How Jonny Clayton has risen to become Premier League champion within five years

Exactly five years ago, Jonny Clayton and Michael van Gerwen first met in a PDC match on stage at the 2016 Austrian Darts Open.

It was a 6-0 loss for Clayton who played against Van Gerwen in his best form opening the game with a 10-darter and averaging 110 took the match.

Five years later, he is regularly beating Van Gerwen, averaging similar and winning titles both on the stage and ProTour but how did Clayton's route to the top happen?

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Two months after this defeat to Van Gerwen, 'The Ferret' reached his first semi-final at a ranking tournament. He qualified for the Players Championship Finals and World Championship but was unable to produce his best in these majors.

But in 2017 was when his fortunes started to change. He reached his first ProTour final which he won with victories over Terry Jenkins, Rob Cross, Darren Webster and Jeffrey de Zwaan.

His final run at the Players Championship Finals in 2017 did not come completely out of the blue, although the Welshman had shown very little on television until that point.

In 2018, Clayton again qualified for the Austrian Darts Open and in that tournament he set another milestone as he went full circle by taking his first Euro Tour title. In the final he dealt with compatriot Gerwyn Price, currently the World Number One.

On television it remained mixed with defeats at the World Championship, the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and European Championship. Clayton then made it to the quarterfinals at the Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals.

The year 2019 brought a new milestone. Clayton captured his third PDC title and entered the top-32 of the world rankings for the first time. The Ferret also started to play better at the TV tournaments , although he only reaped the benefits in 2020.

He made it to the semi-finals at the UK Open and European Championship, before Clayton won the World Cup of Darts together with Price. That turned out to give the Welsh darter the last push.

Clayton was eliminated in the last 32 at the World Championship by Joe Cullen after a thriller, but went on to win his first individual major at the Masters. The 46-year-old plasterer successively beats José de Sousa, Michael van Gerwen, James Wade, Peter Wright and Mervyn King.

It earned him an invitation to the Premier League Darts. Clayton immediately impressed by throwing an average of over 105 during the first round, although he had to settle for a draw against Peter Wright. After five rounds of play, Clayton even took the lead in the Premier League, although The Ferret eventually had to work hard to make the play-offs.

He succeeded after a victory over Dimitri van den Bergh during the last night, after which he triumphed in an impressive way against Van Gerwen (10-8) and De Sousa (11-5) during the play-offs.

Getting better every year

Clayton's statistics also show that he has improved almost every year. For example, in 2016, Clayton threw a 12-darter or better in only 4 percent of his won legs, nowadays he wins 12.66 percent of his won legs in twelve darts or less.

The Welshman's annual average has also progressed in five years, from 91.97 to 99.63. So whoever encounters Clayton now can count on having to produce an average of around a hundred or higher.

The doubles were always well taken care of at Clayton, who has become sharper on the finishes this season. From 2016 to 2020, his finish percentage increased from 38.51 percent to 39.77 percent. This year his finish percentage stands at 42.47 percent, a significant improvement.

The next area of ​​improvement for Clayton is getting good results in ranked TV tournaments. The three majors he won in recent months all do not count, leaving The Ferret only seventeenth on the PDC Order of Merit. With his current form it seems only a matter of time before Clayton makes his entry into the top ten of the Order of Merit though.