Everyone loves a nine darter. A maximum checkout and darts equivalent of a 147 break in snooker or a hole in one golf. It’s a special occurrence and one of the most coveted achievements in darts.
They don’t come around everyday though, and even less frequently at a big televised PDC event.
But, who over the years has landed more? Here, we’ve listed the top five players to have thrown the most nine-darters in PDC events.
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Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock – 11
First up, with 11, it’s the Wizard of Oz, Simon Whitlock. Hailing from New South Wales, Whitlock and is a somewhat surprising feature on this list given that his best-ever finish was second in the World Championships in 2008.
Fair play to the Aussie though, Whitlock has managed to chuck his fair share of perfect legs over the years and beats two-time world champion Gary Anderson (5), Van Barneveld (9), James Wade (8) and Ian White (6) to the PDC top five, having thrown 11 nine-darters over the years.
That said, only one of those was on the telly – his nine darter against Andy Hamilton in the 2012 Darts Premier League.
Dave ‘Chizzy’ Chisnall – 11
St Helens’ own Dave Chisnall has managed to land 11 perfect legs in his career at the top. Again, like Whitlock, only one of these has been witnessed by a TV audience.
Chizzy’s televised perfect leg came in 2015 at the Grand Slam of Darts against Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, omitted from this list due to having only landed three nine darters during his PDC career.
Chizzy, who has yet to win a televised title, has a career best performance of runner up in the 2015 Darts Premier League.
Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis – 13
In at number three on the list is Adrian Lewis.
Jackpot’s inclusion at third on the list makes perfect sense.
The two-time PDC world champion is famous for hitting a perfect leg so its no surprise to learn that he has chalked up an impressive 13 PDC nine-darters, with 5 of those being televised.
Two of those five came in the World Darts Championships, first in 2011 against Gary Anderson and then again in 2015 against Raymond van Barneveld.
Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor – 21
Given that The Power retired in 2018, and the fact that he is unquestionably the greatest darter of all time, many might have though that the Stoke born legend would top the list.
But, no, despite racking up 21 nine darters during his legendary PDC career, with 10 of these being televised, it’s not enough to secure him top spot.
Chris Mason was the unfortunate victim of Taylor’s first at the 2002 World Matchplay which also happened to be the first live PDC nine-darter broadcast on British television.
Thirteen years later, The Power landed his last ever against 2020 World Champion Peter Wright.
The high point though came in the 2010 Premier League final against James Wade – the player who has had more 9-darters hit against him than any other player – when Taylor became the first player to ever hit two nine-dart finishes in a single match.
Only one other player has achieved such a feat and, that player is…
Michael ‘Mighty Mike’ van Gerwen – 24
Who else?
If it wasn’t Taylor on top of the list then it could only be Mighty Mike. The scary thing is the Dutchman is still playing so this tally of 24 at the time of writing could well rise yet.
Seven of Michael van Gerwen’s PDC nine darters in his career have been televised, and for the maths nuts out there, MVG also became the first player to throw a televised nine-darter opening with 174 instead of the more common route of 180.