The Emperors Palace South African Masters was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation which began in 2007, so-named because it took place at the Emperors Palace entertainment resort in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Format and qualification The tournament had 8 players, 4 of which were the top ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit and the semi-finalists, runner up and winner of the PDC South African Open which takes place the day before. The four players chosen by the PDC were drawn up against the qualifiers from the PDC South African Open in a knock-out tournament. In 2007, Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, James Wade and Terry Jenkins, ranked numbers one to four in the Order of Merit respectively at the time, participated in the tournament. In the following year, Taylor and Wade, returned to the tournament, being ranked numbers one and three in the world at the time. John Part, ranked number four in the world, also participated, as did Wayne Mardle, who replaced Barneveld (ranked second) due to the Dutchman's two month sabbatical from darts. Taylor, Wade, Part and Mervyn King took part in the 2009 tournament.
Matches were as follows:
Quarter-final: best of 7 legs Semi-final: Best of 9 legs (formerly in 2007 best of 11 legs) Final: Best of 11 legs (formerly in 2007 best of 15 legs, in 2008 best of 9 legs)
Since the 2010 tournament, the event is the direct qualification tournament for the World Darts Championship for South African darts players.
Television The tournament was broadcast live on SuperSport in South Africa. In the United Kingdom, the tournament was broadcast on Challenge in 2007, Nuts TV in 2008, and Sky Sports in 2009.
Results 2007
2008
2009
During the fifth leg of the semi-final between James Wade and Mervyn King, King hit the first ever televised nine-dart finish outside of Europe. He hit two consecutive 180s, and then used T20, T19, D12 to complete the perfect leg. King went 4–1 up as a result of that leg, but still lost the match 5–4.
Previous winners
Year Champion Score Runner-up Total prize money Winner's prize 2007 Phil Taylor 8–6 Raymond van Barneveld £15,000 £5,000 2008 Phil Taylor 5–2 John Part £15,000 £5,000 2009 Phil Taylor 6–4 James Wade £15,000 £5,000
World Darts Championship Qualification Tournament Year Champion Score Runner-up Semi-finalist 1 (lost to Champion) Semi-finalist 2 (lost to Runner-Up) 2006 Wynand Havenga 4–1 Paul Meyer Paul McMahon Roshan Sivraman 2007 Charles Losper 4–0 Lodewyk Marais Mike Ryder Paul Meyer 2008 Charles Losper 4–1 Mark Jackson Shawn Hogan Les Francis 2009 Les Francis 4–3 Devon Petersen Wynand Havenga Christo Meiring 2010 Devon Petersen 5–4 Les Francis Charles Losper Jeff Waterman 2011 Devon Petersen beat Nolan Arendse Brent Robertson Gary Dowman 2012 Charl Pietersen 8–1 Charles Losper Shawn Hogan Jason Hendricks 2013 Devon Petersen 9–3 Graham Filby Charles Losper Charl Petersen 2014 Nolan Arendse 9–5 Devon Petersen Shawn Hogan Charl Pietersen 2015 Warrick Scheffer 9–2 Clifford Stradling Charl Pietersen Charles Losper 2021 Cameron Carolissen 9–8 Charles Losper Carl Gabriel Warrick Scheffer 2022 Stefan Vermaak 9–8 Charles Losper Shawn Hogan Cameron Carolissen 2023 Wynand Havenga 7–0 Deon Oliver Charles Losper Stefan Vermaak 2024 Simon Adams 12–10 Leslie Gouvea Wynand Havenga Deon Oliver
References