What Happened: World Series of Darts 2023
We go back in time and look at the World Series of Darts 2023. The 10th edition of the World Series of Darts took place at the AFAS Live, Amsterdam, Netherlands, from 15th to 17th September 2023.
Gerwyn Price was the defending champion after beating Dirk van Duijvenbode 11-10 in the 2022 final. Did the ‘Ice Man’ keep his cool or can a familiar face win back their crown?
Who qualified for the World Series of Darts in 2023?
The top eight players from the six World Series events were seeded for this tournament, meaning they got to go straight into the second round of the tournament.
Target Darts Rob Cross topped the seeded chart having won in the New Zealand Masters & New South Wales Masters in 2023.
Dimitri Van den Bergh finished fifth and Nathan Aspinall finished seventh in the World Series Order of Merit.
Raymond van Barneveld was one of the PDC invited players, whilst The German Giant’ Gabriel Clemens qualified for the finals through the tour card holder qualifiers.
Eight players were invited by the PDC, and eight players qualified from a qualifying event for tour card holders.
| Top 8 on World Series Order of Merit | Invited Players | Tour Card Holder Qualifiers |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rob Cross | Damon Heta | Dirk van Duijvenbode |
| 2. Gerwyn Price | Danny Noppert | Martin Schindler |
| 3. Michael Smith | Jeff Smith | Ricky Evans |
| 4. Michael van Gerwen | Jonny Clayton | Gabriel Clemens |
| 5. Dimitri Van den Bergh | Raymond van Barneveld | Graham Usher |
| 6. Peter Wright | Simon Whitlock | Daniel Klose |
| 7. Nathan Aspinall | Haupai Puha | Keegan Brown |
| 8. Luke Humphries | Krzysztof Ratajski | William O’Connor |
What were the Results?
The opening two rounds of the tournament were a best of 11 legs. The opening round saw the 2022 finalist Dirk van Duijvenbode lose to fellow countryman Danny Noppert 6-4.
In the second we saw two-time winner and 2022 winner Gerwyn Price get knocked out by Keegan Brown 6-4.
Raymond van Barneveld upset the 2023 World Champion Michael Smith 6-4 in the second with ‘Barney’ showing what he is still capable of.
Round 1 Results
| Player One | Result | Player Two |
|---|---|---|
| jonny Clayton | 6-3 | Martin Schindler |
| Daniel Klose | 3-6 | Kryzysztof Ratajski |
| Gabriel Clemens | 2-6 | William O’Connor |
| Damon Heta | 5-6 | Ricky Evans |
| Keegan Brown | 6-1 | Simon Whitlock |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode | 4-6 | Danny Noppert |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 6-2 | Jeff Smith |
| Graham Usher | 3-6 | Haupai Puha |
Round 2 Results:
| Player One | Result | Player Two |
|---|---|---|
| Rob Cross | 6-3 | Jonny Clayton |
| Luke Humphries | 6-3 | Kryzysztof Ratajski |
| Michael van Gerwen | 6-4 | William O’Connor |
| Dimitri Van den Bergh | 6-1 | Ricky Evans |
| Gerwyn Price | 4-6 | Keegan Brown |
| Nathan Aspinall | 6-3 | Danny Noppert |
| Michael Smith | 4-6 | Raymond van Barneveld |
| Peter Wright | 6-4 | Haupai Puha |
Quarter and Semi-Final Results:
With more legs added (best of 19 legs) the quarterfinals saw the one seed Rob Cross crash out to the eighth seed Luke Humphries 10-2.
Two-time finalist Peter Wright fought back from 6-3 down against Raymond van Barneveld to reel off seven consecutive legs to deny the Dutch legend a fairytale win on home soil.
The semi-finals (best of 21 legs) saw a thrilling match between Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen finish 11-10 in favour of MvG. Nathan Aspinall also played a close game against Peter Wright, which ended 11-9 in favour of ‘The Asp’.
Quarter-final results:
| Player One | Result | Player Two |
|---|---|---|
| Rob Cross | 2-10 | Luke Humphries |
| Michael van Gerwen | 10-8 | Dimitri Van den Bergh |
| Keegan Brown | 5-10 | Nathan Aspinall |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 6-10 | Peter Wright |
Semi-Final results:
| Player One | Result | Player Two |
|---|---|---|
| Luke Humphries | 10-11 | Michael van Gerwen |
| Nathan Aspinall | 11-9 | Peter Wright |
Image by Ed Mullholland/PDC
A Closer Look at the Winner: How did Michael van Gerwen make it five wins?
Michael van Gerwen knows how to win the tournament having previously won it four times. MvG was the fourth seed for the 2023 tournament and professionally dispatched William O’Connor in the second round 6-4.
Van Gerwen then came up against the ‘Dream Maker’ Dimitri Van den Bergh in the quarterfinals. It was a close exchange between these two with Dimitri leading the contest 5-3 in the early rounds, but the Michael van Gerwen came out on top 10-8, averaging 103.91 three-dart average (his highest for the whole tournament) and hitting nine maximums.
In the semi-finals ‘Mighty Mike’, took on Luke Humphries in what turned out to be his hardest contest for the whole tournament. van Gerwen raised the roof of the AFAS Live with a sensational nine-darter against Humphries in leg two but had to survive three match darts in the penultimate leg. However, Michael van Gerwen sealed the deal with a 12-dark break in the decider to win 11-10.
What happened in the 2023 World Series of Darts final?
The stage was set for Michael van Gerwen to face Nathan Aspinall in the final in Amsterdam.
Van Gerwen took control of the early exchanges taking a 3-1 lead for the first interval and ‘Mighty Mike’ took full control of the contest by winning four of the next five legs to move himself to a 7-3 lead.
During this period MvG hit a brace of 14 darters and a 160-checkout underlining how well the three-time World Champion was playing.
Michael van Gerwen then did the right things to become the eventful 11-4 winner and pick up his fifth World Series of Darts trophy.
Learn more about the 2024 World Series of Darts.
Will Michael van Gerwen make it back-to-back wins or will someone else win the World Series of Darts 2024 edition?