Starting Thursday, the revamped Winmau World Masters gets underway in Milton Keynes. One of the most iconic tournaments ever falls under the banner of the PDC as of this year, taking the place of the Masters.
This was the PDC's annual tournament featuring (by now) the top-24 players in the world rankings. Last year, Stephen Bunting was surprisingly the winner of that tournament by beating Michael van Gerwen in the final. With that memory in mind, 'The Bullet' traveled to Milton Keynes to try to grab another television title.
Follow Live Scores during the 2025 Winmau World Masters HERE.
This year, at least he has already started the season well. Bunting captured the title at the Bahrain Darts Masters and was runner-up at the Dutch Darts Masters in Den Bosch last weekend, after also being in the semifinals of the world championship a month ago.
“It’s always important to start off the calendar year with really good performances," said Bunting to the PDC. "I won the Masters last year in my first event of 2024 and I went on to have a successful season, so I’m hoping for more of the same this year.”
To advance a round, Bunting will have to deal with William Borland in the first round of the main tournament. The Scot was one of eight players to advance past the preliminaries on Wednesday.
“Willie is a good player. It’s going to be difficult but I need to make sure I’ll fully focused on my game," declared Bunting, the current world number five. "He’s had some magical moments on the big stage before - especially that nine-darter at the World Championship.
The duel between Bunting and Borland will be played on Thursday night. The winner of that match will play either Peter Wright or Kevin Doets in the second round on Saturday.
Following today's Preliminary Rounds, the draw bracket for the Winmau World Masters is now locked in 🔒#WWMasters pic.twitter.com/Ni2HYVyJsM
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 29, 2025