South African Masters (darts)

Emperors Palace South African Masters
Tournament information
Venue	Emperors Palace
Location	Johannesburg
Country	South Africa
Established	2007
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs
Prize fund	£15,000 (2009)
Month(s) Played	September
Current champion(s)
Devon Petersen

The Emperors Palace South African Masters was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation which began in 2007, so-named because it took place at the Emperors Palace entertainment resort in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Devon Petersen is the current champion.

Format and Qualification

The tournament had 8 players, 4 of which were the top ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit and the semi-finalists, runner up and winner of the PDC South African Open which takes place the day before. The four players chosen by the PDC were drawn up against the qualifiers from the PDC South African Open in a knock-out tournament. In 2007, Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, James Wade and Terry Jenkins, ranked numbers one to four in the Order of Merit respectively at the time, participated in the tournament. In the following year, Taylor and Wade, returned to the tournament, being ranked numbers one and three in the world at the time. John Part, ranked number four in the world, also participated, as did Wayne Mardle, who replaced Barneveld (ranked second) due to the Dutchman's two month sabbatical from darts. Taylor, Wade, Part and Mervyn King took part in the 2009 tournament.

Matches were as follows:

• Quarter Final: best of 7 legs
• Semi Final: Best of 9 legs (formerly in 2007 best of 11 legs)
• Final: Best of 11 legs (formerly in 2007 best of 15 legs, in 2008 best of 9 legs)

Since the 2010 tournament, the event is the direct qualification tournament for the World Darts Championship for south african darts players.

Television

The tournament was broadcast live on SuperSport in South Africa. In the United Kingdom, the tournament was broadcast on Challenge in 2007, Nuts TV in 2008, and Sky Sports in 2009.

Results

2007

^[1]

Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs					Semi-finals Best of 11 legs					Final Best of 15 legs
	Phil Taylor	4
	Mike Ryder Snr.	0				Phil Taylor	6
	Terry Jenkins	4				Terry Jenkins	4
	Paul Meyer	0									Phil Taylor	8
	Raymond van Barneveld	4									Raymond van Barneveld	6
	Charles Losper	1				Raymond van Barneveld	6
	James Wade	4				James Wade	5
	Lodewyk Marais	0

2008

^[2]

Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs					Semi-finals Best of 9 legs					Final Best of 9 legs
	John Part	4
	Mark Jackson	0				John Part	5
	James Wade	4				James Wade	1
	Les Francis	1									John Part	2
	Wayne Mardle	4									Phil Taylor	5
	Charles Losper	1				Wayne Mardle	2
	Phil Taylor	4				Phil Taylor	5
	Shawn Hogan	1

2009

^[3]

Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs					Semi-finals Best of 9 legs					Final Best of 11 legs
	Phil Taylor	4
	Christo Meiring	1				Phil Taylor	5
	John Part	4				John Part	2
	Devon Petersen	1									Phil Taylor	6
	James Wade	4									James Wade	4
	Wynand Havenga	1				James Wade	5
	Mervyn King	4				Mervyn King	4
	Les Francis	1

• During the fifth leg of the semi final between James Wade and Mervyn King, King hit the first ever televised nine-dart finish outside of Europe. He hit two consecutive 180s, and then used T20, T19, D12 to complete the perfect leg. King went 4-1 up as a result of that leg, but still lost the match 5-4.

Previous winners

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-Up	Total Prize Money	Winner's Prize
2007	Phil Taylor	8-6	Raymond van Barneveld	£15,000	£5,000
2008	Phil Taylor	5-2	John Part	£15,000	£5,000
2009	Phil Taylor	6-4	James Wade	£15,000	£5,000

World Darts Championship Qualification Tournament

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-Up	Semi-finalist 1 (lost to Champion)	Semi-finalist 2 (lost to Runner-Up)
2010	Devon Petersen	5-4	Les Francis	n/a	n/a
2011	Devon Petersen	beat	n/a	n/a	n/a
2012	Charl Pietersen	8-1	Charles Losper	n/a	n/a
2013	Devon Petersen	9-3	Graham Filby	n/a	n/a
2014	Nolan Arendse	9-5	Devon Petersen	Shawn Hogan	Charl Pietersen

References