The 2017

BetVictor BetVictor, founded in 1946, is an online gambling company based in Gibraltar, owned by British businessman and racehorse owner Michael Tabor. It provides services such as sports betting and online casinos. History The company was founded ...

World Matchplay was a professional

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

tournament that took place at the Winter Gardens,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, from 22–30 July 2017. It was the twenty-fourth annual staging of the World Matchplay to be organised by the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player, who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number three; he was ranked world number one from 20 ...

was the defending champion but lost to Phil Taylor 16–6 in the quarter-finals, Taylor beat Peter Wright 18–8 in the final to claim his 16th World Matchplay title. It was Taylor's final appearance in the 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 broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

, 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 ...

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 who formerly competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Jackpot", he is a two-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2011 and 2012. ...

''(semi-finals)'' #

Dave Chisnall David Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twelve; he reached a peak ranking of world number five in ...

''(second round)'' #

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number nine; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2010. ...

''(first round)'' # Mensur Suljović ''(quarter-finals)'' # Phil Taylor (winner) #

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he was ranked world number one from January 2008 to June 2008. Nicknamed "Barney", he is a five-t ...

''(second round)'' # Jelle Klaasen ''(first round)'' # Michael Smith ''(first round)'' # Kim Huybrechts ''(first round)'' # Ian White ''(first round)'' # Robert Thornton ''(first round)'' # Benito van de Pas ''(first round)'' #

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed "The Wizard", he won th ...

''(second round)''

PDC ProTour qualifiers

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twenty-five; he reached a peak ranking of world number thre ...

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

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. He competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world ...

''(first round)'' # Cristo Reyes ''(second round)'' #

Stephen Bunting Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number four. Nicknamed "the Bullet", Bunting formerly competed in Brit ...

''(first round)'' # Darren Webster ''(quarter-finals)'' # Steve Beaton ''(first round)'' # James Wilson ''(first round)'' # Steve West ''(second round)'' # Kyle Anderson ''(first round)'' # John Henderson ''(first round)'' # Christian Kist ''(first round)'' #

Justin Pipe Justin Pipe (born 9 November 1971) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won six PDC titles. Playing career Pipe was a Boxing, boxer in his youth, and, as a staunch anti- ...

''(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", Mensur Suljović , Quarter-finals , 3 , , , , , , , 148 , 96.48 , 48.52% , - , align="left", Darren Webster , 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", Cristo Reyes , Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 116 , 97.48 , 49.41% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , , 121 , 96.03 , 31.13% , - , align="left",

, 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", Christian Kist , 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",

, 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", Steve Beaton , First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , , 22 , 12 , 1 , 100 , 94.51 , 43.75% , - , align="left", Kim Huybrechts , 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", James Wilson , First round , 1 , 8 , 10 , , 22 , 10 , 4 , 127 , 90.51 , 33.33% , - , align="left", Benito van de Pas , First round , 1 , 9 , 11 , , 28 , 16 , 1 , 170 , 89.53 , 27.27% , - , align="left", Jelle Klaasen , 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