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2015 Premier League Darts

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2015 Premier League Darts

The 2015 Betway Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation; the eleventh edition of the tournament. The event began at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on Thursday 4 February, and ended at The O2 Arena, London on Thursday 21 May. The tournament was shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland. This was the second year that the tournament was sponsored by Betway.

Contents

Raymond van Barneveld was the defending champion, but he lost to Michael van Gerwen 10–8 in the semi-finals. Gary Anderson won his second Premier League Darts title by beating van Gerwen 11–7 in the final.

Format

The tournament format is identical to that since 2013. During the first nine weeks (phase 1) each player plays the other nine players once. The bottom two players are eliminated from the competition. In the next six weeks (phase 2) each player plays the other seven players once. Phase 2 consists of four weeks where five matches are played followed by two weeks where four matches are played. At the end of phase 2 the top four players contest the two semi-finals and the final in the play-off week.

Players

The competitors who competed at this year's tournament were announced following the 2015 PDC World Darts Championship final on 4 January 2015, with the top four of the PDC Order of Merit joined by six Wildcards.

Robert Thornton (world number 8), Wes Newton (number 16), and Simon Whitlock (number 7) did not return from last year. James Wade returned this year following his absence from the 2014 Premier League, along with two debutants, Kim Huybrechts, the first Belgian to compete in the league, and Stephen Bunting, the 2014 BDO world champion who had a successful first year with the PDC.

Prize money

The prize-money was increased to £700,000 from £550,000 in 2014.

Play-Offs (21 May)

The O2, London

Table

After the first nine weeks (phase 1), the bottom two in the table are eliminated. Each remaining player plays a further seven matches (phase 2). The top four players then participate in the playoffs.

When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.

Top four qualified for the Play-Offs after Week 15.
NB: LWAT = Legs Won Against Throw. A = Average C% = Checkout Percentage HC = High Checkout.

References

2015 Premier League Darts Wikipedia