25/02/2020

Van Gerwen breaks record Taylor with historic nine-darter

Michael van Gerwen hit a career high 23rd nine-dart finish last weekend. As a result he passed Phil Taylor on the all-time list and now Mighty Mike is the player with the most official nine-darters.

Six of his 23 nine-darters were hit during a televised tournament, including one at the World Championship. Van Gerwen threw three perfect legs on a stream tournament (European Tour and Championship League of Darts) and fourteen during the floor events (Pro Tour).

Van Gerwen hit his first official nine-darter in 2007, when he entered the Masters of Darts in the Netherlands as a 17-year-old. He took out a leg within nine darts against Raymond van Barneveld. MvG became the youngest player to produce a nine-dart finish during a televised tournament and still holds that record.

His second nine-darter followed in 2012, during a UK Open Qualifier in Crawley. From that year on, the number of nine-darters of the Dutchman increased at a faster pace. In July 2012, Van Gerwen threw his third perfect leg during the World Matchplay and in December he recorded his first nine-dart finish at the World Darts Championship. Mighty Mike was then awfully close to hit two nine-darters in a row, as he missed double 12 in the subsequent leg to write darts history.

From 2013 to 2015, Van Gerwen finished a leg four times in the shortest possible way. Two of them were recorded by a camera; during the Championship League of Darts in 2013 and during the European Championship in 2014.

Amount of nine-darters rises quickly

In 2016, it was hit four times. The three-time world champion threw a perfect leg at the UK Open and produced three during the Pro Tour circuit. A year later, Van Gerwen became the second player ever to throw two nine-darters in one match. Phil Taylor did this in 2010 during the Premier League, Van Gerwen in 2017 during the fourth UK Open Qualifier.

That same year MvG also recorded a nine-darter during Players Championship 9. In 2018, Van Gerwen threw his first perfect leg at a Euro Tour tournament during the European Darts Matchplay. The world number one also managed to hit two more legs within nine darts on the Pro Tour.

Another four in 2019

Last season, just like in 2016, Van Gerwen was quite productive with four perfect legs. Two came on the floor tournaments, one during a Euro Tour tournament and one nine-darter was on a televised tournament during the Players Championship Finals. With his perfect leg last weekend, Mighty Mike has already hit his first nine-dart finish of 2020.