2020 Grand Slam of Darts

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]

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 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

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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

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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

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PDC Main Tournaments
Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers
PDC World Darts Championship 2020 Winner   Peter Wright   Peter Wright
  Gerwyn Price
  Glen Durrant
  Dimitri Van den Bergh
  Luke Humphries
  Michael van Gerwen
  Jonny Clayton
  Nathan Aspinall
  James Wade
  Damon Heta
  Jermaine Wattimena
  Lisa Ashton
  Gary Anderson
  Dirk van Duijvenbode
  Adam Gawlas
  Michael Smith
  Rob Cross
Grand Slam of Darts 2019 Winner   Gerwyn Price
Premier League Darts 2020 Winner   Glen Durrant
World Matchplay 2020 Winner   Dimitri Van den Bergh
World Grand Prix 2020 Winner   Gerwyn Price
PDC World Youth Championship 2019 Winner   Luke Humphries
Masters 2020 Winner   Peter Wright
UK Open 2020 Winner   Michael van Gerwen
European Championship 2020 Winner   Peter Wright
Players Championship Finals 2019 Winner   Michael van Gerwen
World Series of Darts Finals 2020 Winner   Gerwyn Price
PDC World Cup of Darts 2020 Winners   Gerwyn Price
  Jonny Clayton
PDC Home Tour 2020 Winner   Nathan Aspinall
PDC Summer Series 2020 Highest-placed[i]   James Wade
PDC Autumn Series 2020 Highest-placed[i]   Damon Heta
PDC Winter Series 2020 Highest-placed[i]   Jermaine Wattimena
PDC Women's Qualifier 2020 Winner   Lisa Ashton
PDC World Darts Championship 2020 Runner-up   Michael van Gerwen
Grand Slam of Darts 2019 Runner-up   Peter Wright
Premier League Darts 2020 Runner-up   Nathan Aspinall
World Matchplay 2020 Runner-up   Gary Anderson
World Grand Prix 2020 Runner-up   Dirk van Duijvenbode
PDC World Youth Championship 2019 Runner-up   Adam Gawlas
Masters 2020 Runner-up   Michael Smith
UK Open 2020 Runner-up   Gerwyn Price
European Championship 2020 Runner-up   James Wade
Players Championship Finals 2019 Runner-up   Gerwyn Price
World Series of Darts Finals 2020 Runner-up   Rob Cross
PDC World Cup of Darts 2020 Runners-Up   Michael Smith
  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   Gerwyn Price   Joe Cullen
  Devon Petersen
  José de Sousa
German Darts Championship Winner   Devon Petersen
European Darts Grand Prix Winner   José de Sousa
International Darts Open Winner   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   Gary Anderson   Ian White
  Ryan Searle
Players Championship 2 Winner   Nathan Aspinall
Players Championship 3 Winner   Ryan Searle
Players Championship 4 Winner   Krzysztof Ratajski[a]
Players Championship 5 Winner   Peter Wright
Players Championship 6 Winner   Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 7 Winner   Nathan Aspinall
Players Championship 8 Winner   Ian White
Players Championship 9 Winner   Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship 10 Winner   Ryan Joyce[b]
Players Championship 11 Winner   Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship 12 Winner   James Wade
Players Championship 13 Winner   Peter Wright
Players Championship 14 Winner   Peter Wright
Players Championship 15 Winner   Damon Heta
Players Championship 16 Winner   Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship 17 Winner   Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 18 Winner   Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 19 Winner   Michael Smith
Players Championship 20 Winner   Michael Smith
Players Championship 21 Winner   Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 22 Winner   Peter Wright
Players Championship 23 Winner   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

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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

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The two BDO world champions were invited.

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

Pools

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

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

  Dave Chisnall
  Dimitri Van den Bergh
  Ian White
  Glen Durrant
  Krzysztof Ratajski
  Jonny Clayton
  Joe Cullen
  Simon Whitlock

  Jermaine Wattimena
  Ricky Evans
  Gabriel Clemens
  Devon Petersen
  José de Sousa
  Luke Humphries
  Ryan Joyce
  Ryan Searle

  Dirk van Duijvenbode
  Justin Pipe
  Damon Heta
  Adam Hunt
  Lisa Ashton
  Adam Gawlas
  Wayne Warren (BDO)
  Mikuru Suzuki (BDO)

Draw

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Group stage

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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

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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   Michael van Gerwen (1) 101.81 10
B2   Gary Anderson (8) 96.98 2
A1   Michael van Gerwen (1) 100.32 15
B1   Simon Whitlock (Q) 95.97 16
B1   Simon Whitlock (Q) 87.05 10
A2   Adam Hunt (Q) 86.68 6
B1   Simon Whitlock (Q) 97.92 12
C2   José de Sousa 97.53 16
C1   Michael Smith (4) 97.46 10
D2   Rob Cross (5) 95.18 9
C1   Michael Smith (4) 95.74 14
C2   José de Sousa 98.52 16
D1   Dave Chisnall (Q) 91.28 7
C2   José de Sousa 95.37 10
C2   José de Sousa 99.95 16
F1   James Wade (7) 94.26 12
E1   Devon Petersen 94.25 7
F2   Damon Heta 93.75 10
F2   Damon Heta 98.26 13
F1   James Wade (7) 101.66 16
F1   James Wade (7) 98.18 10
E2   Ian White 99.44 4
F1   James Wade (7) 98.61 16
H1   Dimitri Van den Bergh 96.87 15
G1   Gerwyn Price (3) 90.73 8
H2   Nathan Aspinall (6) 96.86 10
H2   Nathan Aspinall (6) 94.92 15
H1   Dimitri Van den Bergh 97.80 16
H1   Dimitri Van den Bergh 103.61 10
G2   Jonny Clayton 88.53 3

References

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  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.