# 2015 Premier League Darts

The 2015 Betway Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation; the eleventh edition of the tournament. The event began at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on 4 February, and ended at The O$_2$ Arena, London on 21 May. The tournament was shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland. This was the second year that the tournament was sponsored by Betway.
Raymond van Barneveld was the defending champion, but he lost to Michael van Gerwen 10–8 in the semi-finals. Gary Anderson won his second Premier League Darts title by beating van Gerwen 11–7 in the final.
For the first time in the Premier League's history, 6-time winner Phil Taylor did not qualify for the play-offs.

## Format

The tournament format was identical to that since 2013. During the first nine weeks (phase 1) each player plays the other nine players once. The bottom two players are eliminated from the competition. In the next six weeks (phase 2), each player plays the other seven players once. Phase 2 consists of four weeks where five matches are played followed by two weeks where four matches are played. At the end of phase 2 the top four players contest the two semi-finals and the final in the play-off week.

## Players

The competitors who competed at the tournament were announced following the 2015 PDC World Darts Championship final on 4 January 2015, with the top four of the PDC Order of Merit joined by six Wildcards.
Robert Thornton (world number 8), Wes Newton (number 16), and Simon Whitlock (number 7) did not return from last year. James Wade returned this year following his absence from the 2014 Premier League, along with two debutants, Kim Huybrechts, the first Belgian to compete in the league, and Stephen Bunting, the 2014 BDO world champion who had a successful first year with the PDC.
| Player | Appearance in Premier League | Consecutive Streak | Order of Merit rank | Previous best performance | Qualification |
| Michael van Gerwen | 3rd | 3 | 1 | Winner (2013) | Order of Merit |
| Phil Taylor | 11th | 11 | 2 | Winner (2005–2008, 2010, 2012) | Order of Merit |
| Gary Anderson | 5th | 5 | 3 | Winner (2011) | Order of Merit |
| Adrian Lewis | 8th | 6 | 4 | Runner-up (2011) | Order of Merit |
| Peter Wright | 2nd | 2 | 5 | 5th (2014) | PDC Wildcard |
| James Wade | 7th | 1 | 6 | Winner (2009) | PDC Wildcard |
| Dave Chisnall | 2nd | 2 | 9 | 7th (2014) | PDC Wildcard |
| Kim Huybrechts | 1st | 1 | 17 | Debut | PDC Wildcard |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 10th | 10 | 10 | Winner (2014) | Sky Sports Wildcard |
| Stephen Bunting | 1st | 1 | 24 | Debut | Sky Sports Wildcard |

## Prize money

The prize money was dramatically increased to £700,000 from £550,000 in 2014.
| Stage | Prize Money |
| Winner | £200,000 |
| Runner-up | £100,000 |
| Semi-finalists (x2) | £75,000 |
| 5th place | £60,000 |
| 6th place | £50,000 |
| 7th place | £45,000 |
| 8th place | £40,000 |
| 9th place | £30,000 |
| 10th place | £25,000 |
| Total | £700,000 |

## Results
### League stage

14 May – Week 15 (Phase 2)
Brighton Centre, Brighton
Score
Phil Taylor 108.877 – 1 James Wade 100.29
Raymond van Barneveld 101.627 – 4 Stephen Bunting 100.27
Adrian Lewis 94.463 – 7 Gary Anderson 97.26
Michael van Gerwen 111.906 – 6 Dave Chisnall 106.01
Night's Average: 102.59
Highest Checkout: Dave Chisnall 161
Most 180s : Michael van Gerwen & Stephen Bunting 5
Night's 180s: 27 :
   Play-offs – 21 May
The O$_2$ Arena, London
| | Score | |
| Semi-finals (best of 19 legs) |||
| Dave Chisnall 98.34 | 9 – 10 | Gary Anderson 98.40 |
| Michael van Gerwen 106.44 | 10 – 8 | Raymond van Barneveld 100.44 |
| Final (best of 21 legs) |||
| Michael van Gerwen 105.81 | 7 – 11 | Gary Anderson 104.85 |
| Night's Average: 102.38 |||
| Highest Checkout: Dave Chisnall 152 |||

## Table and streaks
### Table

After the first nine weeks (phase 1), the bottom two in the table are eliminated. Each remaining player plays a further seven matches (phase 2). The top four players then participate in the playoffs.
When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.
| # | Name | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | LF | LA | +/- | LWAT | 100+ | 140+ | 180s | A | HC | C% |
| 1 | Michael van Gerwen RU | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 101 | 71 | +30 | 38 | 183 | 153 | 58 | 105.15 | 160 | 47.87% |
| 2 | Dave Chisnall | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 22 | 97 | 67 | +30 | 38 | 191 | 121 | 62 | 101.39 | 161 | 42.17% |
| 3 | Gary Anderson W | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 90 | 80 | +10 | 28 | 212 | 126 | 57 | 99.83 | 152 | 38.14% |
| 4 | Raymond van Barneveld | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 19 | 90 | 82 | +8 | 31 | 227 | 120 | 48 | 97.64 | 161 | 41.86% |
| 5 | Phil Taylor | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 87 | 83 | +4 | 30 | 246 | 124 | 43 | 102.95 | 151 | 39.55% |
| 6 | Adrian Lewis | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 76 | 89 | −13 | 23 | 189 | 119 | 51 | 98.63 | 147 | 38.04% |
| 7 | James Wade | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 76 | 93 | −17 | 26 | 236 | 144 | 23 | 97.12 | 170 | 41.14% |
| 8 | Stephen Bunting | 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 75 | 93 | −18 | 26 | 181 | 112 | 46 | 94.37 | 164 | 32.86% |
| 9 | Peter Wright | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 57 | −17 | 10 | 144 | 71 | 18 | 93.77 | 170 | 36.96% |
| 10 | Kim Huybrechts | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 42 | 59 | −17 | 7 | 116 | 71 | 27 | 97.83 | 170 | 34.15% |
Last updated: 15 May 2015 Source: Match reports from the results section.
Top four qualified for the Play-offs after Week 15. NB: LWAT = Legs Won Against Throw. A = Average C% = Checkout Percentage HC = High Checkout.

### Streaks

| Player | 1st Phase | 1st Phase | 1st Phase | 1st Phase | 1st Phase | 1st Phase | 1st Phase | 1st Phase | 1st Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | 2nd Phase | | Play-offs | Play-offs |
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 15 | | SF | F |
| Michael van Gerwen | W | W | W | D | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | W | L | W | W | L | D | | W | L |
| Dave Chisnall | W | W | D | W | W | L | L | W | W | W | W | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | D | | L | — |
| Gary Anderson | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | D | L | L | D | D | L | W | L | L | W | W | | W | W |
| Raymond van Barneveld | L | L | D | W | L | L | W | L | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | | L | — |
| Phil Taylor | L | W | W | D | W | L | L | W | L | L | L | W | D | D | D | L | L | L | W | | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Adrian Lewis | W | L | D | D | L | L | D | L | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | L | L | W | L | | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| James Wade | D | W | D | L | L | W | D | W | L | L | L | D | D | L | L | D | D | D | L | | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Stephen Bunting | D | L | L | L | W | W | D | L | D | L | L | L | D | W | W | D | D | L | L | | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Peter Wright | L | L | D | D | D | W | D | L | L | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Kim Huybrechts | L | L | D | L | W | L | L | L | D | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Legend: | W | Win | D | Draw | L | Loss | — | Eliminated |

### Positions by round

| Player | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round | Round |
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| Michael van Gerwen | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Dave Chisnall | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Gary Anderson | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 10 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Phil Taylor | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Adrian Lewis | 1 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| James Wade | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Stephen Bunting | 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Peter Wright | 9 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Kim Huybrechts | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |