2016 PDC World Darts Championship

The 2016 William Hill World Darts Championship was the 23rd World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event was held at the Alexandra Palace, London, between 17 December 2015 and 3 January 2016.

2016 William Hill World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Dates	17 December 2015 – 3 January 2016
Venue	Alexandra Palace
Location	London
Country	England
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Sets Final – best of 13
Prize fund	£1,500,000
Winner's share	£300,000
Nine-dart finish	Gary Anderson (semi-finals)
High checkout	170  Rowby-John Rodriguez  Gary Anderson (x2)  Phil Taylor  Jelle Klaasen  Michael van Gerwen
Champion(s)
Gary Anderson
«2015 2017»

Gary Anderson was the defending champion, having won his first world title in the 2015 final by beating 16-times champion Phil Taylor 7–6. He retained his title by beating Adrian Lewis 7–5.^[1] He also threw a nine-dart finish in his semi-final against Jelle Klaasen to add a bonus £15,000 to his winnings, and hit two maximum checkouts of 170 in the progress.^[2]

There were 654 maximums thrown during the event, beating the record of 625 from the previous year. 34 of these were produced in the final, which was the record for a professional match for a year until the 2017 World Darts Championship final produced 42.

Three-time world champion John Part was a notable absentee in this tournament, having failed to qualify for the first time since joining the PDC in 1997.

Format

The tournament featured 72 players. The top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit on 30 November 2015 (after the Players Championship Finals) were seeded for the tournament. They were joined by the 16 highest non-qualified players from the Pro Tour Order of Merit, based on the events played on the 2015 PDC Pro Tour.

These 48 players were joined by two PDPA qualifiers (as determined at a PDPA Qualifying event held in Coventry on 30 November 2015), and 22 international players: the four highest names on the European Order of Merit not already qualified, and 18 further international qualifiers determined by the PDC and PDPA. Some of the international players, such as the four from the European Order of Merit, and the top American and Australian players entered straight into the first round, while others, having won qualifying events in their countries, were entered into the preliminary round.^[3]

Thanawat Gaweenuntawong became the first player from Thailand to play at a World Darts Championship.^[4]

Prize money

The 2016 World Championship featured a prize fund of at least £1,500,000 – an increase of £250,000 from the 2015 tournament.^[5]

The prize money was allocated as follows:

Position (num. of players)		Prize money (Total: £1,500,000)
Winner	(1)	£300,000
Runner-up	(1)	£150,000
Semi-finalists	(2)	£70,000
Quarter-finalists	(4)	£35,000
Third round losers	(8)	£22,000
Second round losers	(16)	£15,000
First round losers	(32)	£10,000
Preliminary round losers	(8)	£4,250
Nine-dart finish	(1)	£15,000

Qualifiers

Order of Merit Michael van Gerwen Gary Anderson Phil Taylor Peter Wright Adrian Lewis Robert Thornton James Wade Michael Smith Ian White Simon Whitlock Terry Jenkins Kim Huybrechts Dave Chisnall Mervyn King Vincent van der Voort Raymond van Barneveld Stephen Bunting Brendan Dolan Jelle Klaasen Justin Pipe Mensur Suljović Mark Webster Jamie Caven Benito van de Pas Steve Beaton Wes Newton Andy Hamilton Andrew Gilding Dean Winstanley Kevin Painter Jamie Lewis John Henderson

Pro Tour Alan Norris Gerwyn Price Joe Murnan Daryl Gurney Keegan Brown Max Hopp Rowby-John Rodriguez Christian Kist Cristo Reyes David Pallett Ronny Huybrechts Dirk van Duijvenbode Jeffrey de Zwaan Kyle Anderson Joe Cullen Darren Webster European Pro Tour Dimitri Van den Bergh Jan Dekker Jyhan Artut Jermaine Wattimena PDPA Qualifier First round qualifier Ricky Evans Preliminary round qualifier Andy Boulton

International qualifiers First round qualifiers Koha Kokiri Laurence Ryder Darin Young Preliminary round qualifiers René Eidams  Thanawat Gaweenuntawong Sven Groen Per Laursen Paul Lim Mick McGowan John Michael Keita Ono  Aleksandr Oreshkin Michael Rasztovits Warrick Scheffer Sun Qiang Rob Szabo Alex Tagarao Kim Viljanen

Results

Preliminary round

The format in the preliminary round was extended from a best-of-seven legs to a best-of-three sets format. One match was played in the first eight sessions with the winners playing their first-round matches at the end of the session.

Av.	Player	Score	Player	Av.
83.03	Andy Boulton	2–1	Per Laursen	79.27
64.73	Sun Qiang	0–2	Mick McGowan	74.19
63.64	Thanawat Gaweenuntawong	0–2	René Eidams	69.25
87.69	Kim Viljanen	2–1	Sven Groen	84.11
91.79	Keita Ono	2–0	Alex Tagarao	77.40
78.83	Michael Rasztovits	0–2	Rob Szabo	78.34
89.33	Aleksandr Oreshkin	2–1	Paul Lim	88.26
77.12	Warrick Scheffer	0–2	John Michael	88.01

Main draw

Finals

	Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets) 1 January [6]					Semi-finals (best of 11 sets) 2 January [7]					Final (best of 13 sets) 3 January [8]
	16	Raymond van Barneveld 99.44	5
	8	Michael Smith 97.61	4
						16	Raymond van Barneveld 94.07	3
						5	Adrian Lewis 99.55	6
	5	Adrian Lewis 102.51	5
	4	Peter Wright 103.10	2
											5	Adrian Lewis 100.23	5
											2	Gary Anderson 99.26	7
	2	Gary Anderson 105.25	5
	7	James Wade 88.05	1
						2	Gary Anderson 107.32	6
						19	Jelle Klaasen 94.68	0
		Alan Norris 98.33	4
	19	Jelle Klaasen 99.35	5

Rounds 1–4

	First round (best of 5 sets) 17–23 December [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]					Second round (best of 7 sets) 26–29 December [16][17][18]					Third round (best of 7 sets) 29–30 December [19][20]					Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets) 1 January [6]
	1	Michael van Gerwen 99.03	3
		René Eidams 90.48	2
						1	van Gerwen 109.23	4
							D. Webster 94.90	0
	32	John Henderson 81.06	1
		Darren Webster 87.83	3
											1	van Gerwen 105.78	3
											16	van Barneveld 100.44	4
	16	Raymond van Barneveld 91.34	3
		Dirk van Duijvenbode 79.77	0
						16	van Barneveld 94.63	4
						17	Bunting 98.18	3
	17	Stephen Bunting 86.72	3
		Jyhan Artut 81.08	0
																16	van Barneveld 99.44	5
																8	Smith 97.61	4
	8	Michael Smith 95.31	3
		Jeffrey de Zwaan 96.20	2
						8	Smith 100.30	4
						25	Beaton 91.96	2
	25	Steve Beaton 95.87	3
		Koha Kokiri 93.22	0
											8	Smith 101.56	4
											24	van de Pas 83.14	0
	9	Ian White 92.43	1
		Dimitri Van den Bergh 95.22	3
							Van den Bergh 92.51	2
						24	van de Pas 95.17	4
	24	Benito van de Pas 87.98	3
		Max Hopp 89.49	1
	5	Adrian Lewis 99.53	3
		Jan Dekker 89.68	0
						5	A. Lewis 103.52	4
						28	Gilding 82.70	0
	28	Andrew Gilding 90.91	3
		Gerwyn Price 83.86	0
											5	A. Lewis 98.70	4
											21	Suljović 93.93	0
	12	Kim Huybrechts 92.66	2
		David Pallett 91.43	3
							Pallett 92.21	3
						21	Suljović 91.04	4
	21	Mensur Suljović 99.44	3
		Jermaine Wattimena 87.10	1
																5	A. Lewis 102.51	5
																4	Wright 103.10	2
	4	Peter Wright 95.91	3
		Keegan Brown 83.61	0
						4	Wright 99.09	4
							R. Huybrechts 92.07	0
	29	Dean Winstanley 88.00	2
		Ronny Huybrechts 91.14	3
											4	Wright 103.69	4
											13	Chisnall 102.26	3
	13	Dave Chisnall 99.37	3
		Rowby-John Rodriguez 89.37	0
						13	Chisnall 102.85	4
							Kist 95.92	1
	20	Justin Pipe 75.55	0
		Christian Kist 93.95	3
	2	Gary Anderson 99.55	3
		Andy Boulton 85.30	0
						2	G. Anderson 99.44	4
							Gurney 96.04	1
	31	Jamie Lewis 90.34	1
		Daryl Gurney 94.12	3
											2	G. Anderson 101.58	4
											15	van der Voort 95.13	0
	15	Vincent van der Voort 95.70	3
		Laurence Ryder 81.37	0
						15	van der Voort 95.12	4
							K. Anderson 92.23	2
	18	Brendan Dolan 87.19	0
		Kyle Anderson 90.64	3
																2	G. Anderson 105.25	5
																7	Wade 88.05	1
	7	James Wade 95.77	3
		John Michael 84.26	0
						7	Wade 92.84	4
						26	Newton 84.89	0
	26	Wes Newton 77.80	3
		Cristo Reyes 87.05	1
											7	Wade 93.89	4
											23	Caven 88.31	1
	10	Simon Whitlock 92.85	2
		Ricky Evans 93.48	3
							Evans 82.95	0
						23	Caven 91.81	4
	23	Jamie Caven 96.55	3
		Rob Szabo 86.50	0
	6	Robert Thornton 88.66	0
		Alan Norris 96.88	3
							Norris 94.80	4
							Murnan 89.76	1
	27	Andy Hamilton 86.75	2
		Joe Murnan 86.88	3
												Norris 95.43	4
											22	M. Webster 96.06	1
	11	Terry Jenkins 89.56	3
		Darin Young 83.49	1
						11	Jenkins 92.15	0
						22	M. Webster 93.37	4
	22	Mark Webster 89.58	3
		Mick McGowan 85.88	0
																	Norris 98.33	4
																19	Klaasen 99.35	5
	3	Phil Taylor 98.39	3
		Keita Ono 83.49	0
						3	Taylor 92.91	4
						30	Painter 92.19	1
	30	Kevin Painter 93.43	3
		Kim Viljanen 80.63	0
											3	Taylor 100.03	3
											19	Klaasen 102.52	4
	14	Mervyn King 97.84	3
		Aleksandr Oreshkin 86.14	2
						14	King 88.71	2
						19	Klaasen 93.56	4
	19	Jelle Klaasen 102.54	3
		Joe Cullen 93.86	0

Final

Final: Best of 13 sets. Referee: George Noble. Alexandra Palace, London, England, 3 January 2016.
(5) Adrian Lewis	5 – 7	Gary Anderson (2)
3 – 1, 0 – 3, 1 – 3, 3 – 2, 3 – 2, 1 – 3, 1 – 3, 0 – 3, 3 – 0, 0 – 3, 3 – 0, 1 – 3
100.23	Average (3 darts)	99.26
19	180 scores	15
131	Highest checkout	170
38% (19/50)	Checkout summary	43% (26/60)

Statistics

Player	Eliminated	Played	Sets Won	Sets Lost	Legs Won	Legs Lost	Leg Breaks	100+	140+	170+	180s	High checkout[21]	Checkout Av.%[21]	Average[21]
Gary Anderson	Winner	6	29	7	95	45	44	185	102	8	51	170	42.15	102.07
Adrian Lewis	Runner-up	6	27	12	93	64	39	171	106	8	60	164	45.95	100.67
Raymond van Barneveld	Semi-finals	5	19	16	74	72	26	231	125	2	27	161	38.56	96.46
Jelle Klaasen	Semi-finals	5	16	15	68	62	31	134	70	5	48	170	42.36	99.49
Peter Wright	Quarter-finals	4	13	8	51	40	20	111	54	1	38	131	40.16	100.45
Michael Smith	Quarter-finals	4	15	9	55	44	20	110	63	4	36	140	43.65	98.70
James Wade	Quarter-finals	4	12	6	40	32	11	113	53	1	13	141	43.48	92.64
Alan Norris	Quarter-finals	4	15	7	51	40	23	92	66	0	37	123	43.97	96.36
Phil Taylor	Third round	3	10	5	36	26	18	82	49	1	13	170	37.11	97.11
Mark Webster	Third round	3	8	4	30	22	11	62	28	1	13	130	36.14	93.00
Dave Chisnall	Third round	3	10	5	39	31	15	85	52	0	25	160	42.39	101.49
Michael van Gerwen	Third round	3	10	6	38	24	15	83	33	7	24	170	52.05	104.68
Mensur Suljović	Third round	3	7	8	29	33	9	80	40	2	8	160	37.66	94.80
Vincent van der Voort	Third round	3	7	6	26	24	9	66	33	0	15	134	37.68	95.32
Jamie Caven	Third round	3	8	4	30	16	11	64	18	1	9	127	41.67	92.22
Benito van de Pas	Third round	3	7	7	31	29	11	72	35	5	5	148	33.70	88.76
Mervyn King	Second round	2	5	6	23	22	8	48	35	0	13	122	31.94	93.28
Kevin Painter	Second round	2	4	4	17	15	9	34	23	1	10	110	38.64	92.81
Andrew Gilding	Second round	2	3	4	11	15	4	24	13	0	5	132	47.83	86.81
Ronny Huybrechts	Second round	2	3	6	18	23	6	49	24	0	7	164	40.00	91.61
David Pallett	Second round	2	6	6	27	22	10	55	43	0	13	132	31.76	91.82
Terry Jenkins	Second round	2	3	5	15	20	5	43	22	0	12	121	35.71	90.86
Joe Murnan	Second round	2	4	6	24	26	8	49	35	0	9	112	32.43	88.32
Darren Webster	Second round	2	3	5	11	18	4	42	25	0	5	116	34.38	91.37
Wes Newton	Second round	2	3	5	12	19	5	33	9	0	6	161	33.33	81.35
Stephen Bunting	Second round	2	6	4	23	18	6	56	16	0	18	88	40.35	92.45
Kyle Anderson	Second round	2	5	4	19	21	4	38	34	0	10	128	27.94	91.44
Dimitri Van den Bergh	Second round	2	5	5	21	22	9	45	22	4	8	122	41.18	93.87
Steve Beaton	Second round	2	5	4	17	19	6	45	19	0	7	164	40.48	93.92
Daryl Gurney	Second round	2	4	5	20	20	8	46	23	0	14	76	35.09	95.08
Christian Kist	Second round	2	4	4	16	16	6	45	25	1	5	116	36.36	94.94
Ricky Evans	Second round	2	3	6	16	24	7	42	16	0	10	130	44.44	88.22
Robert Thornton	First round	1	0	3	3	9	2	14	8	0	0	121	33.33	88.66
Ian White	First round	1	1	3	6	11	3	27	9	0	3	81	35.29	92.43
Simon Whitlock	First round	1	2	3	12	15	4	28	25	0	8	121	28.57	92.85
Kim Huybrechts	First round	1	2	3	8	12	3	28	14	0	4	106	32.00	92.66
Brendan Dolan	First round	1	0	3	5	9	0	18	7	0	1	126	22.73	87.19
Justin Pipe	First round	1	0	3	2	9	0	9	4	0	0	104	50.00	75.55
Andy Hamilton	First round	1	2	3	13	16	6	26	19	0	3	73	34.21	86.75
Dean Winstanley	First round	1	2	3	11	14	3	33	13	0	9	120	32.35	88.00
Jamie Lewis	First round	1	1	3	6	10	2	26	5	0	3	78	46.15	90.34
John Henderson	First round	1	1	3	6	10	2	13	12	0	2	80	46.15	81.06
Gerwyn Price	First round	1	0	3	3	9	0	14	9	0	1	54	23.08	83.86
Keegan Brown	First round	1	0	3	2	9	1	5	4	0	5	72	25.00	83.61
Rowby-John Rodriguez	First round	1	0	3	6	9	2	18	6	1	3	170	35.29	89.37
Max Hopp	First round	1	1	3	7	11	1	17	19	0	4	81	25.00	89.49
Cristo Reyes	First round	1	1	3	7	9	4	22	9	0	4	105	26.92	87.05
Joe Cullen	First round	1	0	3	2	9	1	11	7	0	1	40	33.33	93.86
Jyhan Artut	First round	1	0	3	3	9	1	10	8	0	1	76	16.67	81.08
Dirk van Duijvenbode	First round	1	0	3	4	9	1	11	9	0	1	110	50.00	79.77
Jeffrey de Zwaan	First round	1	2	3	12	13	3	43	14	0	6	128	30.77	96.20
Andy Boulton	First round	2	2	4	10	15	3	27	21	0	0	83	27.03	84.17
Jan Dekker	First round	1	0	3	5	9	2	14	4	0	0	114	83.33	89.68
Jermaine Wattimena	First round	1	1	3	6	11	0	18	12	0	0	70	66.67	87.10
Darin Young	First round	1	1	3	8	11	3	25	9	0	2	100	53.33	83.49
John Michael	First round	2	2	3	10	10	4	23	17	0	0	161	28.57	86.14
Mick McGowan	First round	2	2	3	12	10	4	25	11	0	1	80	36.36	80.04
Kim Viljanen	First round	2	2	4	10	14	5	28	9	0	3	92	52.63	84.16
Koha Kokiri	First round	1	0	3	5	9	3	19	5	0	3	80	22.73	93.22
Laurence Ryder	First round	1	0	3	2	9	0	15	4	0	1	86	50.00	81.37
Rob Szabo	First round	2	2	3	8	13	3	22	8	0	1	70	34.78	82.42
René Eidams	First round	2	4	3	14	14	6	40	8	0	3	122	31.82	79.87
Keita Ono	First round	2	2	3	7	10	4	18	9	0	0	86	46.67	87.64
Aleksandr Oreshkin	First round	2	4	4	15	18	5	40	13	0	2	134	40.54	87.74
Per Laursen	Prelim. Round	1	1	2	6	8	1	18	6	0	1	80	37.50	79.27
Sven Groen	Prelim. Round	1	1	2	5	8	2	24	6	0	0	110	33.33	84.11
Michael Rasztovits	Prelim. Round	1	0	2	4	6	2	15	8	0	0	121	23.53	78.83
Paul Lim	Prelim. Round	1	1	2	6	8	2	21	8	0	1	117	28.57	88.26
Sun Qiang	Prelim. Round	1	0	2	1	6	0	12	1	0	0	48	11.11	64.73
Alex Tagarao	Prelim. Round	1	0	2	1	6	1	7	2	0	1	24	25.00	77.40
Warrick Scheffer	Prelim. Round	1	0	2	1	6	1	10	3	0	1	10	7.69	77.12
Thanawat Gaweenuntawong	Prelim. Round	1	0	2	3	6	2	10	4	0	1	58	12.00	63.64

Representation from different countries

This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the preliminary round.

	ENG	NED	SCO	AUS	BEL	WAL	AUT	GER	NIR	NZL	SPA	THA	GRE	RSA	RUS	USA	JPN	FIN	PHI	DEN	SIN	CHN	IRE	Total
Final	1	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2
Semis	1	2	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4
Quarters	4	2	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	8
Round 3	7	5	2	–	–	1	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	16
Round 2	18	6	2	1	2	1	1	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	32
Round 1	25	10	4	3	3	3	2	3	2	2	1	–	1	–	1	1	1	1	–	–	–	–	1	64
Prelim.	1	1	–	–	–	–	1	1	–	1	–	1	1	1	1	–	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	16
Total	25	11	4	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	72

Broadcasting

The tournament was available in the following countries on these channels:^[22]

Country	Channel
United Kingdom Ireland	Sky Sports Darts †
Netherlands	RTL 7
Germany	Sport1/Sport1+
Denmark	TV3 Sport1/TV3 Sport2
Australia Italy	Fox Sports
New Zealand	Sky Sport (New Zealand)
Czech Republic Slovakia Hungary	Nova Sport 2
Arab world	OSN
United States	ESPN 3
Bulgaria Scandinavia Baltic states	Viasat
Belgium	Eleven Sport Network

† Sky Sports F1 was renamed as Sky Sports Darts for the duration of the tournament.