Who are the highest scoring players?
Power scoring and hitting doubles is all you need to make it in darts – easy right? This list shows the best of the best doing exactly that with the nine best televised averages.
9 Michael van Gerwen vs James Wade
A night where play off spots were decided. Mighty Mike played some of the best darts of his life dispatching James Wade 7-0 in a match in which the Dutchman averaged a massive 116.90.
This MVG masterclass is still the highest Premier League average ever recorded at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff beating Phil Taylor’s 113.30 just three years prior.
A 7-0 whitewash should’ve set the World Number One up for a stunning night but van Gerwen lost his second match of the night 7-5 to the current World Champion, Gary Anderson.
The 2013 champion would face Anderson again a month later in the Premier League final – a match where both players averaged 100+ but the Scotsman would take the title for the second time.
8 Phil Taylor vs Simon Whitlock
In a match that would be recreated at finals night in the O2, Phil Taylor faced up against Simon Whitlock in a memorable 8-4 win in which The Power came away with a 117.35 average. This was incredible even for Taylor.
Arguably the best darts player in the history of the sport – Taylor features three times on this list. His blend of battering the treble 20 and hitting doubles with ease was enough to beat Whitlock in Exeter in 2012 but the Australian will have felt hard done by losing at all since he averaged an impressive 105.44 himself.
The pair seemed underwhelming when they met in the final averaging 97.08 and 95.32 respectively but only because of the standard they reached here.
A ridiculous average but not Taylor’s best… We’ll see more of him later on in the article.
7 Gerwyn Price vs Martin Schindler
An ex rugby player who’s come into the games of darts and set it alight. A fiery attitude only works when backed up by quality darts – both traits Gerwyn Price has in abundance.
The 2022 World Cup of Darts may have been won but the Australian’s but Price definitely left his mark on the competition.
The Welshman smashed Martin Schindler in the quarter final winning four straight legs without reply averaging a ridiculous 117.88 in the process.
Wales won the quarter finals comfortably 3-0 as well as dispatching the Netherlands by the same scoreline in the semi-finals.
The Iceman also hit a 170 checkout in a tournament which himself and Jonny Clayton would reach the final of – losing 4-1 to Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta.
A shock win for the Aussie boys.
Although this is the only time Price appears on this list, we’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t appear on it again at some point in his career.
6 Michael van Gerwen vs Robert Thronton
Mighty Mike’s second appearance on the list came in the form of a 2016 Premier League clash against Robert Thornton where MVG didn’t win as comfortably as he’d have probably liked.
The Dutch man took the game 7-5. A Premier League classic saw both players average over 100 – with Van Gerwen averaging a huge 117.95.
Thornton found himself 6-2 down in a flash as MVG made lightwork of him in the early stages before managing to reel three legs back to close the gap.
After looking like he might finish the night with just one point, Van Gerwen opened the final leg with four perfect darts and the match was over in 11.
Although it was all smiles after the game it would have been hard for Thornton. It isn’t every day you average just shy of 105 and still lose!
That’s what happens when MVG is firing.
5 Phil Taylor vs Gary Anderson
In a tournament where 47 legs is the required amount to win, Phil Taylor lost just 11 on his journey to victory at the 2009 European Championship.
En route to this victory, The Power faced Gary Anderson – who himself played well that day.
Taylor averaged 118.14 on the day which was just too much for The Flying Scotsman to compete with.
The whole tournament was just prime Phil Taylor as his three dart average over the tournament was 111.54 – more than 13 points higher than second.
In what was Anderson’s debut year in the PDC after joining from the BDO, Taylor, who was a founding member of the PDC, showed how high the standard was.
A successful tournament was topped off on the final day of the tournament Taylor played three matches winning 32 legs and dropping just nine.
4 Phil Taylor vs Kevin Painter
Kevin Painter had an atrocious record against The Power winning only one against him in their professional careers but the UK Open fourth round was a game Painter will particularly like to forget.
Taylor won nine legs without reply as he moved onto his fifth round tie against Simon Whitlock. An average of 118.66 made light work of The Artist in an unsurprising result for Taylor.
The last day of the competition Taylor beat fellow Blackpudlian Adrian Lewis, Dennis Ovens as well as Gary Anderson in the final – a final in which The Power took out a 167 checkout.
The tournament win was hardly a surprise with the run of form he was on. Just weeks before, James Wade was subject to TWO nine dart finishes in the same match at the hands of Taylor.
Will there ever be a player better than Phil Taylor?
3 Peter Wright vs Adrian Lewis
Averaging just shy of 110 would mean you win a match comfortably 99 times out of 100 but that wasn’t the case for Adrian Lewis when he could only win two legs against Peter Wright in Exeter. Wright won 7-2 in 2017 against a helpless Lewis who just couldn’t compete with Wrights 119.50.
Lewis opened the game with seven perfect darts as he searched for a nine but a wild miss on treble 19 left the door open for Wright to open the scoring.
A close game for the first five legs opened up when Wright won the next four on the bounce taking out a 125 checkout in the process.
Smiles all round after the game as a humble Lewis accepts his 109 average just wasn’t enough when your opponent is playing the way Snakebite was in Exeter.
2 Kim Huybrechts vs Paul Lim
Not a name you hear often when it comes to record breaking but Kim Huybrechts showed off his ability to put in monster averages against the the first man to put in a televised nine dart leg – Paul Lim.
The World Cup of Darts is a chance for lower ranked players to shine which was a chance The Hurricane took.
The man from Belgium won 4-1 going out in 12 and 14 darts twice. The only leg Lim managed to win was after Huybrechts wired the bullseye for a 161 checkout. He managed a 121.97 average in the short first to four style.
Huybrechts’ teammate was his brother Ronny and they were knocked out in the next round by Gerwyn Price and Mark Webster losing both of their singles matches against the Welsh.
1 Michael van Gerwen vs Michael Smith
The 2016 Premier League campaign was Mighty Mike’s best as he broke the record for the highest average in a Premier League game twice as well as beating Phil Taylor 11-3 in the final at the O2.
To say he was on form throughout the campaign would be a huge understatement. When he played Michael Smith in Aberdeen he put on a show beating the Englishman 7-1 in a game which he averaged 123.40 breaking the World Record for the highest televised darts average ever.
The match was over inside 12 minutes and could’ve been even quicker…
The game was started with a casual 11 darter and followed up by a 12. He then went 4-0 up with two more 11 and 12 games before hitting seven perfect darts in the fifth leg.
Missing the treble 19 clearly didn’t phase MVG as he cleaned the game up with a 10 dart leg. The sixth leg was yet another 10 darter leaving the World Number One averaging 136.78.
Three missed darts on double 18 brought his average below 130 and Smith picked up a leg with a clean 116 checkout.
It took Mighty Mike 16 darts to win the last leg but his first six legs meant he was still able to finish the match with a World Record average. Throughout the match Smith looked amazed and almost as if he didn’t know what was happening as MVG battered the treble 20.
Out of the 17 games he played in during the 2016 campaign, MVG averaged over 100 in 14 of them and over 110 six times which is utterly ridiculous.
Hopefully Van Gerwen is on the road to reaching this level again but for now we will have to reminisce over this MVG masterclass.
Josh Davey Media 