The 2017 William Hill World Darts Championship was the 24th

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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 ...

since it separated from the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

. The event took place at

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

from 15 December 2016 to 2 January 2017. Phil Taylor made a 28th successive appearance at a World Championship (including the BDO version), equalling the record of

John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...

. For the first time in the history of the

World Darts Championship The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split ...

(PDC and BDO), no Englishman progressed to the semi-finals. It was also the first time since

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that the final was contested by the top 2 seeds.

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 ...

set a new record for the highest

3-dart average (114.05) in his semi-final victory over

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

, breaking a 15-year record that had been held by Phil Taylor since

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

(111.21); Van Barneveld himself set a new record for the highest losing 3-dart average (109.34) in the same tie, just 5 days after

Cristo Reyes Cristo Reyes Torres (born 30 July 1987) is a Spanish darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In October 2014, Reyes bested a field of 154 players to win the Iberian Qualifier for the 2015 PDC World Champi ...

had broken the record in his second round match (106.07), also against Van Gerwen. Van Gerwen won his second World Championship title by defeating two-times defending champion Gary Anderson 7–3 in the final.

Format

The field consisted of 72 players, including 16 in a Preliminary round. Therefore, 64 players were entered into Round 1. The schedule was announced on 15 July 2016. The 72 players consist of: *Top 32 players in the PDC Main Order of Merit *Top 16 Pro Tour Order of Merit players *Top 4 European players from the Pro Tour Order of Merit *16 International qualifiers *4 PDPA qualifiers

Prize money

The prize money was £1,650,000 in total. The winner's prize money was increased from £300,000 to £350,000. Prize money for a nine-dart finish was originally set at £5,000, but the PDC increased it to £25,000 due to 'the stature of the tournament', though none were thrown.

Qualifiers

The draw was made on 28 November live on

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and lat ...

. The preliminary round draw was made the previous night. Order of Merit Pro Tour #

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada *James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada * James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

# Steve West #

Chris Dobey Chris Dobey (born 31 May 1990) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career His first major TV appearance came in the 2015 UK Open where he lost 5–1 in the first round to N ...

Robbie Green Robbie Green (born 19 July 1974) is a former English professional darts player. His nickname was Kong. PDC career Green made his televised debut at the 2004 UK Open, reaching the last 64 stage. The same year he qualified for the World Matchp ...

# Josh Payne #

Jermaine Wattimena Jermaine Wattimena (born 9 March 1988) is a Dutch darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. Career Wattimena won the first event he entered as he claimed the 2008 Malta Open by beating Vincent Busuttil in t ...

Ronny Huybrechts Ronny Huybrechts (born 20 July 1965) is a former Belgian professional darts player. Career Ronny and his brother Kim Huybrechts became the first brothers to play in the World Cup of Darts in February 2013 and advanced from Group H courtesy of a ...

Joe Murnan Joe Murnan (born 28 September 1983) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Murnan reached the last 40 of the 2010 Winmau World Masters, losing 3–0 to Filipino Ronald L. Briones. Murnan quali ...

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 ...

Devon Petersen Devon Petersen (born 4 June 1986) is a South African professional darts player and a pundit for Sky Sports. He has qualified for the PDC World Championship on seven occasions with his best result coming in 2014, 2019 and 2021 when he reached th ...

# #

Christian Kist Christian Kist (born 21 April 1986) is a Dutch professional darts player. In 2012, he won the BDO World Darts Championship, defeating Tony O'Shea in the final. Since 2014, he has competed in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career BDO K ...

Jonny Clayton Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed The Ferret, he was half of the Welsh team that won the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts before winning his ...

# Ricky Evans #

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 ...

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 ...

European Pro Tour #

Jeffrey de Graaf Jeffrey de Graaf (born 21 November 1990) is a Dutch darts player. He has played in six World Championships (four BDO and two PDC) but has lost in the first round each time. He moved from the BDO to the PDC in 2016. Career BDO In 2012, De Graaf ...

Max Hopp Max Hopp (born 20 August 1996) is a German professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Hopp reached the final of the 2011 WDF World Cup boys' singles, and won the boys' singles event at the 2012 ...

# #

Ron Meulenkamp Ronnie “Ron” Meulenkamp (born 5 November 1988) is a Dutch darts player playing in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career Meulenkamp was runner-up in both the 2011 Isle of Man Open and England Open. He was also a semi-f ...

PDPA Qualifier
''First round Qualifier'' *

Mark Frost Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film-and-television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and was a writer and executive story ...

''Preliminary round Qualifiers'' *

Kevin Simm Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980) is an English pop singer. He won ''The Voice UK'' on 9 April 2016. Simm was in the group Liberty X from 2001 until their split in 2007, and is currently the lead singer of the group Wet Wet Wet. Early lif ...

Simon Stevenson Simon Stevenson (born 18 February 1972) is an English darts player, who currently competes in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Stevenson first rose to prominence after winning the Rileys Plymouth qualifier for the 2014 UK Open. He d ...

* John Bowles International Qualifiers
''First round Qualifiers'' *

Magnus Caris Magnus Caris (born 15 November 1968) is a Swedish former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. BDO career Caris made seven BDO World Darts Championship appear ...

Mick McGowan Michael McGowan (born 1 February 1973) is an Irish professional darts player who last played in events for the British Darts Organisation (BDO). Career McGowan last played on the PDC pro tour in the Killarney Pro Tour 1 in October 2013 and his ...

* John Michael ''Preliminary round Qualifiers'' *

Corey Cadby Corey Patrick Cadby (born 18 March 1995) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was the 2016 World Youth champion. Career A native of Tasmania, Cadby began competing in Darts ...

* Masumi Chino *

Jerry Hendriks Jerry Hendriks (born 25 October 1988) is a Dutch darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career BDO Hendriks won the 2003 WDF World Youth Cup. During his time in the BDO he was a losing semi-finalist in the Fr ...

Dragutin Horvat Dragutin Horvat (born 8 January 1976) is a German professional darts player of Croatian origin. He currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Horvat reached the quarter-finals of the 2016 International Darts Open, de ...

Boris Koltsov Boris Koltsov (russian: Борис Сергеевич Кольцов; born 10 September 1988) is a Russian darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career BDO In September 2014, Koltsov reached the semi-fin ...

* *

Warren Parry Warren "Wazza" Parry (born 9 January 1964) is a New Zealand professional darts player who played in the World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Parry is widely considered the greatest New Zealand player of all time. Career Parry reached the final o ...

David Platt David Andrew Platt (born 10 June 1966) is an English former professional football coach and player, who played as a midfielder. Born in Chadderton, Lancashire, Platt began his career as an apprentice at Manchester United before moving to Crewe ...

* Tengku Shah *

Ross Snook Ross Snook (born 21 May 1971) is a Canadian professional darts player who is currently playing in World Darts Federation events. Career He won the Bob Jones Memorial in 2012 and 2013, and then made his big breakthrough in 2016, when he won the ...

* Sun Qiang *

Gilbert Ulang Gilbert Ulang (born July 23, 1979) is a Filipino former darts player. Career Ulang represented the Philippines alongside Lourence Ilagan at the 2015 PDC World Cup of Darts, during which they lost in the first round to Belgium's Kim & Ronny Hu ...

Kim Viljanen Kim Viljanen (born December 4, 1981) is a Finnish darts player. Career Viljanen won the boys' singles event at the 1999 WDF World Cup in Durban, South Africa. In 2004, he progressed to the last 32 of the World Masters, losing 3–2 to Tony West ...

:1 Kyle Anderson, who would have been the 28th seed, withdrew from the tournament after being unable to secure a British visa. As a result,

moved into the top 32 seeds, and 2004 runner-up

qualified through the Pro Tour.

Preliminary round

Best of three sets.

Main draw

Final

Statistics

Top averages

This table shows the highest averages achieved by players throughout the tournament. * The highest average in the history of the PDC World Championship. ** The highest losing average in the history of the PDC World Championship. *** The highest losing average in the final of a PDC World Championship.

Representation from different countries

This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the preliminary round. Twenty-two countries were represented in the World Championship, one less than in the previous championship.

Media coverage

The tournament was available in the following countries on these channels: †

Sky Sports F1 Sky Sports F1 is a television channel created exclusively for Sky's UK and Ireland coverage of Formula One, with Sky having a package of rights from the 2012 season to the 2029 season. From 2012 to 2029, Sky Sports F1 has the exclusive rights ...

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

References

External links

Official sitePDC netzone
- Schedule and results,
Live.dartsdata.com
- Live Scores, results and match statistics. {{DEFAULTSORT:PDC World Darts Championship 2017

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2016 sports events in London 2017 sports events in London 2016 in British sport 2017 in British sport Alexandra Palace 2017 PDC World Darts Championship December 2016 sports events in the United Kingdom January 2017 sports events in the United Kingdom