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.
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. 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.
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 is a record for a professional match.
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 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, 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.
Thanawat Gaweenuntawong became the first player from Thailand to play at a World Darts Championship.

Qualifiers

Order of Merit
Pro Tour
  1. Alan Norris
  2. Gerwyn Price
  3. Joe Murnan
  4. Daryl Gurney
  5. Keegan Brown
  6. Max Hopp
  7. Rowby-John Rodriguez
  8. Christian Kist
  9. Cristo Reyes
  10. David Pallett
  11. Ronny Huybrechts
  12. Dirk van Duijvenbode
  13. Jeffrey de Zwaan
  14. Kyle Anderson
  15. Joe Cullen
  16. Darren Webster
European Pro Tour
  1. Jan Dekker
  2. Jyhan Artut
  3. Jermaine Wattimena
PDPA Qualifier
First Round Qualifier
Preliminary Round Qualifier
International Qualifiers

First Round Qualifiers
Preliminary Round Qualifiers
The 2016 World Championship featured a prize fund of at least £1,500,000 – an increase of £250,000 from the 2015 tournament.
The prize money was allocated as follows:

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.
PlayerScorePlayerAv.
83.03Andy Boulton 2–1 Per Laursen79.27
64.73Sun Qiang 0–2 Mick McGowan74.19
63.64Thanawat Gaweenuntawong 0–2 René Eidams69.25
87.69Kim Viljanen 2–1 Sven Groen84.11
91.79Keita Ono 2–0 Alex Tagarao77.40
78.83Michael Rasztovits 0–2 Rob Szabo78.34
89.33Aleksandr Oreshkin 2–1 Paul Lim88.26
77.12Warrick Scheffer 0–2 John Michael88.01

Main draw

Final

Statistics

PlayerEliminatedPlayedSets WonSets LostLegs WonLegs LostLeg Breaks100+140+170+180sHigh CheckoutCheckout Av.%Average
Winner617042.15102.07
Adrian LewisRunner-up616445.95100.67
Raymond van BarneveldSemi-finals5216138.5696.46
Jelle KlaasenSemi-finals5517042.3699.49
Peter WrightQuarter-finals4113140.16100.45
Michael SmithQuarter-finals4414043.6598.70
James WadeQuarter-finals4114143.4892.64
Alan NorrisQuarter-finals4012343.9796.36
Phil TaylorThird round3117037.1197.11
Mark WebsterThird round3113036.1493.00
Dave ChisnallThird round3016042.39101.49
Michael van GerwenThird round3717052.05104.68
Mensur SuljovićThird round3216037.6694.80
Vincent van der VoortThird round3013437.6895.32
Jamie CavenThird round3112741.6792.22
Benito van de PasThird round3514833.7088.76
Mervyn KingSecond round2012231.9493.28
Kevin PainterSecond round2111038.6492.81
Andrew GildingSecond round2013247.8386.81
Ronny HuybrechtsSecond round2016440.0091.61
David PallettSecond round2013231.7691.82
Terry JenkinsSecond round2012135.7190.86
Joe MurnanSecond round2011232.4388.32
Darren WebsterSecond round2011634.3891.37
Wes NewtonSecond round2016133.3381.35
Stephen BuntingSecond round208840.3592.45
Kyle AndersonSecond round2012827.9491.44
Dimitri Van den BerghSecond round2412241.1893.87
Steve BeatonSecond round2016440.4893.92
Daryl GurneySecond round207635.0995.08
Christian KistSecond round2111636.3694.94
Ricky EvansSecond round2013044.4488.22
Robert ThorntonFirst round1012133.3388.66
Ian WhiteFirst round108135.2992.43
Simon WhitlockFirst round1012128.5792.85
Kim HuybrechtsFirst round1010632.0092.66
Brendan DolanFirst round1012622.7387.19
Justin PipeFirst round1010450.0075.55
Andy HamiltonFirst round107334.2186.75
Dean WinstanleyFirst round1012032.3588.00
Jamie LewisFirst round107846.1590.34
John HendersonFirst round108046.1581.06
Gerwyn PriceFirst round105423.0883.86
Keegan BrownFirst round107225.0083.61
Rowby-John RodriguezFirst round1117035.2989.37
Max HoppFirst round108125.0089.49
Cristo ReyesFirst round1010526.9287.05
Joe CullenFirst round104033.3393.86
Jyhan ArtutFirst round107616.6781.08
Dirk van DuijvenbodeFirst round1011050.0079.77
Jeffrey de ZwaanFirst round1012830.7796.20
Andy BoultonFirst round208327.0384.17
Jan DekkerFirst round1011483.3389.68
Jermaine WattimenaFirst round107066.6787.10
Darin YoungFirst round1010053.3383.49
John MichaelFirst round2016128.5786.14
Mick McGowanFirst round208036.3680.04
Kim ViljanenFirst round209252.6384.16
Koha KokiriFirst round108022.7393.22
Laurence RyderFirst round108650.0081.37
Rob SzaboFirst round207034.7882.42
René EidamsFirst round2012231.8279.87
Keita OnoFirst round208646.6787.64
Aleksandr OreshkinFirst round2013440.5487.74
Per LaursenPrelim. Round108037.5079.27
Sven GroenPrelim. Round1011033.3384.11
Michael RasztovitsPrelim. Round1012123.5378.83
Paul LimPrelim. Round1011728.5788.26
Sun QiangPrelim. Round104811.1164.73
Alex TagaraoPrelim. Round102425.0077.40
Warrick SchefferPrelim. Round10107.6977.12
Prelim. Round105812.0063.64

Representation from different countries

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

Broadcasting

The tournament was available in the following countries on these channels:
CountryChannel
United Kingdom
Ireland
Sky Sports Darts
NetherlandsRTL7
GermanySport1/Sport1+
DenmarkTV3 Sport1/TV3 Sport2
Australia
Italy
Fox Sports
New ZealandSky Sport
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Hungary
Nova Sport 2
OSN
United StatesESPN 3
Bulgaria
Scandinavia
Baltic states
Viasat
BelgiumEleven Sport Network

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