Nine-dart finish

A nine-dart finish is a perfect leg in the game of darts, using only nine darts, the fewest possible, to checkout from 501. It is notoriously difficult to achieve, even by the game's top professionals. It is considered to be the highest single-game achievement in the sport, similar to a maximum 147 break in snooker or a 300-point game in bowling.

Methods of achievement

A single game (known as a leg) of darts requires a player to score 501 points, ending with either the bullseye or a double. Each shot consists of three darts, making 180 the maximum score of any shot. As a result of these rules, nine throws is the minimum necessary to win. Although other combinations are possible, the traditional way of completing in nine throws requires a score of 60 (treble 20) with each of the first six darts, that is, with the first two shots of three. This leaves 141 to score on the final shot, known as the outshot.

This outshot is traditionally performed in one of three ways:

• treble 20 (60), treble 19 (57) and double 12 (24)
• treble 18 (54), treble 17 (51) and double 18 (36)
• treble 20 (60), treble 15 (45) and double 18 (36)

There are two ways to perform the 141 outshot with a bullseye finish:

• treble 17 (51), double 20 (40), and bullseye (50)
• treble 19 (57), double 17 (34), and bullseye (50)

Also possible are:

• treble 20 (60), treble 17 (51) and double 15 (30)
• treble 19 (57), treble 18 (54) and double 15 (30)
• treble 19 (57), treble 16 (48) and double 18 (36).

Another way is to score 167 with each set of three darts, scoring a perfect 501 total, in the following way:

• treble 20 (60), treble 19 (57) and bullseye (50)

This eliminates the chance of any dart being deflected by an already thrown dart into the wrong scoring area by throwing each dart at a different location on the board. It is only usually seen in exhibition matches, as in tournaments, players are inclined to aim for the triple 20, only switching to the triple 19 for a cover shot.

Arguably the most difficult nine dart finish would be 180 (3xT20), 171 (3xT19), and 150 (3xBULL) – owing to the difficulty of getting all three darts in the bullseye: it is the smallest double on the board.

A nine dart finish is also attainable in games which require a double to commence scoring, though the scoring patterns seen are typically different. In such games, throwing for double 20 first can lead to a maximum score of 160 with the first throw, leaving the thrower commonly requiring 180 then 161 (T20,T17,BULL) in their remaining six darts, though other outcomes are possible. It is worth noting that in these games, only throwing for double 20, double 17, or bullseye to start the leg can result in a nine dart finish.

Another, sometimes overlooked method of achieving a 9 darter is 180 (3xT20) 151 (T20,D20,T17 / T18,T19,D20 / T20,T19,D17 or BULL,BULL,T17) all of which leave 170, the top finish possible in Darts achieved by T20,T20,BULL.

The total number of different ways of achieving 501 with 9 darts is 3,944,^[1] of which 2,296 finish with the BULL, 672 end on D20, 792 on D18, 56 end with D17, 120 finish on D15, and 8 end with D12.

First televised nine-darter

The first televised nine dart finish was achieved at the World Matchplay championship on October 13, 1984 by John Lowe,^[2] who used the second method (with the T17 first, then T18, D18) above as his outshot after scoring two maximum 180s. For this he received a prize of £102,000, and he went on to win the whole event. This nine dart finish was not broadcast live. The first ever live broadcast nine dart finish was performed by Shaun Greatbatch against Steve Coote in the Final of the Dutch Open on February 3, 2002, while Phil Taylor achieved the first live nine-darter broadcast on British television during the 2002 World Matchplay.

World Championship nine-darters

The first player to manage the outshot in the world championship was American player Paul Lim on January 9, 1990 against Ireland's Jack McKenna.^[3] He favoured the first method of those listed above for his outshot.^[4] Lim won a £52,000 bonus for the feat, which was more than the eventual tournament winner Phil Taylor who claimed £24,000 for becoming World Champion.

Even with two versions of the World Championship in operation, Lim's achievement was not repeated for nearly 19 years until January 2, 2009, when Raymond van Barneveld became only the second person to achieve the feat and the first since the split in darts.^[5] The finish came against Jelle Klaasen at the quarter-final stage of the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace, and he claimed a £20,000 bonus prize (having rolled over from three previous tournaments since Phil Taylor's nine-darter at the UK Open). On 28 December 2009 he repeated the feat at the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship during his second round clash with Brendan Dolan netting him a £25,000 prize.^[6]

Adrian Lewis achieved a nine-dart finish in the third leg of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship final against Gary Anderson, winning £10,000.^[7]

On December 23, 2012 at the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship, Dean Winstanley hit a perfect nine-dart finish in the third leg of the third set in his second round defeat to Vincent van der Voort.^[8] Another nine-dart finish at this Championship was achieved by Michael van Gerwen in his semi-final victory over James Wade in the third leg of the fifth set. The leg after the nine-darter (the fourth leg of the fifth set) van Gerwen hit another eight perfect darts but missed the last dart at the double to achieve back-to-back nine-dart finishes.^[9] Both shared the £15,000 prize.

On December 14, 2013 at the 2014 PDC World Darts Championship, Terry Jenkins and Kyle Anderson both hit nine darters in their first round matches against Per Laursen and Ian White respectively. Unusually, both players lost their matches.^[10]

Most prolific nine-darters

Shaun Greatbatch hit the first ever nine-dart finish during a live televised darts match. The feat was achieved during the 2002 Dutch Open final against Steve Coote, which was broadcast on Dutch television.^[11]

Phil Taylor has achieved this feat more than any other darts player on television,^[12] having done so nine times: the first came on August 1, 2002 during a quarter final tie against Chris Mason, at the 2002 PDC World Matchplay in Blackpool.^[13] It was the first live-televised nine-dart finish on British television and Taylor received £100,000.

The 2007 International Darts League became the first televised tournament to witness two nine-darters when Phil Taylor's effort was matched the following day (May 9) by another perfect game from Tony O'Shea against Adrian Lewis.^[14]

Mervyn King hit his first televised nine-dart finish in the 2009 South African Masters on September 27, 2009 against James Wade — he became the first player to hit a televised nine-darter outside of Europe.^[15]

James Wade achieved three nine-dart finishes during a calendar year (2006) in tournament play at the UK Open North West finals in March, the PDPA event in Hayling in June and the Vauxhall Open in November.^[16] However, none of the events was televised. Wade briefly changed his playing nickname from the Gladiator to 009, a play on James Bond and reference to his nine-dart achievements. Wade's first televised nine-darter, came against Gary Anderson at the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton on November 20, 2008, shown live on ITV4. It was the first time the feat had been achieved live on terrestrial, free-to-air television in the UK.

The youngest player to throw a televised nine-darter is Michael van Gerwen, who hit the perfect leg in the semi-finals of the Masters of Darts tournament in the Netherlands. The event was screened live in the Netherlands. Van Gerwen was just 700117000000000000017 years, 7002298000000000000298 days old at the time. The Dutch youngster scored 174 (T20, T19, T19) and 180, then checked out 147 with T20, T17, D18. Van Gerwen's nine-darter was the first live televised nine-darter that did not start with two 180s.

On May 24, 2010, in the Premier League final against James Wade, Taylor made history by being the first player to ever hit two 9-dart finishes in a single match. These were his seventh and eighth nine-dart finishes.

Brendan Dolan became the first player ever to hit a nine-darter in a game which required a double to commence scoring. He did this in the semi-final of the 2011 World Grand Prix against James Wade on 8 October 2011. He opened with double 20, before hitting successive treble 20s (160, 180) and then finished on 161 with T20, T17 and a bullseye.^[17]

Currently the full list of professional nine-darters (both televised and not) stands at over 105. Prior to 2006 there were only 10 or so professional nine-darts hit. Almost 100 have been hit in the 7 years since.^[18]

List of televised nine-darters

So far 36 televised nine-darters were achieved.^[19] 25 of those 36 hit two 180s and finished with T20, T19, D12.

Most televised nine-darters

The following table lists the number of nine-darters scored by players who have scored a televised nine-darter.

Rank	Player	Nine-darters
1st	Phil Taylor	9
2nd	Raymond van Barneveld	5
3rd	Michael van Gerwen	3
4th	Mervyn King	2
	Adrian Lewis
6th	John Lowe	1
	Paul Lim
	Shaun Greatbatch
	Tony O'Shea
	John Walton
	James Wade
	Darryl Fitton
	John Part
	Brendan Dolan
	Simon Whitlock
	Gary Anderson
	Wes Newton
	Dean Winstanley
	Terry Jenkins
	Kyle Anderson

Nine-darters in the PDC

With nine-dart finishes thrown on a regular basis the reward for throwing one has decreased. Until 2013 the PDC had a rolling £400 prize-pool for a nine-dart leg.^[46] As long as it wasn't won, it increased by £400 for the next event. In 2013 the bonus stopped being awarded.^[47]

See also

• Change-making problem – making particular numbers with given denominations

References