# South African Masters (darts)

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.

## 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

| Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs | Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs | Semi-finals Best of 11 legs | Semi-finals Best of 11 legs | Final Best of 15 legs | Final Best of 15 legs |
| Phil Taylor | 4 | | | | |
| Mike Ryder | 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

| Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs | Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs | Semi-finals Best of 9 legs | Semi-finals Best of 9 legs | Final 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

| Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs | Quarter-finals Best of 7 legs | Semi-finals Best of 9 legs | Semi-finals Best of 9 legs | Final Best of 11 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) |
| 2006 | Wynand Havenga | 4–1 | Paul Meyer | Paul McMahon | Roshan Sivraman |
| 2007 | Charles Losper | 4–0 | Lodewyk Marais | Mike Ryder | Paul Meyer |
| 2008 | Charles Losper | 4–1 | Mark Jackson | Shawn Hogan | Les Francis |
| 2009 | Les Francis | 4–3 | Devon Petersen | Wynand Havenga | Christo Meiring |
| 2010 | Devon Petersen | 5–4 | Les Francis | Charles Losper | Jeff Waterman |
| 2011 | Devon Petersen | beat | Nolan Arendse | Brent Robertson | Gary Dowman |
| 2012 | Charl Pietersen | 8–1 | Charles Losper | Shawn Hogan | Jason Hendricks |
| 2013 | Devon Petersen | 9–3 | Graham Filby | Charles Losper | Charl Petersen |
| 2014 | Nolan Arendse | 9–5 | Devon Petersen | Shawn Hogan | Charl Pietersen |
| 2015 | Warrick Scheffer | 9–2 | Clifford Stradling | Charl Pietersen | Charles Losper |
| 2021 | Cameron Carolissen | 9–8 | Charles Losper | Carl Gabriel | Warrick Scheffer |
| 2022 | Stefan Vermaak | 9–8 | Charles Losper | Shawn Hogan | Cameron Carolissen |
| 2023 | Wynand Havenga | 7–0 | Deon Oliver | Charles Losper | Stefan Vermaak |
| 2024 | Simon Adams | 12–10 | Leslie Gouvea | Wynand Havenga | Deon Oliver |