Professional Darts Corporation Triple Crown

The Triple Crown refers to winning the three most prestigious tournaments in the Professional Darts Corporation: the World Championship, Premier League Darts, and the World Matchplay.[1][2] Players who win all three tournaments over the course of their career are said to have won the PDC Triple Crown.

Three professional players have won a career PDC Triple Crown: Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, and Gary Anderson.[3] Taylor has won the most Triple Crown titles, with 36,[4] while van Gerwen has won 13[5] and Anderson 5.[6] Only Taylor has won all three Triple Crown events in a single season, accomplishing this feat twice (in 2006 and 2010).

History

In 1994, the World Championship was held for the first time, with Dennis Priestley winning the first PDC Triple Crown event,[7] the only such win of his career. Larry Butler became the first winner of the World Matchplay that same year,[8] and this was also the only Triple Crown event he won. In 2005, the first Premier League was held, with 7 players taking part. The event was won by Phil Taylor, who became the first player to win a career PDC Triple Crown in the process.[9]

Career Triple Crown winners

Three players have completed a career Triple Crown: Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, and Gary Anderson. Only Taylor has won all three Triple Crown events in the same year, a feat he achieved twice, in 2006 and 2010. After winning the World Championship in 2017, van Gerwen held all 3 Triple Crown titles simultaneously (having won both the Premier League and the Matchplay in 2016).

Legend
† The names of active players are marked in bold
Flag icon key: List of National Flags
Player Total World Championship Premier League World Matchplay Winning span
Phil Taylor 36146161995–2017
Michael van Gerwen 133732013–2023
Gary Anderson 52212011–2018

Other tournament winners

One win away from Triple Crown

James Wade has won the Premier League and World Matchplay once each, meaning he needs to win the World Championship to complete the Triple Crown.[10] Peter Wright is yet to win the Premier League, but does have two World Championship titles and a World Matchplay title to his name. With three Triple Crown competition wins, he has the highest number of Triple Crown titles of any player who has not completed the set.[11] Rob Cross also needs to win the Premier League to complete the Triple Crown having won the World Championship in 2018 and World Matchplay in 2019.[12] Raymond van Barneveld has won the Premier League and World Championship once each, and needs to win a Matchplay to complete the set.[13]

Wright, van Barneveld and Cross have all reached the final of their respective missing Triple Crown tournaments, whereas James Wade is a four-time World Championship semi-finalist.

Won at least 1 Triple Crown Title

As of 3 January 2024, six players have won the World Championship and neither of the other two Triple Crown events: Adrian Lewis (2011 and 2012), John Part (2003 and 2008), Dennis Priestley (1994), Gerwyn Price (2021), Michael Smith (2023) and Luke Humphries (2024).[14] Rod Harrington has won two Triple Crown titles, both at the World Matchplay (1998 and 1999).[15] Larry Butler (1994), Peter Evison (1996), Colin Lloyd (2005), Dimitri Van den Bergh (2020) and Nathan Aspinall (2023) have each won one Triple Crown title, the World Matchplay.[15] Glen Durrant (2020), Johnny Clayton (2021) and Luke Littler (2024) won their only Triple Crown title, to date, in the Premier League.[16]

Complete table, with players who have won a career Triple Crown in bold:

Player Total World Championship Premier League World Matchplay Winning span
Phil Taylor 36146161995–2017
Michael van Gerwen 133732013–2023
Gary Anderson 52212011–2018
Peter Wright 32012020-2022
Rob Cross 21012018-2019
Raymond van Barneveld 21102007-2014
James Wade 20112007-2009
Adrian Lewis 22002011–2012
John Part 22002003-2008
Rod Harrington 20021998-1999
Dennis Priestley 11001994
Gerwyn Price 11002021
Michael Smith 11002023
Luke Humphries 11002024
Larry Butler 10011994
Peter Evison 10011996
Colin Lloyd 10012005
Dimitri Van den Bergh 10012020
Nathan Aspinall 10012023
Glen Durrant 10102020
Jonny Clayton 10102021
Luke Littler 10102024

References
  1. "Anderson seals thrilling Matchplay win". BBC Sport. 29 July 2018.
  2. "World Matchplay: What if Gary Anderson wins the triple crown?". Sky Sports.
  3. "Anderson becomes third player to complete darting triple crown with World Matchplay win". Dartsnews.com. July 30, 2018.
  4. "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
  5. "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
  6. "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
  7. "The Story of How There Came to be Two World Darts Championships". 24 December 2021.
  8. "1994 World Matchplay Final | Larry Butler v Dennis Priestley" – via www.youtube.com.
  9. "2005 888.com Premier League Darts Results". PDC.
  10. "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
  11. "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
  12. "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
  13. "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
  14. "PDC World Championship Roll Of Honour". www.dartsdatabase.co.uk.
  15. "World Matchplay Roll Of Honour". www.dartsdatabase.co.uk.
  16. "Premier League Darts Winners List, Clayton 2021 debut year champion - Sports history". www.sportshistori.com.
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