Venue Alexandra Palace Organisation(s) PDC | ||
 | ||
Dates 15 December 2016 – 2 January 2017 Format SetsFinal – best of 13 | ||
The 2017 William Hill World Darts Championship was the 24th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at Alexandra Palace in London from 15 December 2016 to 2 January 2017.
Contents
- Format
- Qualifiers
- Prize money
- Preliminary round
- Top averages
- Representation from different countries
- Media coverage
- References
Phil Taylor made a 28th successive appearance at a World Championship (including the BDO version), equalling the record of John Lowe.
For the first time in the history of the World Darts Championship (PDC and BDO), no Englishman progressed to the semi-finals. It was also the first time since 2009 that the final was contested by the top 2 seeds.
Michael van Gerwen set a new record for the highest World Darts Championship 3-dart average (114.05) in his semi-final victory over Raymond van Barneveld, breaking a 15-year record that had been held by Phil Taylor since the 2002 edition (111.21); van Barneveld himself set a new record for the highest losing 3-dart average (109.34) in the same fixture, just 5 days after Cristo Reyes had broken the record in his second round match (106.07), also against van Gerwen.
Van Gerwen won his second World Championship title by defeating defending champion Gary Anderson 7–3 in the final.
Format
The field consisted of 72 players, including 16 in a Preliminary Round. Therefore, 64 players were entered into Round 1. The schedule was announced on 15 July 2016.
The 72 players consist of:
Qualifiers
The draw was made on 28 November live on Sky Sports News. The preliminary round draw was made the previous night.
1^ Kyle Anderson, who would have been the 28th seed, withdrew from the tournament after being unable to secure a British visa. As a result, Cristo Reyes moved into the top 32 seeds, and 2004 runner-up Kevin Painter qualified through the Pro Tour.Prize money
The prize money was £1,650,000 in total. The winner's prize money was increased from £300,000 to £350,000. Prize money for a nine-dart finish was originally set at £5,000, but the PDC increased it to £25,000 due to 'the stature of the tournament', though none were thrown.
Preliminary round
Best of three sets.
Top averages
This table shows the highest averages achieved by players throughout the tournament.
* The highest average in the history of the PDC World Championship.
** The highest losing average in the history of the PDC World Championship.
*** The highest losing average in the final of a PDC World Championship.
Representation from different countries
This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the preliminary round. Twenty-two countries were represented in the World Championship, one less than in the previous championship.
Media coverage
The tournament was available in the following countries on these channels:
† Sky Sports F1 was renamed as Sky Sports Darts for the duration of the tournament.