21 , 5 , 34 , 27 , 14 , 112 , 99.66 , - , align="left", Ian White , Second round , 2 , 14 , 17 , 3 , 47 , 21 , 7 , 160 , 96.98 , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , 20 , 16 , 8 , 40 , 27 , 10 , 160 , 95.98 , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , 18 , 19 , 5 , 46 , 32 , 5 , 167 , 95.87 , - , align="left", Mervyn King , Second round , 2 , 18 , 17 , 7 , 30 , 33 , 7 , 101 , 95.33 , - , align="left", Richie Burnett , Second round , 2 , 12 , 17 , 6 , 52 , 19 , 4 , 121 , 90.64 , - , align="left", Raymond van Barneveld , Second round , 2 , 18 , 17 , 10 , 38 , 30 , 10 , 132 , 89.79 , - , align="left", Paul Nicholson , Second round , 2 , 23 , 23 , 10 , 57 , 31 , 6 , 142 , 89.45 , - , align="left", Robert Thornton , First round , 1 , 8 , 10 , 4 , 31 , 13 , 4 , 112 , 97.06 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 8 , 10 , 1 , 29 , 9 , 6 , 127 , 96.66 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , 1 , 19 , 11 , 3 , 92 , 96.58 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , 2 , 21 , 12 , 2 , 66 , 94.43 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , 3 , 18 , 11 , 3 , 122 , 92.77 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 0 , 10 , 0 , 11 , 7 , 2 , – , 92.55 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , 1 , 16 , 6 , 1 , 72 , 92.53 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 8 , 10 , 1 , 27 , 9 , 2 , 132 , 92.03 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , 0 , 15 , 9 , 4 , 60 , 91.28 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 6 , 10 , 3 , 18 , 14 , 3 , 92 , 90.86 , - , align="left", Andy Smith , First round , 1 , 5 , 10 , 2 , 27 , 11 , 0 , 120 , 89.67 , - , align="left", Peter Wright , First round , 1 , 6 , 10 , 0 , 20 , 13 , 4 , 84 , 89.12 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , 2 , 12 , 7 , 7 , 75 , 89.10 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , 1 , 18 , 9 , 1 , 91 , 88.91 , - , align="left", Wayne Jones , First round , 1 , 3 , 10 , 2 , 13 , 8 , 2 , 96 , 82.45 , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 9 , 11 , 3 , 23 , 7 , 3 , 81 , 81.62 , -

References

{{2014 in PDC darts World Matchplay (darts) World Matchplay World Matchplay