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[edit]
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 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[edit]
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
|
36 | 14 | 6 | 16 | 1995–2017 |
 Michael van Gerwen
|
13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2013–2023 |
 Gary Anderson
|
5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2011–2018 |
Other tournament winners[edit]
One win away from Triple Crown[edit]
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[edit]
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
|
36 | 14 | 6 | 16 | 1995–2017 |
| Michael van Gerwen
|
13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2013–2023 |
| Gary Anderson
|
5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2011–2018 |
| Peter Wright
|
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2020-2022 |
| Rob Cross
|
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2018-2019 |
| Raymond van Barneveld
|
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2007-2014 |
| James Wade
|
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2007-2009 |
| Adrian Lewis
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2011–2012 |
 John Part
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2003-2008 |
| Rod Harrington
|
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1998-1999 |
| Dennis Priestley
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1994 |
 Gerwyn Price
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2021 |
| Michael Smith
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2023 |
| Luke Humphries
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2024 |
 Larry Butler
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1994 |
| Peter Evison
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1996 |
| Colin Lloyd
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2005 |
 Dimitri Van den Bergh
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2020 |
| Nathan Aspinall
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2023 |
| Glen Durrant
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2020 |
| Jonny Clayton
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2021 |
| Luke Littler
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2024 |
References[edit]
- ^ "Anderson seals thrilling Matchplay win". BBC Sport. 29 July 2018.
- ^ "World Matchplay: What if Gary Anderson wins the triple crown?". Sky Sports.
- ^ "Anderson becomes third player to complete darting triple crown with World Matchplay win". Dartsnews.com. July 30, 2018.
- ^ "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
- ^ "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
- ^ "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
- ^ "The Story of How There Came to be Two World Darts Championships". 24 December 2021.
- ^ "1994 World Matchplay Final | Larry Butler v Dennis Priestley" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "2005 888.com Premier League Darts Results". PDC.
- ^ "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
- ^ "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
- ^ "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
- ^ "Mastercaller". mastercaller.com.
- ^ "PDC World Championship Roll Of Honour". www.dartsdatabase.co.uk.
- ^ a b "World Matchplay Roll Of Honour". www.dartsdatabase.co.uk.
- ^ "Premier League Darts Winners List, Clayton 2021 debut year champion - Sports history". www.sportshistori.com.