2016 William Hill World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Dates17 December 2015 –
3 January 2016
VenueAlexandra Palace
LocationLondon
Country England
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatSets
Final – best of 13
Prize fund£1,500,000
Winner's share£300,000
Nine-dart finishScotland Gary Anderson
High checkout170 Austria Rowby-John Rodriguez
170 Scotland Gary Anderson (x2)
170 England Phil Taylor
170 Netherlands Jelle Klaasen
170 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
Champion(s)
Scotland Gary Anderson
«2015 2017»

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.

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 7 years when the 2023 World Darts Championship final produced 37.

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

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 England 2–1 Denmark Per Laursen 79.27
64.73 Sun Qiang China 0–2 Republic of Ireland Mick McGowan 74.19
63.64 Thanawat Gaweenuntawong Thailand 0–2 Germany René Eidams 69.25
87.69 Kim Viljanen Finland 2–1 Netherlands Sven Groen 84.11
91.79 Keita Ono Japan 2–0 Philippines Alex Tagarao 77.40
78.83 Michael Rasztovits Austria 0–2 New Zealand Rob Szabo 78.34
89.33 Aleksandr Oreshkin Russia 2–1 Singapore Paul Lim 88.26
77.12 Warrick Scheffer South Africa 0–2 Greece John Michael 88.01

Main draw

First round (best of 5 sets)
17–23 December
[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] 		Second round (best of 7 sets)
26–29 December
[13][14][15] 		Third round (best of 7 sets)
29–30 December
[16][17] 		Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets)
1 January
[18] 		Semi-finals (best of 11 sets)
2 January
[19] 		Final (best of 13 sets)
3 January
[20]
                  
1 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 99.03 3
Germany René Eidams 90.48 2
1 Netherlands van Gerwen 109.23 4
England D. Webster 94.90 0
32 Scotland John Henderson 81.06 1
England Darren Webster 87.83 3
1 Netherlands van Gerwen 105.78 3
16 Netherlands van Barneveld 100.44 4
16 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 91.34 3
Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode 79.77 0
16 Netherlands van Barneveld 94.63 4
17 England Bunting 98.18 3
17 England Stephen Bunting 86.72 3
Germany Jyhan Artut 81.08 0
16 Netherlands van Barneveld 99.44 5
8 England Smith 97.61 4
8 England Michael Smith 95.31 3
Netherlands Jeffrey de Zwaan 96.20 2
8 England Smith 100.30 4
25 England Beaton 91.96 2
25 England Steve Beaton 95.87 3
New Zealand Koha Kokiri 93.22 0
8 England Smith 101.56 4
24 Netherlands van de Pas 83.14 0
9 England Ian White 92.43 1
Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh 95.22 3
  Belgium Van den Bergh 92.51 2
24 Netherlands van de Pas 95.17 4
24 Netherlands Benito van de Pas 87.98 3
Germany Max Hopp 89.49 1
16 Netherlands van Barneveld 94.07 3
5 England A. Lewis 99.55 6
5 England Adrian Lewis 99.53 3
Netherlands Jan Dekker 89.68 0
5 England A. Lewis 103.52 4
28 England Gilding 82.70 0
28 England Andrew Gilding 90.91 3
Wales Gerwyn Price 83.86 0
5 England A. Lewis 98.70 4
21 Austria Suljović 93.93 0
12 Belgium Kim Huybrechts 92.66 2
England David Pallett 91.43 3
England Pallett 92.21 3
21 Austria Suljović 91.04 4
21 Austria Mensur Suljović 99.44 3
Netherlands Jermaine Wattimena 87.10 1
5 England A. Lewis 102.51 5
4 Scotland Wright 103.10 2
4 Scotland Peter Wright 95.91 3
England Keegan Brown 83.61 0
4 Scotland Wright 99.09 4
Belgium R. Huybrechts 92.07 0
29 England Dean Winstanley 88.00 2
Belgium Ronny Huybrechts 91.14 3
4 Scotland Wright 103.69 4
13 England Chisnall 102.26 3
13 England Dave Chisnall 99.37 3
Austria Rowby-John Rodriguez 89.37 0
13 England Chisnall 102.85 4
Netherlands Kist 95.92 1
20 England Justin Pipe 75.55 0
Netherlands Christian Kist 93.95 3
5 England A. Lewis 100.23 5
2 Scotland G. Anderson 99.26 7
2 Scotland Gary Anderson 99.55 3
England Andy Boulton 85.30 0
2 Scotland G. Anderson 99.44 4
Northern Ireland Gurney 96.04 1
31 Wales Jamie Lewis 90.34 1
Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney 94.12 3
2 Scotland G. Anderson 101.58 4
15 Netherlands van der Voort 95.13 0
15 Netherlands Vincent van der Voort 95.70 3
Australia Laurence Ryder 81.37 0
15 Netherlands van der Voort 95.12 4
Australia K. Anderson 92.23 2
18 Northern Ireland Brendan Dolan 87.19 0
Australia Kyle Anderson 90.64 3
2 Scotland G. Anderson 105.25 5
7 England Wade 88.05 1
7 England James Wade 95.77 3
Greece John Michael 84.26 0
7 England Wade 92.84 4
26 England Newton 84.89 0
26 England Wes Newton 77.80 3
Spain Cristo Reyes 87.05 1
7 England Wade 93.89 4
23 England Caven 88.31 1
10 Australia Simon Whitlock 92.85 2
England Ricky Evans 93.48 3
  England Evans 82.95 0
23 England Caven 91.81 4
23 England Jamie Caven 96.55 3
New Zealand Rob Szabo 86.50 0
2 Scotland G. Anderson 107.32 6
19 Netherlands Klaasen 94.68 0
6 Scotland Robert Thornton 88.66 0
England Alan Norris 96.88 3
England Norris 94.80 4
  England Murnan 89.76 1
27 England Andy Hamilton 86.75 2
England Joe Murnan 86.88 3
England Norris 95.43 4
22 Wales M. Webster 96.06 1
11 England Terry Jenkins 89.56 3
United States Darin Young 83.49 1
11 England Jenkins 92.15 0
22 Wales M. Webster 93.37 4
22 Wales Mark Webster 89.58 3
Republic of Ireland Mick McGowan 85.88 0
England Norris 98.33 4
19 Netherlands Klaasen 99.35 5
3 England Phil Taylor 98.39 3
Japan Keita Ono 83.49 0
3 England Taylor 92.91 4
30 England Painter 92.19 1
30 England Kevin Painter 93.43 3
Finland Kim Viljanen 80.63 0
3 England Taylor 100.03 3
19 Netherlands Klaasen 102.52 4
14 England Mervyn King 97.84 3
Russia Aleksandr Oreshkin 86.14 2
14 England King 88.71 2
19 Netherlands Klaasen 93.56 4
19 Netherlands Jelle Klaasen 102.54 3
England Joe Cullen 93.86 0

Final

Final: Best of 13 sets.
Referee: England George Noble.
Alexandra Palace, London, England, 3 January 2016.
(5) Adrian Lewis England 5 – 7 Scotland 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]
Scotland Gary Anderson Winner 6 29 7 95 45 44 185 102 8 51 170 42.15 102.07
England Adrian Lewis Runner-up 6 27 12 93 64 39 171 106 8 60 164 45.95 100.67
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld Semi-finals 5 19 16 74 72 26 231 125 2 27 161 38.56 96.46
Netherlands Jelle Klaasen Semi-finals 5 16 15 68 62 31 134 70 5 48 170 42.36 99.49
Scotland Peter Wright Quarter-finals 4 13 8 51 40 20 111 54 1 38 131 40.16 100.45
England Michael Smith Quarter-finals 4 15 9 55 44 20 110 63 4 36 140 43.65 98.70
England James Wade Quarter-finals 4 12 6 40 32 11 113 53 1 13 141 43.48 92.64
England Alan Norris Quarter-finals 4 15 7 51 40 23 92 66 0 37 123 43.97 96.36
England Phil Taylor Third round 3 10 5 36 26 18 82 49 1 13 170 37.11 97.11
Wales Mark Webster Third round 3 8 4 30 22 11 62 28 1 13 130 36.14 93.00
England Dave Chisnall Third round 3 10 5 39 31 15 85 52 0 25 160 42.39 101.49
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen Third round 3 10 6 38 24 15 83 33 7 24 170 52.05 104.68
Austria Mensur Suljović Third round 3 7 8 29 33 9 80 40 2 8 160 37.66 94.80
Netherlands Vincent van der Voort Third round 3 7 6 26 24 9 66 33 0 15 134 37.68 95.32
England Jamie Caven Third round 3 8 4 30 16 11 64 18 1 9 127 41.67 92.22
Netherlands Benito van de Pas Third round 3 7 7 31 29 11 72 35 5 5 148 33.70 88.76
England Mervyn King Second round 2 5 6 23 22 8 48 35 0 13 122 31.94 93.28
England Kevin Painter Second round 2 4 4 17 15 9 34 23 1 10 110 38.64 92.81
England Andrew Gilding Second round 2 3 4 11 15 4 24 13 0 5 132 47.83 86.81
Belgium Ronny Huybrechts Second round 2 3 6 18 23 6 49 24 0 7 164 40.00 91.61
England David Pallett Second round 2 6 6 27 22 10 55 43 0 13 132 31.76 91.82
England Terry Jenkins Second round 2 3 5 15 20 5 43 22 0 12 121 35.71 90.86
England Joe Murnan Second round 2 4 6 24 26 8 49 35 0 9 112 32.43 88.32
England Darren Webster Second round 2 3 5 11 18 4 42 25 0 5 116 34.38 91.37
England Wes Newton Second round 2 3 5 12 19 5 33 9 0 6 161 33.33 81.35
England Stephen Bunting Second round 2 6 4 23 18 6 56 16 0 18 88 40.35 92.45
Australia Kyle Anderson Second round 2 5 4 19 21 4 38 34 0 10 128 27.94 91.44
Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh Second round 2 5 5 21 22 9 45 22 4 8 122 41.18 93.87
England Steve Beaton Second round 2 5 4 17 19 6 45 19 0 7 164 40.48 93.92
Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney Second round 2 4 5 20 20 8 46 23 0 14 76 35.09 95.08
Netherlands Christian Kist Second round 2 4 4 16 16 6 45 25 1 5 116 36.36 94.94
England Ricky Evans Second round 2 3 6 16 24 7 42 16 0 10 130 44.44 88.22
Scotland Robert Thornton First round 1 0 3 3 9 2 14 8 0 0 121 33.33 88.66
England Ian White First round 1 1 3 6 11 3 27 9 0 3 81 35.29 92.43
Australia Simon Whitlock First round 1 2 3 12 15 4 28 25 0 8 121 28.57 92.85
Belgium Kim Huybrechts First round 1 2 3 8 12 3 28 14 0 4 106 32.00 92.66
Northern Ireland Brendan Dolan First round 1 0 3 5 9 0 18 7 0 1 126 22.73 87.19
England Justin Pipe First round 1 0 3 2 9 0 9 4 0 0 104 50.00 75.55
England Andy Hamilton First round 1 2 3 13 16 6 26 19 0 3 73 34.21 86.75
England Dean Winstanley First round 1 2 3 11 14 3 33 13 0 9 120 32.35 88.00
Wales Jamie Lewis First round 1 1 3 6 10 2 26 5 0 3 78 46.15 90.34
Scotland John Henderson First round 1 1 3 6 10 2 13 12 0 2 80 46.15 81.06
Wales Gerwyn Price First round 1 0 3 3 9 0 14 9 0 1 54 23.08 83.86
England Keegan Brown First round 1 0 3 2 9 1 5 4 0 5 72 25.00 83.61
Austria Rowby-John Rodriguez First round 1 0 3 6 9 2 18 6 1 3 170 35.29 89.37
Germany Max Hopp First round 1 1 3 7 11 1 17 19 0 4 81 25.00 89.49
Spain Cristo Reyes First round 1 1 3 7 9 4 22 9 0 4 105 26.92 87.05
England Joe Cullen First round 1 0 3 2 9 1 11 7 0 1 40 33.33 93.86
Germany Jyhan Artut First round 1 0 3 3 9 1 10 8 0 1 76 16.67 81.08
Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode First round 1 0 3 4 9 1 11 9 0 1 110 50.00 79.77
Netherlands Jeffrey de Zwaan First round 1 2 3 12 13 3 43 14 0 6 128 30.77 96.20
England Andy Boulton First round 2 2 4 10 15 3 27 21 0 0 83 27.03 84.17
Netherlands Jan Dekker First round 1 0 3 5 9 2 14 4 0 0 114 83.33 89.68
Netherlands Jermaine Wattimena First round 1 1 3 6 11 0 18 12 0 0 70 66.67 87.10
United States Darin Young First round 1 1 3 8 11 3 25 9 0 2 100 53.33 83.49
Greece John Michael First round 2 2 3 10 10 4 23 17 0 0 161 28.57 86.14
Republic of Ireland Mick McGowan First round 2 2 3 12 10 4 25 11 0 1 80 36.36 80.04
Finland Kim Viljanen First round 2 2 4 10 14 5 28 9 0 3 92 52.63 84.16
New Zealand Koha Kokiri First round 1 0 3 5 9 3 19 5 0 3 80 22.73 93.22
Australia Laurence Ryder First round 1 0 3 2 9 0 15 4 0 1 86 50.00 81.37
New Zealand Rob Szabo First round 2 2 3 8 13 3 22 8 0 1 70 34.78 82.42
Germany René Eidams First round 2 4 3 14 14 6 40 8 0 3 122 31.82 79.87
Japan Keita Ono First round 2 2 3 7 10 4 18 9 0 0 86 46.67 87.64
Russia Aleksandr Oreshkin First round 2 4 4 15 18 5 40 13 0 2 134 40.54 87.74
Denmark Per Laursen Prelim. Round 1 1 2 6 8 1 18 6 0 1 80 37.50 79.27
Netherlands Sven Groen Prelim. Round 1 1 2 5 8 2 24 6 0 0 110 33.33 84.11
Austria Michael Rasztovits Prelim. Round 1 0 2 4 6 2 15 8 0 0 121 23.53 78.83
Singapore Paul Lim Prelim. Round 1 1 2 6 8 2 21 8 0 1 117 28.57 88.26
China Sun Qiang Prelim. Round 1 0 2 1 6 0 12 1 0 0 48 11.11 64.73
Philippines Alex Tagarao Prelim. Round 1 0 2 1 6 1 7 2 0 1 24 25.00 77.40
South Africa Warrick Scheffer Prelim. Round 1 0 2 1 6 1 10 3 0 1 10 7.69 77.12
Thailand 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.

England
ENG 		Netherlands
NED 		Scotland
SCO 		Australia
AUS 		Belgium
BEL 		Wales
WAL 		Austria
AUT 		Germany
GER 		Northern Ireland
NIR 		New Zealand
NZL 		Spain
SPA 		Thailand
THA 		Greece
GRE 		South Africa
RSA 		Russia
RUS 		United States
USA 		Japan
JPN 		Finland
FIN 		Philippines
PHI 		Denmark
DEN 		Singapore
SIN 		China
CHN 		Republic of Ireland
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 United Kingdom
Republic of Ireland Ireland		 Sky Sports Darts †
Netherlands Netherlands RTL7
Germany Germany Sport1/Sport1+
Denmark Denmark TV3 Sport1/TV3 Sport2
Australia Australia
Italy Italy		 Fox Sports
New Zealand New Zealand Sky Sport (New Zealand)
Czech Republic Czech Republic
Slovakia Slovakia
Hungary Hungary		 Nova Sport 2
 Arab world OSN
United States United States ESPN 3
Bulgaria Bulgaria
Scandinavia
Baltic states		 Viasat
Belgium Belgium Eleven Sport Network

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

References

  1. ^ "Gary Anderson wins the PDC World Darts Championship – as it happened!". The Guardian. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  2. ^ "Gary Anderson beats Adrian Lewis to win PDC World Darts Championship". BBC Sport. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  3. ^ "2016 William Hill World Darts Championship". PDC.tv. 16 December 2015. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Thanawat Earns World Championship Spot". PDC. 26 August 2015. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Record £1.5M Prize Fund Announced". PDC. 8 July 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  6. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  7. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  8. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Three". PDC. Archived from the original on 21 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  9. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  10. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Five". PDC. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  11. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Six". PDC. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  12. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Seven". PDC. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  13. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Eight". PDC. Archived from the original on 28 December 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  14. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Nine". PDC. Archived from the original on 28 December 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  15. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Ten". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  16. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day 11". PDC. Archived from the original on 30 December 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  17. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day 12". PDC. Archived from the original on 3 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  18. ^ "William Hill World Championship QFs". PDC. Archived from the original on 4 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  19. ^ "William Hill World Championship Semis". PDC. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  20. ^ "William Hill World Championship Final". PDC. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  21. ^ a b c "2016 PDC World Championship Statistics".
  22. ^ "William Hill World Championship". PDC. Archived from the original on 21 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.

External links

World championships in darts
2015 in PDC darts
2016 in PDC darts
World championships in 2016
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