Location Frimley Green, Surrey Format Sets Country England | Established 1974 Venue Lakeside Leisure Complex | |
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Organisation(s) BDO category Major / WDF category Major Month(s) Played Varies between September–December Instances 2015 World Masters, 1974 World Masters | ||
The Winmau World Masters is one of the longest running and most prestigious professional darts tournaments, which began in 1974 - even before the current World Professional Championship. The tournament has been sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau for 40–41 years.
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It was previously the final leg of the BDO’s Grand Slam title of televised majors, along with the Topic International Darts League, the Bavaria World Darts Trophy and the Lakeside World Professional Championship. However, it is now one of only three major BDO events and is considered to be the second biggest tournament after the World Championship. The champion is prestigiously referred to as the World Master.
Records
Most tournament wins 5 - Eric Bristow. Bob Anderson and Martin Adams have both notched 3 wins (also both achieving 'hatricks' by winning in three consecutive years). Dave Whitcombe, John Lowe, Raymond van Barneveld, Stephen Bunting and Glen Durrant have won the Masters twice each.
Youngest champion Michael van Gerwen (2006) aged 17 years, 174 days eclipsed the record of Eric Bristow
Double Champion Leeanne Maddock (1992) Aged 17 years won both the youth title and women's title.
Joint World Championship & Masters Champions Only six players have ever won the World Masters and the World Professional Championship in the same season. Eric Bristow achieved the feat three times (1979 Masters 1980 World, 1983–84 and 1984–85). Bob Anderson (1987–88), Richie Burnett (1994–95), John Walton (2000–01), Martin Adams (2009–10 and 2010–11) and Stephen Bunting (2013–14) were the others. There have been two other instances of players holding both championships at the same time (Phil Taylor 1990 and Raymond van Barneveld 2005) - but these were not during the same season which is considered to end with the World Championship.
Not Dropping A Set Stephen Bunting's 2013 win was achieved without dropping a set.
There are 14 players who have won the Masters and World Professional during their careers: John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Bob Anderson, Phil Taylor, Dennis Priestley, Richie Burnett, Steve Beaton, Raymond van Barneveld, Les Wallace, John Walton, Andy Fordham, Martin Adams, Scott Waites, and Stephen Bunting. Additionally, Michael van Gerwen won the Masters in 2006 and has since won the PDC World Championship in 2014, but not the Lakeside World Professional.
Media coverage
The current UK broadcast rights are now held by Premier Sports. The World Masters has previously been broadcast by ITV, Wire TV, ESPN, BBC, Sky Sports and Eurosport.
The 2011 tournament was also shown in the United States for the first time with ESPN3 broadcasting it.