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.
| 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 | |
History
editThe 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
editFrom 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
edit| 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
editAs 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
edit| 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
edit| 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
edit| 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) |
Media coverage
editThe Masters is broadcast by ITV4 in the United Kingdom, DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and Viaplay in the Netherlands.[10]
References
edit- ^ "2013 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ "Masters: Phil Taylor thrashes Adrian Lewis in all-Stoke final". BBC Sport. 4 November 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ "2014 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "2015 PDC The Masters". Mastercaller. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ "Michael van Gerwen beats Van Barneveld to win first Masters title". BBC Sport. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ Phillips, Josh (28 October 2024). "Winmau World Masters to return as PDC event undergoes radical rebrand". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ Allen, Dave (5 January 2021). "Ladbrokes Masters expands to 24 players in 2021". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Allen, Scott (4 December 2024). "2025 Darts Calendar: Every major televised tournament, dates, results and where to watch". PlanetSport. Retrieved 31 December 2024.