The World Grand Prix (known for sponsorship reasons as the BoyleSports World Grand Prix) is a professional darts tournament that has been held at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England since 2021. The tournament was traditionally held in Dublin, Ireland every October. It is played in Sets format, and is run by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). The tournament is the only one in the PDC which currently uses the "double in, double out" format.
The current champion is Luke Humphries, who defeated Gerwyn Price 6–4 in the 2026 final to win his second World Grand Prix title.
The tournament's original venue was the Casino Rooms in Rochester, Kent in 1998 and 1999, and then for one year only in 2000 at the Crosbie Cedars Hotel in Rosslare, County Wexford. In 2001, the tournament moved further north to the Citywest in Dublin. In 2009, the tournament moved from the Reception Hall at the main Citywest Hotel, to the newly completed bigger venue on site, the Citywest Hotel Convention Centre. In 2012, the tournament moved back to the Reception Hall for that year, before returning to the Convention Centre in 2013. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 tournament was held at the Coventry Arena, Coventry, and since 2021, it has been held at the Leicester Arena. When the World Grand Prix was founded in 1998, it replaced the earlier World Pairs tournament which ran from 1995 to 1997.
The World Grand Prix was sponsored by bookmakers Paddy Power from 2001 to 2003, before Sky Bet took over in 2004. The subsidiary Sky Poker was the tournament's sponsor in 2008. In 2010, online gambling company Bodog became the event's title sponsor, while PartyPoker.com took over as the main sponsor in 2011. In 2016, Unibet took over as sponsor, with BoyleSports sponsoring the event since 2019.
Although he dominated the event with 11 title wins, Phil Taylor was also beaten in the first round five times.
History
Tournament format The tournament is unique as it is the only event in the PDC darts calendar that uses the "double in, double out" format, in which players must start on a double or the bullseye to start scoring and do the same to win a leg. The inaugural edition in 1998 featured matches consisting of sets played to the best of three legs, with Phil Taylor winning the final 13–8 against Rod Harrington. The following year this changed to best of five legs per set. Furthermore, a group stage was introduced in 1999, with there only being four seeded players for the event, all of whom reached the semi-finals. In 2000, the tournament reverted to being a straight knock-out and has remained so ever since.
The double-start format also makes landing a perfect nine-dart finish even more difficult, as it limits the number of combinations and guarantees that a player must finish on the bullseye (unless they start with one). There were two famous near misses in the first two years, the first with Phil Taylor in the 1998 final against Rod Harrington, when Taylor was distracted by loud commentary from Sid Waddell just before throwing the eighth dart (which Taylor hit) before he missed the bullseye; and the second in the 1999 semi final, when Harrington missed the bullseye against Taylor.
Brendan Dolan became the first player to hit a double-start nine-dart finish, achieving the feat in his match against James Wade at the 2011 World Grand Prix; Wade and Robert Thornton both hit nine-darters in their match at the 2014 event, the first time this happened in any televised event. On all three occasions, the leg started with a score of 160 (starting on double 20), followed by 180, followed by finishing 161 with treble 20, treble 17, and bullseye.
Location After first serving as host venue for the 2001 event, the Citywest Hotel in Dublin became the regular home of the tournament. In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Grand Prix was relocated to England due to the Citywest being used for health services, with the event being held in Leicester since 2021.
World Grand Prix Finals Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue Total Champion Runner-up 1998 Phil Taylor 13–8 Rod Harrington £38,000 £9,000 £5,000PDC 1999 6–1 2000 Phil Taylor 6–1 Shayne Burgess £70,000 £15,000 £7,500 Crosbie Cedars Hotel, Rosslare 2001 8–2 Roland Scholten £78,000Paddy PowerCitywest Hotel, DublinReception Hall (2001–2008, 2012)Convention Centre (2009–2011, 2013–2019) 2002 Phil Taylor 7–3 John Part £70,000 £14,000 £7,000 2003 Phil Taylor 7–2 John Part £76,000 £15,000 £7,500 2004 Colin Lloyd 7–3 Alan Warriner £100,000 £20,000 £10,000Sky Bet 2005 Phil Taylor 7–1 Colin Lloyd 2006 Phil Taylor 7–4 Terry Jenkins £130,000 £25,000 £12,500 2007 James Wade 6–3 Terry Jenkins £200,000 £50,000 £20,000 2008 Phil Taylor 6–2 £250,000 £25,000 Sky Poker 2009 Phil Taylor 6–3 Raymond van Barneveld £350,000£100,000£40,000 Sky Bet 2010 James Wade 6–3 Adrian Lewis Bodog 2011 Phil Taylor 6–3 Brendan Dolan PartyPoker.com 2012 6–4 Mervyn King 2013 Phil Taylor 6–0 Dave Chisnall 2014 Michael van Gerwen 5–3 James Wade £400,000£100,000£45,000 2015 Robert Thornton 5–4 2016 5–2 Gary Anderson Unibet 2017 5–4 Simon Whitlock 2018 5–2 Peter Wright 2019 5–2 Dave Chisnall £450,000 £110,000 £50,000BoyleSports 2020 Gerwyn Price 5–2 Dirk van Duijvenbode Coventry Arena, Coventry 2021 Jonny Clayton 5–1 Gerwyn Price Leicester Arena, Leicester 2022 5–3 Nathan Aspinall £600,000 £120,000 £60,0002023 Luke Humphries 5–2 Gerwyn Price 2024 Mike De Decker 6–4 Luke Humphries 2025 Luke Littler 6–1 Luke Humphries 2026 Luke Humphries 6–4 Gerwyn Price £750,000£150,000£80,000
Records and statistics
Total finalist appearances RankPlayerNationalityWonRunner-upFinalsAppearances 1Phil Taylor England1101119 2Michael van Gerwen Netherlands61716 3Luke Humphries England2246 4James Wade England21322 5Gerwyn Price Wales13412 6Alan Warriner England1129Colin Lloyd England11214 8Robert Thornton Scotland1018Daryl Gurney Northern Ireland10112Jonny Clayton Wales1019Mike De Decker Belgium1013Luke Littler England1013 13Shayne Burgess England0224John Part Canada02214Terry Jenkins England02212Raymond van Barneveld Netherlands02216Dave Chisnall England02215 18Rod Harrington England0115Roland Scholten Netherlands0119Adrian Lewis England01116Brendan Dolan Northern Ireland01115Mervyn King England01115Gary Anderson Scotland01117Simon Whitlock Australia01111Peter Wright Scotland01114Dirk van Duijvenbode Netherlands0116Nathan Aspinall England0118 Active players are shown in bold Only players who reached the final are included In the event of identical records, players are sorted by date first achieved
Champions by country CountryPlayersTotalFirst titleLast title6181998202616201220222220202021112015201511201720171120242024
Nine-dart finishes Three nine-darters have been thrown at the World Grand Prix. The first one was in 2011, the other two happened in the same game in 2014, notable as being the only televised match which has had nine-darters from both players. PlayerYear (+ Round)Method (double-in double-out)OpponentResult Brendan Dolan2011, Semi-FinalD20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, Bull James Wade5–2 James Wade2014, 2nd RoundD20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, Bull Robert Thornton3–2 Robert Thornton2014, 2nd RoundD20, 2 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T17, Bull James Wade2–3
High averages
An average over 100 in a match in the World Grand Prix has been achieved 26 times, of which Phil Taylor is responsible for 9.
Ten highest World Grand Prix one-match averagesAveragePlayerYear (+ Round)OpponentResult106.47 Gian van Veen2025, 1st Round Luke Littler0–2106.45 Alan Warriner2001, 1st Round Andy Jenkins2–0105.58 Luke Littler2025, 1st Round Gian van Veen2–0105.15 Nathan Aspinall2026, Quarter-Final Ryan Joyce3–0104.86 Gary Anderson2013, 1st Round Jelle Klaasen2–0104.47 Michael van Gerwen2013, 1st Round John Part2–0103.09 Michael van Gerwen2016, Quarter-Final Simon Whitlock3–1103.02 Phil Taylor2011, Semi-Final Richie Burnett5–2102.85 Dave Chisnall2020, 1st Round Glen Durrant2–0102.48 Phil Taylor2010, 1st Round Brendan Dolan2–0
Five highest losing averagesAveragePlayerYear (+ Round)OpponentResult106.47 Gian van Veen2025, 1st Round Luke Littler0–297.78 Dave Chisnall2018, Quarter-Final Michael van Gerwen1–397.20 Gary Anderson2015, 2nd Round Ian White1–397.03 Phil Taylor2015, 1st Round Vincent van der Voort0–296.84 Michael van Gerwen2020, Quarter-Final Simon Whitlock0–3
Different players with a 100+ match average – updated 07/10/25PlayerTotalHighest Av.Year (+ Round) Phil Taylor9103.022011, Semi-Final Michael van Gerwen4104.472013, 1st Round Dave Chisnall2102.852020, 1st Round Gerwyn Price2101.612026, 1st Round Simon Whitlock2101.122020, 1st Round Gian van Veen1106.472025, 1st Round Alan Warriner1106.452001, 1st Round Luke Littler1105.582025, 1st Round Nathan Aspinall1105.152026, Quarter-Final Gary Anderson1104.862013, 1st Round Ross Smith1101.792024, 1st Round Luke Humphries1100.302024, Semi-Final
Five highest tournament averages (min 3 matches)AveragePlayerYear99.46 Michael van Gerwen201699.23 Phil Taylor201098.62 Phil Taylor200998.50 Phil Taylor200898.22 Phil Taylor2012
World Team Championship The World Team Championship event which preceded the introduction of this event was held between 1995 and 1997. YearWinnersScoreRunners upVenue 1995 Eric Bristow Dennis Priestley 14–9 (legs) Keith Deller Jamie Harvey Butlin's Wonder West World, Ayr 1996 Bob Anderson Phil Taylor 18–15 (legs) Chris Mason Steve Raw Willows Variety Centre, Salford 1997 Raymond van Barneveld Roland Scholten 18–15 (legs) Richie Burnett Rod Harrington Butlin's South Coast World, Bognor Regis
Media coverage The World Grand Prix has been broadcast in the UK by Sky Sports since the first tournament.
References
External links World Grand Prix page on the PDC website World Grand Prix on Darts Database World Grand Prix on Mastercaller