2020 Grand Slam of Darts

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2020 BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts
Tournament information
Dates16–24 November 2020
VenueRicoh Arena
LocationCoventry
Country England
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£550,000
Winner's share£125,000
High checkout164 England Joe Cullen
(group stage)
Champion(s)
Portugal José de Sousa
«2019 2021»

The 2020 BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts was the fourteenth staging of the Grand Slam of Darts, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place, behind closed doors, from 16 to 24 November 2020 at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.[1]

The tournament's two-time defending champion was Gerwyn Price, who successfully defended his 2018 title by defeating Peter Wright 16–6 in 2019.[2] Price's title defence came to an end when, after surviving a match dart from Ryan Joyce to progress through the group stage, he eventually lost 10–8 to Nathan Aspinall in the last 16.[3]

José de Sousa became the first Portuguese darts player to win a televised title by beating James Wade 16–12 in the final; de Sousa also became the first debutant since the tournament's inception to win the title, as well as the first to win the title, without finishing top in the group phase.[4]

Dimitri Van den Bergh broke the record for the highest individual average for this tournament when he beat Ricky Evans 5–1 in the group stage, averaging 114.85, beating Phil Taylor's previous record of 114.65 set in the 2014 tournament. Additionally, Simon Whitlock broke Adrian Lewis' record of hitting the most 180s in a Grand Slam match by scoring 20 maximums in his quarter-final victory over Michael van Gerwen.[5]

Prize money[edit]

The prize fund for the Grand Slam was the same as 2019, with the winner getting £125,000.[6]

Position (num. of players) Prize money
(Total: £550,000)
Winner (1) £125,000
Runner-up (1) £65,000
Semi-finalists (2) £40,000
Quarter-finalists (4) £20,000
Last 16 (8) £10,000
Third in group (8) £7,500
Fourth in group (8) £4,000
Group winner bonus (8) £3,500

Qualifying[edit]

The qualification criteria were changed from 2019, with the number of entrants from the British Darts Organisation being reduced from eight to two, with a corresponding increase in PDC players. The winner of the 2020 PDC Home Tour was invited, as were the top players from the PDC's Summer, Autumn and Winter Series events and the winner of the new women's qualifier.[7] The Champions League of Darts was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The qualifiers are:

PDC Qualifying Tournaments[edit]

PDC Main Tournaments
Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers
PDC World Darts Championship 2020 Winner Scotland Peter Wright Scotland Peter Wright
Wales Gerwyn Price
England Glen Durrant
Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh
England Luke Humphries
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
Wales Jonny Clayton
England Nathan Aspinall
England James Wade
Australia Damon Heta
Netherlands Jermaine Wattimena
England Lisa Ashton
Scotland Gary Anderson
Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode
Czech Republic Adam Gawlas
England Michael Smith
England Rob Cross
Grand Slam of Darts 2019 Winner Wales Gerwyn Price
Premier League Darts 2020 Winner England Glen Durrant
World Matchplay 2020 Winner Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh
World Grand Prix 2020 Winner Wales Gerwyn Price
PDC World Youth Championship 2019 Winner England Luke Humphries
Masters 2020 Winner Scotland Peter Wright
UK Open 2020 Winner Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
European Championship 2020 Winner Scotland Peter Wright
Players Championship Finals 2019 Winner Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
World Series of Darts Finals 2020 Winner Wales Gerwyn Price
PDC World Cup of Darts 2020 Winners Wales Gerwyn Price
Wales Jonny Clayton
PDC Home Tour 2020 Winner England Nathan Aspinall
PDC Summer Series 2020 Highest-placed[i] England James Wade
PDC Autumn Series 2020 Highest-placed[i] Australia Damon Heta
PDC Winter Series 2020 Highest-placed[i] Netherlands Jermaine Wattimena
PDC Women's Qualifier 2020 Winner England Lisa Ashton
PDC World Darts Championship 2020 Runner-up Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
Grand Slam of Darts 2019 Runner-up Scotland Peter Wright
Premier League Darts 2020 Runner-up England Nathan Aspinall
World Matchplay 2020 Runner-up Scotland Gary Anderson
World Grand Prix 2020 Runner-up Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode
PDC World Youth Championship 2019 Runner-up Czech Republic Adam Gawlas
Masters 2020 Runner-up England Michael Smith
UK Open 2020 Runner-up Wales Gerwyn Price
European Championship 2020 Runner-up England James Wade
Players Championship Finals 2019 Runner-up Wales Gerwyn Price
World Series of Darts Finals 2020 Runner-up England Rob Cross
PDC World Cup of Darts 2020 Runners-Up England Michael Smith
England Rob Cross
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.
  1. ^ a b c The qualifiers for the Summer, Autumn and Winter Series were the highest-ranked five day Order of Merit, not already qualified at that time.

At most twenty-two players could have qualified through this method, where the position in the list depicts the priority of the qualification.

Since the list of qualifiers from the main tournaments produced fewer than twenty-two players, the field of twenty-two players was filled from the reserve lists. The first list consisted of the winners from 2020 European Tour events, in which the winners were ordered by Order of Merit position order at the cut-off date.

PDC European Tour
Tournament Event Position Player Qualifiers
2020 European Tour
Belgian Darts Championship Winner Wales Gerwyn Price England Joe Cullen
South Africa Devon Petersen
Portugal José de Sousa
German Darts Championship Winner South Africa Devon Petersen
European Darts Grand Prix Winner Portugal José de Sousa
International Darts Open Winner England Joe Cullen
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Since there were still less than twenty-two qualified players after the winners of European Tour events were added, the winners of 2020 Players Championships events were added, in Order of Merit order.

PDC Pro Tour
Tournament Event Position Player Qualifiers
2020 PDC Pro Tour
Players Championship 1 Winner Scotland Gary Anderson England Ian White
England Ryan Searle
Players Championship 2 Winner England Nathan Aspinall
Players Championship 3 Winner England Ryan Searle
Players Championship 4 Winner Poland Krzysztof Ratajski[a]
Players Championship 5 Winner Scotland Peter Wright
Players Championship 6 Winner Wales Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 7 Winner England Nathan Aspinall
Players Championship 8 Winner England Ian White
Players Championship 9 Winner Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship 10 Winner England Ryan Joyce[b]
Players Championship 11 Winner Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship 12 Winner England James Wade
Players Championship 13 Winner Scotland Peter Wright
Players Championship 14 Winner Scotland Peter Wright
Players Championship 15 Winner Australia Damon Heta
Players Championship 16 Winner Netherlands Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship 17 Winner Wales Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 18 Winner Wales Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 19 Winner England Michael Smith
Players Championship 20 Winner England Michael Smith
Players Championship 21 Winner Wales Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 22 Winner Scotland Peter Wright
Players Championship 23 Winner England Joe Cullen
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.
  1. ^ Ratajski qualified via the Grand Slam qualifier before the conclusion of the Players Championship events.
  2. ^ Joyce qualified via the Grand Slam qualifier before the conclusion of the Players Championship events.

PDC Qualifying Event[edit]

A further eight places in the Grand Slam of Darts were filled by qualifiers from a PDC qualifier on 9 November.[1] These are the qualifiers:

BDO Invitees[edit]

The two BDO world champions were invited.

Tournament Year Position Player
BDO World Darts Championship 2020 Men's Winner Wales Wayne Warren
Women's Winner Japan Mikuru Suzuki

Pools[edit]

Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D
(PDC Seeded Players) (PDC Qualifiers & BDO Representatives)

Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (1)
Scotland Peter Wright (2)
Wales Gerwyn Price (3)
England Michael Smith (4)
England Rob Cross (5)
England Nathan Aspinall (6)
England James Wade (7)
Scotland Gary Anderson (8)

England Dave Chisnall
Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh
England Ian White
England Glen Durrant
Poland Krzysztof Ratajski
Wales Jonny Clayton
England Joe Cullen
Australia Simon Whitlock

Netherlands Jermaine Wattimena
England Ricky Evans
Germany Gabriel Clemens
South Africa Devon Petersen
Portugal José de Sousa
England Luke Humphries
England Ryan Joyce
England Ryan Searle

Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode
England Justin Pipe
Australia Damon Heta
England Adam Hunt
England Lisa Ashton
Czech Republic Adam Gawlas
Wales Wayne Warren (BDO)
Japan Mikuru Suzuki (BDO)

Draw[edit]

Group stage[edit]

All group matches are best of nine legs
After three games, the top two in each group qualify for the knock-out stage

NB: P = Played; W = Won; L = Lost; LF = Legs for; LA = Legs against; +/− = Plus/minus record, in relation to legs; Pts = Points; Status = Qualified to knockout stage

Knockout stage[edit]

Second round (best of 19 legs)
20–21 November
Quarter-finals (best of 31 legs)
22 November
Semi-finals (best of 31 legs)
23 November
Final (best of 31 legs)
24 November
            
A1 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (1) 101.81 10
B2 Scotland Gary Anderson (8) 96.98 2
A1 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (1) 100.32 15
B1 Australia Simon Whitlock (Q) 95.97 16
B1 Australia Simon Whitlock (Q) 87.05 10
A2 England Adam Hunt (Q) 86.68 6
B1 Australia Simon Whitlock (Q) 97.92 12
C2 Portugal José de Sousa 97.53 16
C1 England Michael Smith (4) 97.46 10
D2 England Rob Cross (5) 95.18 9
C1 England Michael Smith (4) 95.74 14
C2 Portugal José de Sousa 98.52 16
D1 England Dave Chisnall (Q) 91.28 7
C2 Portugal José de Sousa 95.37 10
C2 Portugal José de Sousa 99.95 16
F1 England James Wade (7) 94.26 12
E1 South Africa Devon Petersen 94.25 7
F2 Australia Damon Heta 93.75 10
F2 Australia Damon Heta 98.26 13
F1 England James Wade (7) 101.66 16
F1 England James Wade (7) 98.18 10
E2 England Ian White 99.44 4
F1 England James Wade (7) 98.61 16
H1 Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh 96.87 15
G1 Wales Gerwyn Price (3) 90.73 8
H2 England Nathan Aspinall (6) 96.86 10
H2 England Nathan Aspinall (6) 94.92 15
H1 Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh 97.80 16
H1 Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh 103.61 10
G2 Wales Jonny Clayton 88.53 3

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Phillips, Josh. "Ricoh Arena to host three further TV events & Winter Series". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Peerless Price retains BoyleSports Grand Slam title". pdc.tv. 17 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  3. ^ Prenderville, Paul (22 November 2020). "Grand Slam of Darts 2020: Nathan Aspinall halts Gerwyn Price's bid for third title". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  4. ^ Phillips, Josh (24 November 2020). "History-maker De Sousa defeats Wade in BoyleSports Grand Slam final". PDC. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Simon Whitlock beats Michael van Gerwen in Grand Slam of Darts". BBC Sport. 23 November 2020.
  6. ^ "PDC Order of Merit Rules". PDC. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  7. ^ Allen, Dave. "2020 Grand Slam qualification criteria confirmed". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 18 August 2020.