PDC World Masters

This article is about the tournament organised by the PDC, called the World Masters from 2025. For the tournament organised by the BDO and the WDF, see World Masters (darts).

PDC World Masters
Tournament information
Venue	Marshall Arena
Location	Milton Keynes
Country	Scotland (2013–2014) England (since 2015)
Established	2013
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs (2013–2024), Sets (2025–)
Prize fund	£500,000 (2025)
Month(s) Played	November (2013–14) January/February (2015–present)
Current champion(s)
Luke Humphries

The PDC World Masters, known for sponsorship purposes as the Winmau World Masters and formerly known as simply The Masters, is a professional darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). The tournament was introduced in 2013 and has been held at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England, since 2015. Starting from the 2025 edition, the tournament will feature the top 24 darts players according to the PDC Order of Merit, plus eight qualifiers from a preliminary round to complete a 32-player field.

History

The inaugural edition of The Masters, held in 2013, was won by Phil Taylor, who defeated Adrian Lewis 10–1 in the final. ^{[1] [2]} James Wade won the following year by defeating Mervyn King 11–10 in the 2014 final. ^{[3] [4]} Michael van Gerwen became the third different champion in three years when he defeated Raymond van Barneveld 11–6. ^{[5] [6]}

In 2013 and 2014, the tournament took place in the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland and was played in early November. However, the tournament was moved to early February in 2015 and had a new venue at the Arena MK (renamed Marshall Arena in 2019) in Milton Keynes, England. The tournament has been held in late January/early February ever since.

In 2024, the PDC announced The Masters would get rebranded into the "Winmau World Masters" for the 2025 edition, emulating the World Masters tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation and later the World Darts Federation which was also sponsored by Winmau. ^[7]

Format

From 2013 to 2020, the tournament featured the Top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit, in a fixed draw (1 plays 16, 2 plays 15 and so on). The first round and the quarter-finals were played over best of 19 legs, the semi-finals and the final were played over best of 21 legs.

For the 2021 tournament, the participants increased from the Top 16 to the Top 24, with the Top 8 automatically going to the second round and the players ranked 9 to 24 playing in the first round over best of 11 legs. ^[8]

From the 2025 tournament, the field expanded to 32 players, with the Top 16 being seeded in the first round and drawn to play the players ranked 17 to 24 and eight more qualifiers. The eight qualifiers are determined through a preliminary round held the day before the main tournament, featuring the remaining PDC Tour Card holders and players from the PDC's affiliated tours. The 2025 tournament will also see the introduction of set play, with all sets being played to the best of three legs. ^[9]

Masters finals

Year	Champion (average in final)	Score	Runner-up (average in final)	Prize money			Sponsor	Venue
				Total	Champion	Runner-up
The Masters
2013	Phil Taylor (108.50)	10–1 (l)	Adrian Lewis (100.03)	£160,000	£50,000	£20,000	Coral	Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh
2014	James Wade (91.39)	11–10 (l)	Mervyn King (92.15)				Unibet
2015	Michael van Gerwen (112.49)	11–6 (l)	Raymond van Barneveld (96.13)	£200,000	£60,000	£25,000		Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes (known as Arena MK until 2018)
2016	Michael van Gerwen (98.94)	11–6 (l)	Dave Chisnall (96.71)
2017	Michael van Gerwen (109.42)	11–7 (l)	Gary Anderson (103.58)
2018	Michael van Gerwen (105.85)	11–9 (l)	Raymond van Barneveld (100.55)
2019	Michael van Gerwen (99.82)	11–5 (l)	James Wade (87.44)				BetVictor
2020	Peter Wright (95.01)	11–10 (l)	Michael Smith (89.71)				Ladbrokes
2021	Jonny Clayton (104.10)	11–8 (l)	Mervyn King (94.95)	£220,000
2022	Joe Cullen (96.89)	11–9 (l)	Dave Chisnall (90.23)
2023	Chris Dobey (94.05)	11–7 (l)	Rob Cross (90.20)	£275,000	£65,000	£30,000	Cazoo
2024	Stephen Bunting (102.50)	11–7 (l)	Michael van Gerwen (98.27)
World Masters
2025	Luke Humphries (100.42)	6–5 (s)	Jonny Clayton (98.25)	£500,000	£100,000	£50,000	Winmau	Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes

Records and statistics

As of 2025, Michael van Gerwen, James Wade, Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall are the only players to appear in all 13 editions of the Masters.

As of 2 February 2025.

Total finalist appearances

Rank	Player	Nationality	Won	Runner-up	Finals	Appearances
1	Michael van Gerwen	Netherlands	5	1	6	13
2	Jonny Clayton	Wales	1	1	2	7
	James Wade	England	1	1	2	13
4	Stephen Bunting	England	1	0	1	7
	Joe Cullen	England	1	0	1	7
	Chris Dobey	England	1	0	1	4
	Luke Humphries	England	1	0	1	4
	Phil Taylor	England	1	0	1	5
	Peter Wright	Scotland	1	0	1	13
10	Dave Chisnall	England	0	2	2	13
	Mervyn King	England	0	2	2	5
	Raymond van Barneveld	Netherlands	0	2	2	6
13	Gary Anderson	Scotland	0	1	1	10
	Rob Cross	England	0	1	1	8
	Adrian Lewis	England	0	1	1	8
	Michael Smith	England	0	1	1	10

• Active players are shown in bold
• Only players who reached the final are included
• In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by family name

Champions by country

Country	Players	Total	First title	Last title
England	6	6	2013	2025
Netherlands	1	5	2015	2019
Scotland	1	1	2020	2020
Wales	1	1	2021	2021

High averages

Masters highest one-match averages
Average	Player	Year (+ round)	Opponent	Result [N 1]
112.77	Jonny Clayton	2025, first round	Martin Schindler	3–1 (s)
112.49	Michael van Gerwen	2015, final	Raymond van Barneveld	11–6 (l)
112.32	Rob Cross	2023, second round	Gary Anderson	10–6 (l)
112.20	Michael van Gerwen	2016, first round	Stephen Bunting	10–1 (l)
111.17	Gary Anderson	2023, second round	Rob Cross	6–10 (l)
111.14	Michael van Gerwen	2018, quarter-final	James Wade	10–2 (l)
110.28	Michael van Gerwen	2015, quarter-final	Dave Chisnall	10–9 (l)
110.05	Phil Taylor	2014, first round	Wes Newton	10–4 (l)
109.74	Gary Anderson	2017, first round	Benito van de Pas	10–3 (l)
109.42	Michael van Gerwen	2017, final	Gary Anderson	11–7 (l)

Masters highest one-match losing averages
Average	Player	Year (+ round)	Opponent	Result [N 1]
111.17	Gary Anderson	2023, second round	Rob Cross	6–10 (l)
108.50	Luke Littler	2025, quarter-final	Jonny Clayton	2–4 (s)
108.09	Dave Chisnall	2015, quarter-final	Michael van Gerwen	9–10 (l)
106.95	Adrian Lewis	2014, quarter-final	James Wade	6–10 (l)
106.48	Dave Chisnall	2018, first round	Raymond van Barneveld	9–10 (l)

Different players with a 100+ match average (Updated 02/02/25)
Player	Total	Highest Av.	Year (+ round)
Michael van Gerwen	20	112.49	2015, final
Phil Taylor	10	110.05	2014, first round
Gary Anderson	9	111.17	2023, second round
Jonny Clayton	8	112.77	2025, first round
Peter Wright	8	104.72	2021, quarter-finals
Dave Chisnall	6	109.26	2024, first round
Raymond van Barneveld	6	103.51	2018, quarter-finals
Adrian Lewis	5	107.93	2013, quarter-finals
Michael Smith	5	105.49	2022, second round
Mensur Suljović	4	106.12	2019, first round
Stephen Bunting	4	102.50	2024, final
Rob Cross	3	112.32	2023, second round
Luke Littler	3	108.50	2025, quarter-final
Joe Cullen	3	106.30	2022, second round
James Wade	3	105.56	2014, semi-finals
Dimitri Van den Bergh	3	105.31	2022, first round
Mervyn King	3	101.97	2021, first round
Simon Whitlock	2	105.90	2021, second round
Gerwyn Price	2	105.60	2021, quarter-finals
Martin Schindler	2	105.05	2025, first round
Luke Humphries	2	104.24	2025, quarter-finals
Damon Heta	2	102.96	2024, second round
Kim Huybrechts	1	106.43	2013, first round
Nathan Aspinall	1	103.77	2025, first round
Ian White	1	101.78	2022, first round
José de Sousa	1	101.29	2021, first round
Andrew Gilding	1	101.26	2025, first round
Justin Pipe	1	100.40	2014, first round
Vincent van der Voort	1	100.14	2016, first round

1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Media coverage

The Masters is broadcast by ITV4 in the United Kingdom, DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and Viaplay in the Netherlands. ^[10]

References

1. "2013 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
2. "Masters: Phil Taylor thrashes Adrian Lewis in all-Stoke final". BBC Sport. 4 November 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
3. "2014 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
4. Pass, Stephen (2 November 2014). "Unibet Masters: James Wade comes from 9-2 down to beat Mervyn King in final". Sky Sports. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
5. "2015 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
6. "Michael van Gerwen beats Van Barneveld to win first Masters title". BBC Sport. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
7. Phillips, Josh (28 October 2024). "Winmau World Masters to return as PDC event undergoes radical rebrand". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
8. Allen, Dave (5 January 2021). "Ladbrokes Masters expands to 24 players in 2021". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
9. "Winmau World Masters darts: Schedule, draw, results, format as Luke Littler, Luke Humphries headline 2025 edition". Sky Sports. 21 January 2025. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
10. Allen, Scott (4 December 2024). "2025 Darts Calendar: Every major televised tournament, dates, results and where to watch". PlanetSport. Retrieved 31 December 2024.

External links

• Masters at Darts Database
• The Masters page on the PDC website