The standard of world darts is likely at its highest point ever, with the professional players performing at record-breaking levels on the best dartboards in the world, and the amateur game constantly improving. The Professional Darts Corporation, which is commonly referred to as the PDC, is the home to the vast majority of the world’s top stars who are known for playing darts at amazing levels.
The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) – World Darts
The PDC also hosts the most well-known and prestigious tournaments, many of which take place in Europe, as well as hosting a World Series that sees the best players in the world tour around the world to grow the profile of the sport. The landscape at the top of the game is also very exciting, with there currently being no single dominant player, as there was during Phil Taylor’s peak years, as well as when Michael van Gerwen was at his brilliant best. Van Gerwen is still ranked within the world’s top three, but he is not as dominant or seemingly unbeatable as he was between 2015 and 2019.
The top players in the world are ranked on the PDC Order of Merit, which orders players based on the amount of ranking prize money that they have won over the last two years. The top positions on the rankings are heavily influenced by the PDC World Darts Championship, which is the most important tournament on the PDC calendar. The PDC World Championship starts in December every year, with the final taking place in early January.
World Darts – PDC Men’s Order of Merit
The tournament has the largest prize fund of every event, with a total purse of around $2,500,000. The winner of the tournament, who is known as the World Champion until the next tournament, receives nearly $500,000 which helps them to climb up the Order of Merit.
Gerwyn Price
The effect of the World Darts Championship on the PDC’s Order of Merit is clear to see, as the top two players currently on the Order of Merit are the last two World Champions. The current World Number One is Gerwyn Price, a Welsh former professional rugby player. 43.8% of ranking money that Price has won over the past two years has been from the World Championship. To put this into perspective, his $500,000 prize money from the 2021 World Championship is the most amount from a single tournament that forms a part of his ranking, whilst the second highest single amount is the $125,000 which he won at the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts.
Peter Wright
The reigning World Champion, Peter Wright, is currently the world’s second-highest-ranked player. Wright is a Scottish two-time World Champion and was the World Number One for a period of 140 days earlier this year. Wright is the first Scotsman to be a World Number One, whilst Price is the first Welshman to be the world’s top-ranked player.
Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen, who is a Dutch three-time World Champion, is the third highest-ranked player. He holds the record for the most PDC Pro Tour event wins and is one of three non-British players to have been World Number One. Darts is dominated by Europeans, with the only non-European World Number One and World Champion being John Part, who is now retired. Currently, the highest-ranked non-European player is Australia’s Damon Heta, who is just inside the world’s top 20.
Michael Smith
The England Number One, Michael Smith, is fourth on the Order of Merit. He is the highest-ranked player who is yet to win a PDC major event, with him losing all seven of his major finals. Smith has lost in the final of each of the three events that make up the ‘PDC Triple Crown’, which features the World Championship, Premier League and World Matchplay.
James Wade “The Machine”
James Wade, who is the fifth highest-ranked player in the world, is regarded by many fans to be the best player never to win the World Championship. He has won 11 majors, the third most of any player, behind Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen. Wade needs to win the World Championship to complete the Triple Crown, whilst Wright needs the Premier League title. Taylor and van Gerwen have both completed the Triple Crown, with Scotland’s Gary Anderson being the only other player to win all three of the PDC’s biggest events.
Phil Taylor
The Premier League is a tournament which uses a league format, with games taking place over a number of weeks to determine who reaches the ‘play-offs’. The World Matchplay is another big event, and its trophy is now named after Phil Taylor, who won the event 16 times. Taylor is also a 16-time World Champion, with 14 world titles in the PDC and two in the BDO, which is now defunct.
PDC Women’s Series
The PDC also features a Women’s Series, which allows female players to qualify for PDC major events. Whilst there is no restriction on women competing on the PDC Pro Tour, it is helping more women to get match experience that will make it more likely for them to win a tour card, which would allow them to be fully professional.
Lisa Ashton
Lisa Ashton, who is currently on the top of the Women’s Series Order of Merit and looks set to qualify for the World Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts, became the first woman to win a PDC tour card when she secured one at PDC Q-School in 2020. Ashton lost her tour card following the 2022 World Championship.
Fallon Sherrock
Fallon Sherrock, who is ranked second on the Women’s Series Order of Merit, became the first female player to win a match at the PDC World Championships when she beat Ted Evetts in the 2019 edition. She followed up this win by beating Mensur Suljović, a former PDC major winner, in the following round.
World Darts Federation
The PDC also have a Development Tour, which allows young players to gain experience that will help them to become a professional in the future. The World Darts Federation, which is known as the WDF, is another darts organisation. They hold their own World Championship and are the home of many amateur players.
Darts is becoming more popular around the world, with major growth taking place in Germany and other nations in recent years and looks set to have an exciting future, with the best darts brands supporting the growth of the sport by sponsoring players.
Thank you very much for this valuable and detailed post about World Darts. I saw a post like this today. Today I learned a lot of important information about darts. I didn’t know about the world ranking before. And today I found out that such a price is available. Keep posting like this. I definitely share this
Lot of good information.
Some of the top players in the world can earn significant prize money and sponsorship deals, which can provide a source of income. However, the vast majority of darts players are amateur enthusiasts who play for fun or as a hobby, and do not rely on darts as their primary source of income. To make a living from playing darts, you would need to be among the very best players in the world and consistently perform at a high level in top-tier tournaments. You would also need to be able to secure sponsorships or other sources of income to supplement your earnings from prize money. For most people, it is not realistic to expect to make a living solely from playing darts. However, if you enjoy the sport and are willing to put in the time and effort to improve your skills, you may be able to compete at a high level and potentially earn some income from playing darts.
From the time I was a kid, I have always heard about darts in fact I have some of them myself. I believe that dart games are good because help to develop focus. This skill however can only come however with overtime and with much practice, Thanks so much for taking us into the world of darts.
Your niche is interesting, I didn’t even know that darts tournaments existed! I’m glad to see that this discipline also has its own professional association, as well as its orders of merit. But I was wondering: concerning the evolutions of the society, especially with the gender issues, do they plan to have gender-neutral orders of merit?
Reading about how dart has emerged as one of the world’s top sporting events makes me proud to have one of our own making a name at the PDC. I am talking about Lourence Gregorio Ilagan who earned a place in the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship. Unfortunately, he lost to Marko Kantele of Finland.
After watching Ilagan compete, I became a fan of World Dart players and wanted to know about the game, how it all started, and who are the biggest names in Dart. So, I know Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price; they’re really great dart players. But my favorite (other than Lourence Gregorio Ilagan, of course) is still Michael van Gerwen. To me, he is a legend ☺.
What about you, who is your favorite Word Darts player, and why?