The 23rd edition of the PDC World Championship Darts was played from December 17, 2015 until January 3, 2016 at the Alexandra Palace in London. Gary Anderson became the third player in history who defended his PDC World Championship title with success.
The Scotsman who was seeded second at the start of the tournament has few problems until the final. He concedes only two sets in his victories over Andy Boulton, Daryl Gurney, Vincent van der Voort, James Wade and Jelle Klaasen. His opponent in the final, Adrian Lewis also reaches the final convincingly. Lewis lost no sets in the first three rounds against Jan Dekker, Andrew Gilding and Mensur Suljovic. He then beat Peter Wright 5-2 in the quarterfinals and Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 in the semi-final.
The final is an exciting one. It's very close in the first few sets between the men who in 2011 already faced each other in the final. In the eighth set Anderson for the first time in the match gets a two sets margin in his favour. Yet Lewis closes the gap time and again to one. In the twelfth set Anderson makes the difference by nailing a 170 finish in the third leg. One leg later the Scot wins his second World Championship title by hitting the same double 12 as a year earlier.
This year, like every year also has the necessary surprises at the World Championship. The winner of the World Grand Prix, Robert Thornton loses in the first round 0-3 against PDC newcomer Alan Norris. Other high ranked players like Simon Whitlock, Ian White and Kim Huybrechts bow out after one match. The biggest surprises come in the third round when the towering favourite Michael van Gerwen loses to his compatriot Raymond van Barneveld in a thriller. Sixteen time World Champion Phil Taylor also loses in that round to another Dutchman; Jelle Klaasen. Both Barney and Klaasen will reach the semi-finals.
Gary Anderson also hits a nine darter in his semi-final against Jelle Klaasen, the ninth on a PDC World Championship and the second for the Scot on a big TV tournament.