2017 World Matchplay

The 2017 BetVictor World Matchplay was a professional darts tournament that took place at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, from 22–30 July 2017. It was the twenty-fourth annual staging of the World Matchplay to be organised by the Professional Darts Corporation.

Michael van Gerwen was the defending champion but lost to Phil Taylor 16–6 in the quarter-finals, Taylor beat Peter Wright 18–8 in the final to claim his 16th World Matchplay title. It was Taylor's final appearance in the tournament and his last major tournament win.

Prize money

The prize fund increased from £450,000 to £500,000, with the winner's earnings increasing from £100,000 to £115,000.

Position (no. of players)	Prize money (Total: £500,000)
Winner	(1)	£115,000
Runner-up	(1)	£55,000
Semi-finalists	(2)	£30,000
Quarter-finalists	(4)	£17,500
Second round	(8)	£11,000
First round	(16)	£7,000

Format

In previous stagings of the event all games had to be won by two clear legs with no sudden-death legs. However, in 2013 after consulting the host broadcaster Sky Sports, the PDC decided that games will now only proceed for a maximum of six extra legs before a tie-break leg is required. For example, in a best of 19 legs first round match, if the score reaches 12–12 then the 25th leg will be the decider.

Qualification

The top 16 players on the PDC Order of Merit as of July 10, 2017 were seeded for the tournament. The top 16 players on the ProTour Order of Merit not to have already qualified will be unseeded.

The following players qualified for the tournament:

PDC Order of Merit Top 16 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (quarter-finals) Scotland Gary Anderson (second round) Scotland Peter Wright (runner-up) England Adrian Lewis (semi-finals) England Dave Chisnall (second round) England James Wade (first round) Austria Mensur Suljović (quarter-finals) England Phil Taylor (winner) Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (second round) Netherlands Jelle Klaasen (first round) England Michael Smith (first round) Belgium Kim Huybrechts (first round) England Ian White (first round) Scotland Robert Thornton (first round) Netherlands Benito van de Pas (first round) Australia Simon Whitlock (second round)

PDC ProTour qualifiers Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney (semi-finals) England Alan Norris (quarter-finals) England Joe Cullen (first round) England Rob Cross (second round) England Mervyn King (first round) Wales Gerwyn Price (first round) Spain Cristo Reyes (second round) England Stephen Bunting (first round) England Darren Webster (quarter-finals) England Steve Beaton (first round) England James Wilson (first round) England Steve West (second round) Australia Kyle Anderson (first round) Scotland John Henderson (first round) Netherlands Christian Kist (first round) England Justin Pipe (second round)

Draw

First round (best of 19 legs) 22–24 July			Second round (best of 21 legs) 25–26 July		Quarter-finals (best of 31 legs) 27–28 July	Semi-finals (best of 33 legs) 29 July	Final (best of 35 legs) 30 July

1	Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 98.55	10

	England Stephen Bunting 94.54	4
	1	Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 99.97	11

		16	Australia Simon Whitlock 91.37	3
16	Australia Simon Whitlock 95.77	10

	Australia Kyle Anderson 96.64	5
	1	Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 101.07	6

		8	England Phil Taylor 101.85	16
8	England Phil Taylor 94.04	10

	Wales Gerwyn Price 88.68	5
	8	England Phil Taylor 102.27	11

		9	Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 98.92	3
9	Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 92.42	10

	England Joe Cullen 96.95	8
	8	England Phil Taylor 102.74	17

		4	England Adrian Lewis 93.50	9
5	England Dave Chisnall 95.16	10

	England Mervyn King 89.22	7
	5	England Dave Chisnall 96.90	12

			England Alan Norris 98.61	14
12	Belgium Kim Huybrechts 93.45	6

	England Alan Norris 90.59	10
		England Alan Norris 91.31	13

		4	England Adrian Lewis 94.16	16
4	England Adrian Lewis 95.07	10

	England Steve Beaton 94.51	7
	4	England Adrian Lewis 100.93	11

			England Rob Cross 104.08	8
13	England Ian White 94.61	7

	England Rob Cross 95.72	10
	8	England Phil Taylor 104.24	18

		3	Scotland Peter Wright 99.74	8
2	Scotland Gary Anderson 101.95	10

	Netherlands Christian Kist 99.96	7
	2	Scotland Gary Anderson 105.17	9

			Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney 103.26	11
15	Netherlands Benito van de Pas 89.53	9

	Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney 96.98	11
		Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney 97.18	16

		7	Austria Mensur Suljović 99.45	13
7	Austria Mensur Suljović 94.42	10

	Scotland John Henderson 86.35	4
	7	Austria Mensur Suljović 95.57	11

			England Justin Pipe 92.07	6
10	Netherlands Jelle Klaasen 89.34	5

	England Justin Pipe 90.94	10
		Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney 94.40	15

		3	Scotland Peter Wright 93.92	17
6	England James Wade 96.08	11

	England Darren Webster 96.48	13
		England Darren Webster 95.39	11

			England Steve West 95.39	7
11	England Michael Smith 95.45	5

	England Steve West 99.94	10
		England Darren Webster 95.55	12

		3	Scotland Peter Wright 100.19	16
3	Scotland Peter Wright 89.26	10

	England James Wilson 90.51	8
	3	Scotland Peter Wright 104.18	11

			Spain Cristo Reyes 93.64	4
14	Scotland Robert Thornton 90.82	3

	Spain Cristo Reyes 101.32	10

Statistics

Player	Eliminated	Played	Legs Won	Legs Lost	100+	140+	180s	High checkout	3-dart average	Checkout success
England Phil Taylor	Winner	5	72	31	135	105	31	151	101.03	48.37%
Scotland Peter Wright	Final	5	62	57	170	121	21	147	97.46	41.36%
Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney	Semi-finals	4	53	48	114	83	37	146	97.96	43.18%
England Adrian Lewis	Semi-finals	4	46	45	101	77	24	144	95.92	42.69%
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen	Quarter-finals	3	27	23	54	45	14	160	99.86	34.49%
Austria Mensur Suljović	Quarter-finals	3	34	26	73	51	13	148	96.48	48.52%
England Darren Webster	Quarter-finals	3	36	34	100	60	14	133	95.81	36.95%
England Alan Norris	Quarter-finals	3	37	34	87	49	15	155	93.51	38.71%
Scotland Gary Anderson	Second round	2	19	18	37	26	16	104	103.56	35.24%
England Rob Cross	Second round	2	18	18	46	25	10	125	99.90	44.70%
England Steve West	Second round	2	17	16	44	26	10	135	97.67	42.33%
Spain Cristo Reyes	Second round	2	14	14	38	15	8	116	97.48	49.41%
England Dave Chisnall	Second round	2	22	21	49	30	18	121	96.03	31.13%
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld	Second round	2	13	19	32	31	10	124	95.67	27.38%
Australia Simon Whitlock	Second round	2	13	16	38	16	5	119	93.57	35.00%
England Justin Pipe	Second round	2	16	16	41	19	12	120	91.51	29.26%
Netherlands Christian Kist	First round	1	7	10	16	12	9	100	99.96	43.75%
England Joe Cullen	First round	1	8	10	20	10	5	150	96.95	44.44%
Australia Kyle Anderson	First round	1	5	10	19	3	6	105	96.64	55.56%
England James Wade	First round	1	11	13	42	18	2	121	96.08	55.00%
England Michael Smith	First round	1	5	10	18	6	4	80	95.45	45.45%
England Ian White	First round	1	7	10	22	17	2	74	94.61	30.43%
England Stephen Bunting	First round	1	4	10	16	11	3	102	94.54	22.22%
England Steve Beaton	First round	1	7	10	22	12	1	100	94.51	43.75%
Belgium Kim Huybrechts	First round	1	6	10	21	8	5	72	93.45	28.57%
Scotland Robert Thornton	First round	1	3	10	15	8	1	62	90.82	25.00%
England James Wilson	First round	1	8	10	22	10	4	127	90.51	33.33%
Netherlands Benito van de Pas	First round	1	9	11	28	16	1	170	89.53	27.27%
Netherlands Jelle Klaasen	First round	1	5	10	16	8	3	76	89.34	26.32%
England Mervyn King	First round	1	7	10	13	13	3	90	89.22	28.00%
Wales Gerwyn Price	First round	1	7	10	20	7	1	170	88.68	31.25%
Scotland John Henderson	First round	1	4	10	18	9	1	97	86.35	30.77%

Source: Match reports from the draw.