World Professional Darts Championship

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The World Professional Darts Championship was 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 in the game. Each organisation, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) since organised their own World Championship, the former in January the latter in December. As a result, there no longer was an unified world champion in the sport for nearly three decades. This ended when the BDO ceased to exist in 2020, leaving the PDC as the sole organisation crowning a world professional darts champion.

The BDO organised their version dating back to 1978, when it was held at the Heart of the Midlands nightclub, Nottingham. The following year it moved to the Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke, where it stayed until 1985. From then until 2019 it was held at the Lakeside Leisure Complex at Frimley Green, Surrey. In 2020 the tournament was held at The O2 Arena in London. The BDO went into liquidation in 2020 and the World Darts Federation announced later that that they would be creating their own version, though amateur, of a World Championship, returning to the Lakeside Leisure Complex.^[1]

The PDC version started in 1994 after "the split", with a field of players containing all active previous World Champions from the BDO. It was originally staged at Purfleet's Circus Tavern, Essex, before moving to Alexandra Palace, London, for the 2008 World Championship.

Men's winners[]

British Darts Organisation Main article: BDO World Championship Year Winner Score Runner Up 1978 Leighton Rees 11–7 (legs) John Lowe 1979 John Lowe 5–0 Leighton Rees 1980 Eric Bristow 5–3 Bobby George 1981 Eric Bristow 5–3 John Lowe 1982 Jocky Wilson 5–3 John Lowe 1983 Keith Deller 6–5 Eric Bristow 1984 Eric Bristow 7–1 Dave Whitcombe 1985 Eric Bristow 6–2 John Lowe 1986 Eric Bristow 6–0 Dave Whitcombe 1987 John Lowe 6–4 Eric Bristow 1988 Bob Anderson 6–4 John Lowe 1989 Jocky Wilson 6–4 Eric Bristow 1990 Phil Taylor 6–1 Eric Bristow 1991 Dennis Priestley 6–0 Eric Bristow 1992 Phil Taylor 6–5 Mike Gregory 1993 John Lowe 6–3 Alan Warriner 1994 John Part 6–0 Bobby George 1995 Richie Burnett 6–3 Raymond van Barneveld 1996 Steve Beaton 6–3 Richie Burnett 1997 Les Wallace 6–3 Marshall James 1998 Raymond van Barneveld 6–5 Richie Burnett 1999 Raymond van Barneveld 6–5 Ronnie Baxter 2000 Ted Hankey 6–0 Ronnie Baxter 2001 John Walton 6–2 Ted Hankey 2002 Tony David 6–4 Mervyn King 2003 Raymond van Barneveld 6–3 Ritchie Davies 2004 Andy Fordham 6–3 Mervyn King 2005 Raymond van Barneveld 6–2 Martin Adams 2006 Jelle Klaasen 7–5 Raymond van Barneveld 2007 Martin Adams 7–6 Phill Nixon 2008 Mark Webster 7–5 Simon Whitlock 2009 Ted Hankey 7–6 Tony O'Shea 2010 Martin Adams 7–5 Dave Chisnall 2011 Martin Adams 7–5 Dean Winstanley 2012 Christian Kist 7–5 Tony O'Shea 2013 Scott Waites 7–1 Tony O'Shea 2014 Stephen Bunting 7–4 Alan Norris 2015 Scott Mitchell 7–6 Martin Adams 2016 Scott Waites 7–1 Jeff Smith 2017 Glen Durrant 7–3 Danny Noppert 2018 Glen Durrant 7–6 Mark McGeeney 2019 Glen Durrant 7–3 Scott Waites 2020 Wayne Warren 7–4 Jim Williams

Professional Darts Corporation Main article: PDC World Championship Year Winner Score Runner Up 1994 Dennis Priestley 6–1 Phil Taylor 1995 Phil Taylor 6–2 Rod Harrington 1996 Phil Taylor 6–4 Dennis Priestley 1997 Phil Taylor 6–3 Dennis Priestley 1998 Phil Taylor 6–0 Dennis Priestley 1999 Phil Taylor 6–2 Peter Manley 2000 Phil Taylor 7–3 Dennis Priestley 2001 Phil Taylor 7–0 John Part 2002 Phil Taylor 7–0 Peter Manley 2003 John Part 7–6 Phil Taylor 2004 Phil Taylor 7–6 Kevin Painter 2005 Phil Taylor 7–4 Mark Dudbridge 2006 Phil Taylor 7–0 Peter Manley 2007 Raymond van Barneveld 7–6 Phil Taylor 2008 John Part 7–2 Kirk Shepherd 2009 Phil Taylor 7–1 Raymond van Barneveld 2010 Phil Taylor 7–3 Simon Whitlock 2011 Adrian Lewis 7–5 Gary Anderson 2012 Adrian Lewis 7–3 Andy Hamilton 2013 Phil Taylor 7–4 Michael van Gerwen 2014 Michael van Gerwen 7–4 Peter Wright 2015 Gary Anderson 7–6 Phil Taylor 2016 Gary Anderson 7–5 Adrian Lewis 2017 Michael van Gerwen 7–3 Gary Anderson 2018 Rob Cross 7–2 Phil Taylor 2019 Michael van Gerwen 7–3 Michael Smith 2020 Peter Wright 7–3 Michael van Gerwen 2021 Gerwyn Price 7–3 Gary Anderson 2022 Peter Wright 7–5 Michael Smith World Darts Federation Main article: WDF World Championship Year Winner Score Runner Up 2022

Englishman Phil Taylor has won a record sixteen World Championships.

Englishman Eric Bristow won five World Championships.

By player[]

The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 31 January 2022).

Player	Total	BDO	PDC
Phil Taylor	16	2	14
Raymond van Barneveld	5	4	1
Eric Bristow	5	5	–
Martin Adams	3	3	–
John Lowe	3	3	–
Michael van Gerwen	3	–	3
John Part	3	1	2
Glen Durrant	3	3	–
Gary Anderson	2	–	2
Peter Wright	2	–	2
Ted Hankey	2	2	–
Adrian Lewis	2	–	2
Dennis Priestley	2	1	1
Scott Waites	2	2	–
Jocky Wilson	2	2	–
Bob Anderson	1	1	–
Steve Beaton	1	1	–
Stephen Bunting	1	1	–
Richie Burnett	1	1	–
Rob Cross	1	–	1
Tony David	1	1	–
Keith Deller	1	1	–
Andy Fordham	1	1	–
Christian Kist	1	1	–
Jelle Klaasen	1	1	–
Scott Mitchell	1	1	–
Gerwyn Price	1	–	1
Leighton Rees	1	1	–
Les Wallace	1	1	–
John Walton	1	1	–
Wayne Warren	1	1	–
Mark Webster	1	1	–

Highest average progression[]

Average	Seed	Player	Score	Opponent	Stage	Year
97.49	3	Leighton Rees	6–3	Alan Evans	QF	1978
99.00	5	John Lowe	2–0	Tony Brown	1st	1984
100.29	unseeded	Keith Deller	2–4	John Lowe	QF	1985
100.80	unseeded	Phil Taylor	5–0	Cliff Lazarenko	SF	1990
102.63	1	Dennis Priestley	3–0	Jocky Wilson	1st	1993
103.98	1	Phil Taylor	6–0	Dennis Priestley	F	1998
105.03	3	Phil Taylor	3–0	Reg Harding	1st	1999
105.87	2	Phil Taylor	6–0	Alan Warriner	QF	2000
107.46	2	Phil Taylor	7–0	John Part	F	2001
111.21	2	Phil Taylor	6–1	Shayne Burgess	2nd	2002
114.05	1	Michael van Gerwen	6–2	Raymond van Barneveld	SF	2017

Women's winners[]

British Darts Organisation (current sponsors: Lakeside) Main article: BDO World Championship Year Winner Score Runner Up 2001 Trina Gulliver 2–1 2002 Trina Gulliver 2–1 Francis Hoenselaar 2003 Trina Gulliver 2–0 Anne Kirk 2004 Trina Gulliver 2–0 Francis Hoenselaar 2005 Trina Gulliver 2–0 Francis Hoenselaar 2006 Trina Gulliver 2–0 Francis Hoenselaar 2007 Trina Gulliver 2–1 Francis Hoenselaar 2008 Anastasia Dobromyslova 2–0 Trina Gulliver 2009 Francis Hoenselaar 2–1 Trina Gulliver 2010 Trina Gulliver 2–0 Rhian Edwards 2011 Trina Gulliver 2–0 Rhian Edwards 2012 Anastasia Dobromyslova 2–1 Deta Hedman 2013 Anastasia Dobromyslova 2–1 Lisa Ashton 2014 Lisa Ashton 3–2 Deta Hedman 2015 Lisa Ashton 3–1 Fallon Sherrock 2016 Trina Gulliver 3–2 Deta Hedman 2017 Lisa Ashton 3–0 Corrine Hammond 2018 Lisa Ashton 3–1 Anastasia Dobromyslova 2019 Mikuru Suzuki 3–0 Lorraine Winstanley 2020 Mikuru Suzuki 3–0 Lisa Ashton

Professional Darts Corporation (current sponsors: Unicorn) Main article: PDC Women's World Darts Championship Year Winner Score Runner Up 2010 Stacy Bromberg 6–5 (legs) Tricia Wright

By player[]

The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 11 January 2020).

Player	Total	BDO	PDC
Trina Gulliver	10	10	–
Lisa Ashton	4	4	–
Anastasia Dobromyslova	3	3	–
Mikuru Suzuki	2	2	–
Francis Hoenselaar	1	1	–
Stacy Bromberg	1	–	1

Youth winners[]

British Darts Organisation (current sponsors: Lakeside) Year Winner Score Runner Up 2015 3–0 Harry Ward 2016 3–2 2017 Justin van Tergouw 3–2 Nathan Girvan 2018 Justin van Tergouw 3–1 2019 Leighton Bennett 3–0 Nathan Girvan 2020 Keane Barry 3–0 Leighton Bennett

Professional Darts Corporation (current sponsors: Unicorn) Year Winner Score Runner Up 2011 Arron Monk 6–4 Michael van Gerwen 2012 James Hubbard 6–3 Michael van Gerwen 2013 Michael Smith 6–1 Ricky Evans 2014 Keegan Brown 6–4 Rowby-John Rodriguez 2015 Max Hopp 6–5 Nathan Aspinall 2016 Corey Cadby 6–2 Berry van Peer 2017 Dimitri Van den Bergh 6–3 Josh Payne 2018 Dimitri Van den Bergh 6–3 Martin Schindler 2019 Luke Humphries 6–0 Adam Gawlas 2020 Bradley Brooks 6–5 Joe Davis 2021 Ted Evetts 6–4 Nathan Rafferty

References[]