Masters (darts)

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. James Wade won the following year by defeating Mervyn King 11–10 in the 2014 final. Michael van Gerwen became the third different champion in three years when he defeated Raymond van Barneveld 11–6.

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.

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.

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.

Masters finals

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.

Total finalist appearances

* 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

High averages

Media coverage

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

References

External links

Masters at Darts Database

The Masters page on the PDC website

{{PDC Darts Tournaments

Professional Darts Corporation tournaments
Darts in the United Kingdom
Recurring sporting events established in 2013
2013 establishments in Scotland
Annual sporting events in the United Kingdom