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Professional Darts Corporation Triple Crown

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The Triple Crown refers to winning the three most prestigious tournaments in the Professional Darts Corporation: the World Championship, the World Matchplay and the Premier League.[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

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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

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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
England Phil Taylor 36 14 6 16 1995–2017
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 13 3 7 3 2013–2023
Scotland Gary Anderson 5 2 2 1 2011–2018

Other tournament winners

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One win away from Triple Crown

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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] as does Luke Humphries, who won the World Championships and World Matchplay in 2024.[13] Raymond van Barneveld has won the Premier League and World Championship once each, and needs to win a Matchplay to complete the set.[14]

Wright, van Barneveld, Cross and Humphries 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

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As of 21 July 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) and Michael Smith (2023).[15] Rod Harrington has won two Triple Crown titles, both at the World Matchplay (1998 and 1999).[16] 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.[16] Glen Durrant (2020), Johnny Clayton (2021) and Luke Littler (2024) won their only Triple Crown title, to date, in the Premier League.[17]

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

Player Total World Championship Premier League World Matchplay Winning span
England Phil Taylor 36 14 6 16 1995–2017
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 13 3 7 3 2013–2023
Scotland Gary Anderson 5 2 2 1 2011–2018
Scotland Peter Wright 3 2 0 1 2020-2022
England Luke Humphries 2 1 0 1 2024
England Rob Cross 2 1 0 1 2018-2019
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2 1 1 0 2007-2014
England James Wade 2 0 1 1 2007-2009
England Adrian Lewis 2 2 0 0 2011–2012
Canada John Part 2 2 0 0 2003-2008
England Rod Harrington 2 0 0 2 1998-1999
England Dennis Priestley 1 1 0 0 1994
Wales Gerwyn Price 1 1 0 0 2021
England Michael Smith 1 1 0 0 2023
United States Larry Butler 1 0 0 1 1994
England Peter Evison 1 0 0 1 1996
England Colin Lloyd 1 0 0 1 2005
Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh 1 0 0 1 2020
England Nathan Aspinall 1 0 0 1 2023
England Glen Durrant 1 0 1 0 2020
Wales Jonny Clayton 1 0 1 0 2021
England Luke Littler 1 0 1 0 2024

References

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  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. ^ "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
  15. ^ "PDC World Championship Roll Of Honour". www.dartsdatabase.co.uk.
  16. ^ a b "World Matchplay Roll Of Honour". www.dartsdatabase.co.uk.
  17. ^ "Premier League Darts Winners List, Clayton 2021 debut year champion - Sports history". www.sportshistori.com.