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A nine-dart finish is a perfect leg in the sport of darts, using only nine darts, the fewest possible, to checkout from 501. It is notoriously difficult to achieve, even by the game's top professionals. It is considered to be the highest single-game achievement in the sport, similar to a maximum 147 break in snooker or a 300-point game in bowling.
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Methods of achievement
A single game (known as a leg) of darts requires a player to score 501 points, ending with either the bullseye or a double. Each shot consists of exactly three darts and 60 is the maximum that can be scored with any one dart. Thus 180 is the maximum score of a shot, and nine throws are the minimum necessary to win.
Although many other combinations are possible, the traditional nine-dart finish requires a score of 60 (treble 20) with each of the first six throws, that is, with the first two shots of three. This leaves 141 to score on the final shot (of three darts), known as the outshot.
This outshot is traditionally performed in one of three ways:
Another way is to score 167 with each set of three darts, scoring a perfect 501 total, in the following way:
This eliminates the chance of any dart being deflected by an already thrown dart into the wrong scoring area by throwing each dart at a different location on the board. It is only usually seen in exhibition matches, as in tournaments, players are inclined to aim for the triple 20, only switching to the triple 19 for a cover shot.
Arguably the most difficult nine dart finish would be 180 (3xT20), 171 (3xT19), and 150 (3xBULL) – owing to the difficulty of getting all three darts in the bullseye: it is the smallest double on the board.
A nine dart finish is also attainable in games which require a double to commence scoring. In such games, throwing for double 20 first can lead to a maximum score of 160 with the first throw, leaving the thrower commonly requiring 180 then 161 (T20,T17,BULL) in their remaining six darts, though other outcomes are possible. It is worth noting that in these games, only throwing for double 20, double 17, or bullseye to start the leg can result in a nine dart finish.
The total number of different ways of achieving 501 with 9 darts is 3,944, of which 2,296 finish with the BULL, 672 end on D20, 792 on D18, 56 end with D17, 120 finish on D15, and 8 end with D12.
First televised nine-darter
The first televised nine dart finish was achieved at the MFI World Matchplay on 13 October 1984 by John Lowe, who used the third method (with the T17 first, then T18, D18) above as his outshot after scoring two maximum 180s. For this he received a prize of £102,000, and he went on to win the whole event. This nine dart finish was not broadcast live, nor was Paul Lim's nine dart finish at the 1990 Embassy World Championship. The first ever live broadcast nine dart finish was performed by Shaun Greatbatch against Steve Coote in the Final of the Dutch Open on 3 February 2002, while Phil Taylor achieved the first live nine-darter broadcast on British television during the 2002 World Matchplay.
World Championship nine-darters
The first player to manage the outshot in the World Championship was Paul Lim on 9 January 1990 against Jack McKenna. He favoured the first method of those listed above for his outshot. Lim won a £52,000 bonus for the feat, which was more than the eventual tournament winner Phil Taylor who received £24,000 for becoming World Champion.
Even with two versions of the World Championship in operation, Lim's achievement was not repeated for nearly 19 years until 2 January 2009, when Raymond van Barneveld became only the second person to achieve the feat and the first since the split in darts. The finish came against Jelle Klaasen at the quarter-final stage of the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace, and he claimed a £20,000 bonus prize (having rolled over from three previous tournaments since Phil Taylor's nine-darter at the 2008 UK Open). On 28 December 2009 he repeated the feat at the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship during his second round clash with Brendan Dolan netting him a £25,000 prize.
Adrian Lewis achieved a nine-dart finish in the third leg of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship final against Gary Anderson, winning £10,000.
On 23 December 2012 at the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship, Dean Winstanley hit a nine-dart finish in the third leg of the third set in his second round defeat to Vincent van der Voort. Another nine-dart finish at this Championship was achieved by Michael van Gerwen in his semi-final victory over James Wade in the third leg of the fifth set. The leg after the nine-darter (the fourth leg of the fifth set) van Gerwen hit another eight perfect darts but missed the last dart at the double to achieve consecutive nine-dart finishes. Both shared the £15,000 prize.
On 14 December 2013 at the 2014 PDC World Darts Championship, Terry Jenkins and Kyle Anderson both hit nine darters in their first round matches against Per Laursen and Ian White respectively. Unusually, both players lost their matches.
On 30 December 2014 in the third round of the 2015 PDC World Darts Championship, Adrian Lewis hit his second World Championship nine-dart finish and his third overall. He lost the match 3–4 to Raymond van Barneveld.
On 2 January 2016 in the semi finals of the 2016 PDC World Darts Championship, Gary Anderson hit a nine-dart finish to defeat Jelle Klaasen 6–0 to reach his 3rd major final. He would then go on to defeat Adrian Lewis 7–5 in the final to retain his title and become only the 4th person to successfully retain his title after winning it for the first time.
Most prolific nine-darters
Phil Taylor has achieved this feat more than any other darts player on television, having done so 11 times. The first came on 1 August 2002 during a quarter final tie against Chris Mason, at the 2002 PDC World Matchplay in Blackpool. It was the first live-televised nine-dart finish on British television, and Taylor received £100,000. Despite having achieved the feat a record 11 times, Taylor has never hit a nine-darter in the World Championship.
The youngest player to throw a televised nine-darter is Michael van Gerwen, who hit the perfect leg in the semi-finals of the 2007 Masters of Darts tournament in the Netherlands. The event was screened live in the Netherlands. Van Gerwen was just 7008562226400000000♠17 years, 298 days old at the time. The Dutch youngster scored 174 (T20, T19, T19) and 180, then checked out 147 with T20, T17, D18. Van Gerwen's nine-darter was the first live televised nine-darter that did not start with two 180s. Van Gerwen has since gone on to hit 4 more televised nine-darters.
The 2007 International Darts League became the first televised tournament to witness two nine-darters when Phil Taylor's 9-dart finish against Raymond van Barneveld was matched the following day (May 9) by another perfect game from Tony O'Shea against Adrian Lewis.
In the Second Round of the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton, James Wade hit his first televised nine-dart-finish against Gary Anderson. The event was shown live on ITV4, making it the first time a nine-darter had been seen live on terrestrial, free-to-air television in the UK. Wade lost the match 10-8.
Mervyn King hit his first televised nine-dart finish in the 2009 South African Masters on September 2009 against James Wade — he became the first player to hit a televised nine-darter outside of Europe.
On 24 May 2010, in the Premier League final against James Wade, Taylor made history by being the first player to ever hit two 9-dart finishes in a single match. These were his seventh and eighth nine-dart finishes. On 10 February 2017, Michael van Gerwen became the second player to hit two 9-dart finishes in a match, in a 2017 UK Open qualification event against Ryan Murray.
Brendan Dolan became the first player ever to hit a nine-darter in a game which required a double to commence scoring. He did this in the semi-final of the 2011 World Grand Prix against James Wade on 8 October 2011. He opened with double 20, before hitting successive treble 20s (160, 180) and then finished on 161 with T20, T17 and a bullseye. He later changed his nickname to "The History Maker" to reflect his feat.
In October 2014 at the 2014 World Grand Prix, James Wade followed soon after by Robert Thornton became the first players to both hit a nine-darter in the same match. James Wade went on to win the match 3-2. Interestingly this tournament was double-to-start, meaning the 2nd and 3rd televised double-to-start nine-dart-finishes were hit in the same match. This also makes James Wade the only man ever to have hit a 'standard' nine-darter and a double-to-start nine-darter.
Currently over 200 professional darts players have achieved nine-dart finishes, both televised and untelevised. Prior to 2006 there had been around 10.
List of televised nine-darters
As of 25 November 2016, 49 televised nine-darters have been achieved by 24 different men. Over thirty of those 49 hit two 180s and finished with a 141 check-out. Only 3 have been double-to-start. English players have achieved a total of 30 nine-darters, ten have been achieved by Dutch players, three by Scottish players, two by Australians and one nine-darter has been achieved by players from Singapore, Canada, Northern Ireland and Belgium.
Televised nine-darters by player
The following table lists the number of nine-darters scored by players who have scored a televised nine-darter.
Nine-dart-finish prize money
In 1984 John Lowe pocketed £102,000 for the first TV perfect leg. With nine-dart finishes now thrown on a regular basis the reward for throwing one has decreased. Until 2013 the PDC had a rolling £400 prize-pool for a nine-dart leg. As long as it wasn't won, it increased by £400 for the next event. In 2013 the bonus stopped being awarded. For all PDC Premier events, including the Grand Slam of Darts, the PDC has a rolling £5000 prize-pool for a nine-dart leg. As long as it isn't won, the prize for hitting a nine-dart leg is increased by £5000. If multiple players hit a nine-dart finish in one premier event, the money is split evenly across all players who achieved a nine-dart finish in that event. So the prize for a nine-darter varies for every PDC premier event. In the 2015 tournament achieving the perfect leg in the PDC World Championships would win £10,000, (in the 2014 tournament the prize was £30,000). The reward for a 9-darter during the most recent BDO World Darts Championship was £52,000.
Women's nine-darters
No female darts player has recorded a televised nine-dart finish to date.
Mandy Soloman was the first woman to ever record a nine-dart finish in actual competition. It came in a match against Robert Hughes during the qualifying rounds for the 1996 BDO World Championship on 31 November 1995 at Earls Court, London. It was the first time female players were allowed to enter the qualifying rounds for the BDO World Championship. Hughes did end up winning the match 2–0 though. Soloman was also one of the first women to record a nine-dart finish in SuperLeague.
Claire Stainsby and Glen Durrant made history when they recorded the first ever nine-dart finish in mixed pairs competition at the 2013 BDO International Open in Brean, Somerset. Durrant opened up with a 177, Stainsby followed that up with a 180 to leave Durrant on 144, which he ended up taking out for the first nine-dart finish in mixed pairs competition. As a result, Claire Stansby was inducted into the BDO 9 Dart Club, thus becoming the first and so far only female to be inducted.
Ten-time World Champion Trina Gulliver revealed she has twice missed her last dart to record a nine-dart finish. One was a double 18 for $100,000 at an event in Canada and another missed double was for a car at an event in Ireland.