Michael van Gerwen (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)
Michael van Gerwen (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Grand Slam of Darts 2017: Group draw, schedule, betting odds, results & TV coverage


The 2017 bwin Grand Slam of Darts took place at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall (November 11-19) as the sport's biggest names from both the PDC and BDO battled it out in the 11th staging of this unique event.

A field of 32 players were split into eight groups of four in a round-robin phase, with two-time defending champion and PDC world number one Michael van Gerwen topping one of those before going on to reach the final day of competition alongside Phil Taylor, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.

Look back on how the Sky Sports-screened event unfolded with all the group standings, daily results and reviews while we also have full details of the event history and prize money.

Grand Slam of Darts: Group standings

Group A

  1. (1) Michael van Gerwen (Q) P 3 W 3 L 0 LegDiff +8 Pts 6
  2. Rob Cross (Q) P 3 W 2 L 1 LegDiff +6 Pts 4
  3. Ross Montgomery (BDO) P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -5 Pts 2
  4. Joe Murnan (E) P 3 W 0 L 3 LegDiff -9 Pts 0

Group B

  1. (8) Raymond van Barneveld (Q) P 3 W 3 L 0 LegDiff +8 Pts 6
  2. Steve Lennon (Q) P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff 0 Pts 2
  3. Gerwyn Price P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -3 Pts 2
  4. Jamie Hughes (BDO) P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -5 Pts 2

Group C

  1. (5) Phil Taylor (Q) P 3 W 2 L 1 LegDiff +3 Pts 4
  2. James Wade (Q) P 3 W 2 L 1 LegDiff +2 Pts 4
  3. Robbie Green P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff +1 Pts 2
  4. Peter Machin (BDO) P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -6 Pts 2

Group D

  1. (4) Daryl Gurney (Q) P 3 W 3 L 0 LegDiff +10 Pts 6
  2. Darren Webster (Q) * P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -3 Pts 2
  3. Mark Webster P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -3 Pts 2
  4. Danny Noppert (BDO) P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -4 Pts 2

* Darren Webster progressed after beating Mark Webster 301-298 in a Nine-Dart Shoot-Out after they were level on points and leg difference in a three-way tie for second.

Group E

  1. Glen Durrant (BDO) (Q) P 3 W 2 L 1 LegDiff +4 Pts 4
  2. (2) Peter Wright (Q) P 3 W 2 L 1 LegDiff +3 Pts 4
  3. Alan Norris P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -2 Pts 2
  4. Corey Cadby P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -5 Pts 2

Group F

  1. Stephen Bunting (Q) P 3 W 3 L 0 LegDiff +5 Pts 6
  2. (7) Dave Chisnall (Q) P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -1 Pts 2
  3. Scott Mitchell (BDO) P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -2 Pts 2
  4. Jeffrey de Zwaan P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff -2 Pts 2

Group G

  1. (6) Mensur Suljovic (Q) P 3 W 3 L 0 LegDiff +5 Pts 6
  2. Michael Smith (Q) P 3 W 2 L 1 LegDiff +2 Pts 4
  3. James Wilson P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff 0 Pts 2
  4. Mark McGeeney (BDO) P 3 W 0 L 3 LegDiff -7 Pts 0

Group H

  1. (3) Gary Anderson (Q) P 3 W 3 L 0 LegDiff +9 Pts 6
  2. Berry van Peer (Q) P 3 W 2 L 1 LegDiff -2 Pts 4
  3. Cameron Menzies (BDO) P 3 W 1 L 2 LegDiff 0 Pts 2
  4. Simon Whitlock P 3 W 0 L 3 LegDiff -7 Pts 0

Scoring System: Each competitor plays each other once in a best-of-nine legs match, with two points going to the winner. The top two from each group will then progress to the knockout stages. Any ties for places in each group will be split by points won and then leg difference. If two players are still level then the winner of the match between them will progress. There is the potential for a Nine-Dart Shoot-Out should two or more players be tied for points and leg difference. For more details see the format section below.

Grand Slam of Darts: Daily Schedule & Results

Sky Bet's darts odds

Saturday November 11
Afternoon Session (1pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Arena/Mix
E-H Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

  • Michael Smith 5-3 James Wilson (G)
  • Stephen Bunting 5-4 Jeffrey de Zwaan (F)
  • Simon Whitlock 4-5 Berry van Peer (H)
  • Alan Norris 5-4 Corey Cadby (E)
  • Dave Chisnall 5-2 Scott Mitchell (F)
  • Mensur Suljovic 5-2 Mark McGeeney (G)
  • Gary Anderson 5-3 Cameron Menzies (H)
  • Peter Wright 2-5 Glen Durrant (E)

Evening Session (8pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action
A-D Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

  • Gerwyn Price 5-3 Steve Lennon (B)
  • James Wade 1-5 Robbie Green (C)
  • Darren Webster 3-5 Mark Webster (D)
  • Rob Cross 5-1 Joe Murnan (A)
  • Phil Taylor 5-1 Peter Machin (C)
  • Michael van Gerwen 5-1 Ross Montgomery (A)
  • Raymond van Barneveld 5-1 Jamie Hughes (B)
  • Daryl Gurney 5-1 Danny Noppert (D)

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DAY ONE ROUND-UP

Sunday November 12
Afternoon Session (1pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Main Event/Arena
E-H Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

  • Jeffrey de Zwaan 3-5 Scott Mitchell (F)
  • James Wilson 5-2 Mark McGeeney (G)
  • Peter Wright 5-0 Corey Cadby (E)
  • Simon Whitlock 2-5 Cameron Menzies (H)
  • Mensur Suljovic 5-4 Michael Smith (G)
  • Gary Anderson 5-1 Berry van Peer (H)
  • Alan Norris 3-5 Glen Durrant (E)
  • Dave Chisnall 2-5 Stephen Bunting (F)

Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Main Event/Arena
A-D Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

  • Joe Murnan 3-5 Ross Montgomery (A)
  • Darren Webster 5-2 Danny Noppert (D)
  • Steve Lennon 5-0 Jamie Hughes (B)
  • James Wade 5-1 Peter Machin (C)
  • Daryl Gurney 5-3 Mark Webster (D)
  • Phil Taylor 5-4 Robbie Green (C)
  • Michael van Gerwen 5-4 Rob Cross (A)
  • Raymond van Barneveld 5-4 Gerwyn Price (B)

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DAY TWO ROUND-UP

Monday November 13
Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action
E-H Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

  • Gary Anderson 5-2 Simon Whitlock (H)
  • Berry van Peer 5-4 Cameron Menzies (H)
  • Corey Cadby 5-4 Glen Durrant (E)
  • Peter Wright 5-4 Alan Norris (E)
  • Michael Smith 5-4 Mark McGeeney (G)
  • Mensur Suljovic 5-4 James Wilson (G)
  • Dave Chisnall 4-5 Jeffrey de Zwaan (F)
  • Stephen Bunting 5-4 Scott Mitchell (F)

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DAY THREE ROUND-UP

Tuesday November 14
Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action
A-D Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

  • Mark Webster 2-5 Danny Noppert (D)
  • Daryl Gurney 5-1 Darren Webster (D)
  • Michael van Gerwen 5-2 Joe Murnan (A)
  • Rob Cross 5-2 Ross Montgomery (A)
  • Robbie Green 3-5 Peter Machin (C)
  • Phil Taylor 3-5 James Wade (C)
  • Gerwyn Price 1-5 Jamie Hughes (B)
  • Steve Lennon 2-5 Raymond van Barneveld (B)

NINE-DART SHOOTOUT IN GROUP D

Mark Webster 298-301 Darren Webster

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DAY FOUR ROUND-UP

Wednesday November 15
Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action/Main Event
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)

  • Mensur Suljovic 10-2 Berry van Peer
  • Glen Durrant (BDO) 10-8 Dave Chisnall
  • Gary Anderson 10-6 Michael Smith
  • Stephen Bunting 4-10 Peter Wright

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DAY FIVE ROUND-UP

Thursday November 16
Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action/Main Event
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)

  • Daryl Gurney 10-2 James Wade
  • Phil Taylor 10-4 Darren Webster
  • Michael van Gerwen 10-3 Steve Lennon
  • Raymond van Barneveld 7-10 Rob Cross

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DAY SIX ROUND-UP

Friday November 17
Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action
Quarter-Finals (Best of 31 legs)

  • Glen Durrant (BDO) 10-16 Peter Wright (QF 3)
  • Mensur Suljovic 12-16 Gary Anderson (QF 4)

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DAY SEVEN ROUND-UP

Saturday November 18
Evening Session (8pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action
Quarter-Finals (Best of 31 legs)

  • Phil Taylor 16-4 Daryl Gurney (QF 2)
  • Michael van Gerwen 16-13 Rob Cross (QF 1)

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DAY EIGHT ROUND-UP

Sunday November 18
Afternoon Session (1pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action
Semi-finals (Best of 31 legs)

  • Peter Wright 16-15 Gary Anderson
  • Michael van Gerwen 16-8 Phil Taylor

Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Main Event/Arena
Final (Best of 31 legs)

  • Michael van Gerwen 16-12 Peter Wright

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SUNDAY ROUND-UP

What TV channel is the Grand Slam of Darts on?

Every session of the Grand Slam of Darts will be televised live on Sky Sports although the coverage will be split across their Main Event, Arena, Action and Mix channels.

Grand Slam of Darts: Knockout stages Sky Bet odds

Michael van Gerwen is bidding to claim a third successive Grand Slam of Darts title in Wolverhampton, and Sky Bet have price-boosted the in-form Dutchman to 8/11 from 4/6 ahead of the semi-finals.

After a mixed season - by his uniquely high standards - MVG has won the last two big PDC televised events at the European Championship and World Series of Darts Finals while he topped Group A despite being pushed hard by rising star Rob Cross, who he again beat in the quarter-finals.

Sky Bet have Price Boosted every remaining players' odds so here's the latest betting...

  • Michael van Gerwen - 8/11 (was 4/6)
  • Gary Anderson - 100/30 (was 7/2)
  • Phil Taylor - 11/2 (was 5/1)
  • Peter Wright - 11/1 (was 9/1)

Regular odds in brackets
Click here for more odds

Grand Slam of Darts statistics

Tournament sponsor bwin compiled pre-tournament statistics to help you with your bets;

  • The Grand Slam has a highest average score of any ranked tournament (99.1), and also the highest proportion of players who record a three-figure average (43.8%)
  • When it gets to crunch time in the tournament, the last 16 onwards, scores in Grand Slam games are closer than any other ranked tournament – with a gap of 4.32 between winning and losing score.
  • Furthermore, the Grand Slam also has the highest percentage of checkouts of 100 or more (75%). This dwarfs the World Championship (68%) and UK Open (50%).
  • When choosing a winner, look for players in Groups A and E. Those groups have provided all but one of the past winners, so good omens for Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright. Avoid Raymond van Barneveld, Phil Taylor and Daryl Gurney, as groups B and D have only produced one finalist in the tournaments history.
  • If you don't win your group, forget winning the tournament. Only three finalists in the history of the Grand Slam didn't top their group.

Click here for more of bwin's findings

Grand Slam of Darts: Prize money

  • Winner £110,000
  • Runner-Up £55,000
  • Semi-Finalists £28,500
  • Quarter-Finalists £16,000
  • Second Round Losers £10,000
  • Third in Group £5,000
  • Fourth in Group £3,000
  • Group Winner Bonus £2,500
  • Total: £450,000

Grand Slam of Darts: Tournament format

Group Stage (Potentially complicated!!)

The 32 players are drawn into eight groups of four players during the round-robin stage, and they will play each other once. The opening games are decided by a draw, with the second set of matches seeing the two winners from the first games meeting each other, and the two losers also playing each other. The third set of matches will consist of the pairings which have not previously met.

Two points are awarded for a win and no points will be awarded for a loss. Each game is the best of nine legs.

The top two players in each group will progress to the knockout phase. Should there be a two-way points tie for first place in any group, then the player with the best leg difference will be deemed to have won the group. If both players have the same leg difference, then the player who won the group match between the two players will be deemed to have won the group.

Should there be three-way points tie for first place in any group, then leg difference will be the first deciding factor as to which players progress to the next stage. If there are clear leg differences between each of the three players, then those leg differences will determine the final place in the group. If one player has a superior leg difference to the other two players who have identical leg differences, then the player with superior leg difference will be deemed to have won the group.

In this instance, the two players who are tied for second and third places will play a "Nine-Dart Shoot-Out" following the completion of all group matches to determine the final order of the group, with the player having the highest aggregate score over nine darts being deemed to have finished second in the group.

Should a three-way points tie for first place in any group result in two players having identical superior leg differences to the third player, then those two players will progress to the next stage, with the winner of the group being deemed to be the player who won the group match between the two.

Should a three-way points tie for first place in any group result in all three players having identical leg differences, then all three players will contest a "Nine-Dart Shoot-Out" as detailed above.

In the event a "Nine-Dart Shoot-Out" finishes level between two or three players, those players who have tied on the most points will continue to throw three darts each in the same order until one player scores more points than the other player(s) with his three darts.

Should a three-way points tie for second place occur in any group, then the procedures above will be used to determine second, third and fourth placings.

Knockout stage (far more simple!)

From the second round onwards, the tournament will be in a knockout format.

There will be no tie-break rule employed in any match.

Grand Slam of Darts: Invited players and qualifiers

PDC

The following were invited in the following order up to a maximum of 16 players

With the list above producing fewer than 16 players, an additional place was filled by MICHAEL SMITH, who was the only non-qualified European Tour event winner.

PDC Tour Card Holders’ Qualifier

The following players booked their spots from a qualifying event in Wigan on Monday November 6...

James Wilson, Robbie Green, Joe Murnan, Alan Norris, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Darren Webster, Steve Lennon, Stephen Bunting

BDO Qualifiers

  • 2017 Lakeside Champion - GLEN DURRANT
  • 2017 Lakeside Championship runner-up - DANNY NOPPERT
  • 2016 World Masters Champion - (Glen Durrant)
  • 2017 BDO World Trophy Champion – PETER MACHIN

Plus top five players from BDO Rankings at September 30 2017:

  • MARK McGEENEY
  • JAMIE HUGHES
  • SCOTT MITCHELL
  • ROSS MONTGOMERY
  • CAMERON MENZIES

Grand Slam of Darts: The History

The Grand Slam of Darts brings together the best players from the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and the British Darts Organisation (BDO) in a unique event which is now in its 11th year and has always been staged at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

Phil Taylor won the first three finals against Andy Hamilton, Terry Jenkins and Scott Waites - averaging over 100 in each one - but he failed at the quarter-final stages to Steve Beaton in 2010.

That year, Waites bounced back from his 16-2 hammering at the hands of 12 months to become the first ever BDO player to win the event by coming from 8-0 down to defeat James Wade. No other BDO player has ever reached the final.

Taylor averaged over 109 in a 16-4 thrashing of Gary Anderson to reclaim the title in 2011 before Raymond van Barneveld edged a thrilling all-Dutch battle to beat Michael van Gerwen in 2012.

Two more titles for The Power followed in 2013 and 2014 to take his overall tally to six when he defeated Robert Thornton and Dave Chisnall but he would lose his first final in 2015 when Michael van Gerwen triumphed 16-13 in a high-quality showdown.

The Dutchman successfully defended his crown last year with a 16-8 victory over James Wade.

Grand Slam of Darts Finals

  • 2007 - Phil Taylor 18-11 Andy Hamilton
  • 2008 - Phil Taylor 18-9 Terry Jenkins
  • 2009 - Phil Taylor 16-2 Scott Waites
  • 2010 - Scott Waites 16-12 James Wade
  • 2011 - Phil Taylor 16-4 Gary Anderson
  • 2012 - Raymond van Barneveld 16-14 Michael van Gerwen
  • 2013 - Phil Taylor 16-6 Robert Thornton
  • 2014 - Phil Taylor 16-13 Dave Chisnall
  • 2015 - Michael van Gerwen 16-13 Phil Taylor
  • 2016 - Michael van Gerwen 16-8 James Wade

Grand Slam of Darts Most Titles

  • Phil Taylor - 6
  • Michael van Gerwen - 2
  • Scott Waites - 1
  • Raymond van Barneveld - 1

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