The 2017

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 Ch ...

World Matchplay was the 24th annual staging of the World Matchplay, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament took place at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, from 22 to 30 July 2017.

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 ...

was the two-times defending champion but lost to Phil Taylor 16–6 in the quarter-finals, with Taylor then going on to beat Peter Wright 18–8 in the final to claim his 16th World Matchplay Championship. It was Taylor's final appearance in this tournament and his last major tournament win.

Prize money

The prize fund increased from £450,000 to £500,000, with the winner's earnings increasing from £100,000 to £115,000.

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 players on 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 Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded f ...

as of July 10, 2017 were seeded for the tournament. The top 16 players on the ProTour Order of Merit not to have already qualified will be unseeded. The following players qualified for the tournament:

PDC Order of Merit Top 16

''(quarter-finals)'' # Gary Anderson ''(second round)'' # Peter Wright ''(runner-up)'' #

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 ...

''(semi-finals)'' #

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 ...

''(second round)'' # James Wade ''(first round)'' #

Mensur Suljović Mensur Suljović (Serbian Cyrillic: Менсур Суљовић; born 5 March 1972) is an Austrian professional darts player. He plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously played in the British Darts Organisation (B ...

''(quarter-finals)'' # Phil Taylor (winner) # Raymond van Barneveld ''(second round)'' #

Jelle Klaasen Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984), nicknamed The Cobra, is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2006, he became the youngest darts player to win ...

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

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 1 ...

''(first round)'' # Ian White ''(first round)'' # Robert Thornton ''(first round)'' #

Benito van de Pas Benito van de Pas (born 18 January 1993) is a Dutch professional darts player. Career BDO Van de Pas reached the semi-finals of the 2011 PDC Under-21 World Championship, losing 1-4 to Michael van Gerwen. Van de Pas won the 2011 German Open. Th ...

''(first round)'' #

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 ...

''(second round)''

PDC ProTour qualifiers

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Gurney is a winner of two majors, having won the World Grand Prix in 2017 in his native Ireland, and the P ...

''(semi-finals)'' # Alan Norris ''(quarter-finals)'' # Joe Cullen ''(first round)'' # Rob Cross ''(second round)'' # Mervyn King ''(first round)'' #

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Stephen Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. Nicknamed "The Iceman", he competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), where he is cu ...

''(first round)'' #

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 ...

''(second 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 ...

''(first 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 ...

''(quarter-finals)'' #

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)'' #

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 ...

''(first round)'' # Steve West ''(second round)'' # Kyle Anderson ''(first round)'' # John Henderson ''(first round)'' #

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 ...

''(first 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 ...

''(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 ! Checkout Success , - , align="left", Phil Taylor , Winner , 5 , , , , , , , 151 , 101.03 , 48.37% , - , align="left", Peter Wright , Final , 5 , , , , , , , 147 , 97.46 , 41.36% , - , align="left",

, Semi-finals , 4 , , , , , , , 146 , 97.96 , 43.18% , - , align="left",

, Semi-finals , 4 , , , , , , , 144 , 95.92 , 42.69% , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , , , , , , , 160 , 99.86 , 34.49% , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , , , , , , , 148 , 96.48 , 48.52% , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , , , , , , , 133 , 95.81 , 36.95% , - , align="left", Alan Norris , Quarter-finals , 3 , , , , , , , 155 , 93.51 , 38.71% , - , align="left", Gary Anderson , Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 104 , 103.56 , 35.24% , - , align="left", Rob Cross , Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 125 , 99.90 , 44.70% , - , align="left", Steve West , Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 135 , 97.67 , 42.33% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 116 , 97.48 , 49.41% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 121 , 96.03 , 31.13% , - , align="left", Raymond van Barneveld , Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 124 , 95.67 , 27.38% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 119 , 93.57 , 35.00% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 120 , 91.51 , 29.26% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , , 16 , 12 , 9 , 100 , 99.96 , 43.75% , - , align="left", Joe Cullen , First round , 1 , 8 , 10 , , 20 , 10 , 5 , 150 , 96.95 , 44.44% , - , align="left", Kyle Anderson , First round , 1 , 5 , 10 , , 19 , 3 , 6 , 105 , 96.64 , 55.56% , - , align="left", James Wade , First round , 1 , 11 , 13 , , 42 , 18 , 2 , 121 , 96.08 , 55.00% , - , align="left", Michael Smith , First round , 1 , 5 , 10 , , 18 , 6 , 4 , 80 , 95.45 , 45.45% , - , align="left", Ian White , First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , , 22 , 17 , 2 , 74 , 94.61 , 30.43% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , , 16 , 11 , 3 , 102 , 94.54 , 22.22% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , , 22 , 12 , 1 , 100 , 94.51 , 43.75% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 6 , 10 , , 21 , 8 , 5 , 72 , 93.45 , 28.57% , - , align="left", Robert Thornton , First round , 1 , 3 , 10 , , 15 , 8 , 1 , 62 , 90.82 , 25.00% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 8 , 10 , , 22 , 10 , 4 , 127 , 90.51 , 33.33% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 9 , 11 , , 28 , 16 , 1 , 170 , 89.53 , 27.27% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 5 , 10 , , 16 , 8 , 3 , 76 , 89.34 , 26.32% , - , align="left", Mervyn King , First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , , 13 , 13 , 3 , 90 , 89.22 , 28.00% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , , 20 , 7 , 1 , 170 , 88.68 , 31.25% , - , align="left", John Henderson , First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , , 18 , 9 , 1 , 97 , 86.35 , 30.77% , -

References

{{2017 in PDC darts World Matchplay (darts) World Matchplay World Matchplay World Matchplay