Josh Rock tops average charts at this year's World Series of Darts Finals with a rejuvenated Michael van Gerwen appearing the most
PDC
The World Series of Darts Finals produced a high catalogue of performances on the oche, with the darters accumulating 15 of 100+ averages, a joint record with the previous best set in 2015.
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Van Gerwen rose back to the pinnacle of darts, defeating Luke Littler 11-7 in a high-quality final, winning it with a clinical 130 checkout, clinching his sixth World Series of Darts Finals title. It was his first major triumph for two years, last winning a big TV title at this event in 2023. The Dutchman will hope that it ends a period of barren results and lacklustre performances, as he targets more success with multiple tournaments coming up on the horizon.
Rock tops the standings
Josh Rock topped the highest averages list with a magical 107.36 average in his round of 16 whitewash win over former UK Open champion Danny Noppert. In six legs, he amassed seven 180's, hit a 106 checkout, and found 50% of his doubles in a commanding performance. Surprisingly, the World Cup winner failed to muster up another in the whole tournament, with his next best dipping just below a ton in the semi-final defeat to van Gerwen.
Closely behind him in the list is last year's champion Littler, who played in a thriller against Ross Smith in the quarter-finals. Smudger had match darts against the Nuke in last year's edition, but failed to take them as Littler went on to win the title. This year, Smith missed a dart at double seven to force a last-leg decider, as he rues another missed opportunity.
Littler averaged 107.31, just below Rock's tournament high. His ridiculous scoring power was backed up by a 59% hit rate on the outer ring. Coincidentally, Smith finds himself fourth on this list, averaging 106.12 in that defeat.
The 18-year-old next finds himself down in eighth with his final average, finishing at 101.99. The scoring was there in patches, but his finishing was down on his usually impeccable standards. His third ton+ average came in the comeback win against Gerwyn Price to cement his place in yet another big final, pulling out a 100.08 average.
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Van Gerwen is back to his best
The Green Machine pulled out all the tricks to clinch the title. He did not rack up an average near the 112.73 he produced in Prague, but unlike on the European Tour, he backed it up with consistent performances. There was only two matches where he did not average over a ton, in the round of 16 win over Rob Cross, and the final.
His highest average came in the quarter-final, beating world number one Luke Humphries convincingly 10-5, finding a 106.45 average to stun the former World Champion. Two games earlier, he romped to a 104.75 average in the victory over fellow Dutchman Wessel Nijman. Despite the 25-year-old missing just one dart on the outer ring, which happened to be a match dart, van Gerwen was strong enough to advance.
Michael van Gerwen claimed a sixth World Series of Darts Finals triumph
His semi-final average of 102.09 puts him seventh on the list and sees him feature for the third time, more than anyone in the top 10. This brings back past memories of vintage van Gerwen, where ton+ averages and winning major titles was normality.
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Other notable averages include Gerwyn Price's 102.97 in the last-16 triumph over fan-favourite Raymond van Barneveld, Luke Humphries' 101.87 in the last 16 against Kevin Doets, and Nijman averaging 101.45 in the opening round setback.
Overall, 15 ton+ averages were produced in 31 matches in Amsterdam. It levels with the record set in 2015, but the twist is that there were eight less games ten years ago.
These are the top-10 of the overall 15 100+ average thrown at the World Series Finals this year. This equalled the tournament record, which was set during its inaugural staging in 2015. Impressive when you consider that the event had only 23 games back then, compared to 31 now. pic.twitter.com/N4eU3nMOsH
— TheRedBit 🔴 (@TheRedBit180) September 15, 2025
Lucas MichaelDarts Journalist
Lucas Michael is a darts journalist and reporter based in Cambridge, UK, and has been part of the DartsNews team since 2025. He covers professional darts through reports, analysis, round-ups, and live coverage, with a focus on clear context and accurate reporting across the PDC calendar.
A key part of his work is liveblogging major tournaments throughout the year, providing real-time updates, match coverage, and contextual reporting across the professional circuit. He also reports regularly from events on site and has covered the PDC World Darts Championship from the venue, delivering first-hand insight throughout the tournament.
Within the newsroom, Lucas works closely with the editorial team and supports coverage alongside Chief Content Officer Samuel Gill and reporter Kieran Wood.
Lucas holds a BA (Hons) in Sports Journalism. In his work, he places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating content promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- And why should he listen to you?Deduce635807-11-2026
- Ultimately it is a bye for whoever draws Barney. It will be another stroppy and sulky performance once he goes behind. Barney was excellent but really must completely call it a day now.richieburnettrocks07-11-2026
- I'm disappointed he was not able to secure a spot at the Grand Slam. With Carl Sneyd taking care of Daryl Gurney, he would have had to beat Andy Boulton before facing the winner of Sneyd vs Mensur Suljović for a Grand Slam spot. Unfortunately, after beating Filip Bereza comfortably, he succumbed to Boulton, and the board would ultimately be won by the highly inconsistent Carl Sneyd. Since he could instead have been drawn against the likes of Cristo Reyes, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Stephen Bunting, I think once Gurney was out of the picture he would have been favourite to win his board, and it seems like a massive missed opportunity to put 5 grand on his ranking and seal another major TV appearance ahead of the Worlds. The highs and lows of following Raymond van Barneveld!Deduce635806-11-2026
- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026