2021 Grand Slam of Darts

The 2021 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts was the fifteenth staging of the Grand Slam of Darts, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event returned to the Aldersley Leisure Village, Wolverhampton between 13–21 November 2021, after being held behind closed doors at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry in 2020.

2021 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts
Tournament information
Dates13–21 November 2021
VenueAldersley Leisure Village
LocationAldersley, Wolverhampton
Country England
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£550,000
Winner's share£125,000
High checkout170  Fallon Sherrock
170  Rowby-John Rodriguez
170  Michael van Gerwen

170  Michael Smith
170  Peter Wright
Champion(s)
Wales Gerwyn Price
«2020 2022»

José de Sousa was the defending champion, after defeating James Wade 16–12 in the 2020 final,[1] but he was eliminated in the second round, losing 10–9 to Peter Wright.

Gerwyn Price won the tournament for the third time in four years, defeating Peter Wright 16–8 in the final.[2]

Due to the dissolution of the British Darts Organisation in 2020, there was no BDO/WDF representation for the first time in the event's history.[3]

During her 5–0 victory over Mike De Decker in the group stage, Fallon Sherrock averaged 101.55, setting a new record for the highest televised average by a woman.[4] She then went on to become the first woman to advance to the knockout stage, where she defeated Mensur Suljović in the second round, before losing to Peter Wright in the quarterfinals.

Michael van Gerwen set a new Grand Slam record average of 115.19 during his 5–2 victory over Joe Cullen,[4] surpassing the record set by Dimitri Van den Bergh the previous year.

Prize money

The prize fund for the Grand Slam was the same as 2019 and 2020, with the winner receiving £125,000.[5]

Position (num. of players) Prize money
(Total: £550,000)
Winner (1) £125,000
Runner-up (1) £65,000
Semi-finalists (2) £40,000
Quarter-finalists (4) £20,000
Last 16 (8) £10,000
Third in group (8) £7,500
Fourth in group (8) £4,000
Group winner bonus (8) £3,500

Qualifying

The qualification criteria changed again for the 2021 tournament, as there were no Summer, Autumn or Winter Series events, as well as no Home Tour, and no events organized by the BDO, which dissolved in 2020. The addition of qualifiers from the PDC Challenge and Development Tours replaced BDO representation.[3]

On 11 November, it was announced that Dimitri Van den Bergh had tested positive for COVID-19, ruling him out of the tournament. He was replaced by Chris Dobey, who was next on the list of qualifying criteria.[6]

The qualifiers were:

Qualifying Tournaments

PDC Main Tournaments
Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers
PDC World Darts Championship 2021 Winner  Gerwyn Price  Gerwyn Price
 José de Sousa
 Jonny Clayton
 Peter Wright
 James Wade
 Rob Cross
 Michael van Gerwen
 John Henderson
 Gary Anderson
 Dimitri Van den Bergh
 Mervyn King
 Luke Humphries
 Mensur Suljović
 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Grand Slam of Darts 2020 Winner  José de Sousa
Premier League Darts 2021 Winner  Jonny Clayton
World Matchplay 2021 Winner  Peter Wright
World Grand Prix 2021 Winner  Jonny Clayton
Masters 2021 Winner  Jonny Clayton
UK Open 2021 Winner  James Wade
European Championship 2021 Winner  Rob Cross
Players Championship Finals 2020 Winner  Michael van Gerwen
World Series of Darts Finals 2021 Winner  Jonny Clayton
PDC World Cup of Darts 2021 Winners  Peter Wright
 John Henderson
PDC World Darts Championship 2021 Runner-up  Gary Anderson
Grand Slam of Darts 2020 Runner-up  James Wade
Premier League Darts 2021 Runner-up  José de Sousa
World Matchplay 2021 Runner-up  Dimitri Van den Bergh
World Grand Prix 2021 Runner-up  Gerwyn Price
Masters 2021 Runner-up  Mervyn King
UK Open 2021 Runner-up  Luke Humphries
European Championship 2021 Runner-up  Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship Finals 2020 Runner-up  Mervyn King
World Series of Darts Finals 2021 Runner-up  Dimitri Van den Bergh
PDC World Cup of Darts 2021 Runners-Up  Mensur Suljović
 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Since the list of qualifiers from the main tournaments produced fewer than the required number of 16 players, the field was to be filled from the reserve lists. The first list consisted of the winners from 2021 European Tour events, with the winners ordered based on Order of Merit position at the cut-off date. However, Gerwyn Price, who had already qualified, won both European Tour events, and thus this list produced no new competitors.

PDC European Tour
Tournament Event Position Player Qualifiers
2021 European Tour
Hungarian Darts Trophy Winner  Gerwyn Price
Gibraltar Darts Trophy Winner  Gerwyn Price
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Since there were still fewer than 16 qualifiers after European Tour champions were included, the players with the most 2021 Players Championship titles were added. Order of Merit position served as a tiebreaker.

PDC Pro Tour
Tournament Event Position Player Qualifiers
2021 PDC Pro Tour
Players Championship 1 Winner  Joe Cullen  Michael Smith
 Joe Cullen
 Chris Dobey
Players Championship 2 Winner  Callan Rydz
Players Championship 3 Winner  Raymond van Barneveld
Players Championship 4 Winner  Jonny Clayton
Players Championship 5 Winner  Brendan Dolan
Players Championship 6 Winner  Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 7 Winner  Jonny Clayton (2)
Players Championship 8 Winner  Peter Wright
Players Championship 9 Winner  José de Sousa
Players Championship 10 Winner  Michael Smith
Players Championship 11 Winner  Dirk van Duijvenbode
Players Championship 12 Winner  Dimitri Van den Bergh
Players Championship 13 Winner  Joe Cullen (2)
Players Championship 14 Winner  José de Sousa (2)
Players Championship 15 Winner  José de Sousa (3)
Players Championship 16 Winner  Peter Wright (2)
Players Championship 17 Winner  Stephen Bunting
Players Championship 18 Winner  Chris Dobey
Players Championship 19 Winner  Ross Smith
Players Championship 20 Winner  Peter Wright (3)
Players Championship 21 Winner  Gerwyn Price (2)
Players Championship 22 Winner  Ryan Searle
Players Championship 23 Winner  Peter Wright (4)
Players Championship 24 Winner  Dimitri Van den Bergh (2)
Players Championship 25 Winner  Callan Rydz (2)
Players Championship 26 Winner  Rob Cross
Players Championship 27 Winner  Michael Smith (2)
Players Championship 28 Winner  Chris Dobey (2)
Players Championship 29 Winner  Michael van Gerwen
Players Championship 30 Winner  Krzysztof Ratajski
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

    PDC Qualifying Event

    A further eight places in the Grand Slam of Darts were filled by winners of a qualifying event on 5 November.

    These are the qualifiers:

    Additional qualifiers

    The winners of these tournaments and tours also qualified for the tournament, in place of BDO/WDF representation.

    Tournament Year Position Player
    PDC World Youth Championship 2020 Winner  Bradley Brooks
    Runner-up  Joe Davis
    PDC UK Challenge Tour 2021 Winner  Jim Williams
    PDC European Challenge Tour 2021 Winner  Matt Campbell
    PDC UK Development Tour 2021 Winner  Nathan Rafferty [lower-alpha 1]
    PDC European Development Tour 2021 Winner  Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
    PDC Women's Series 2021 Events 1–6 Winner  Fallon Sherrock
    Events 7–12 Winner  Lisa Ashton [lower-alpha 2]
    1. Rafferty qualified as 2nd of the Development Tour Order of Merit after Bradley Brooks was already qualified.
    2. Ashton qualified as 2nd of the Women's Series 7–12 Order of Merit after Fallon Sherrock was already qualified.

    Draw

    The draw was made on 5 November, with the players split into 4 pools based on their current world ranking.[7]

    Pools

    One player from each non-seeded pool was drawn into a group with a seeded player. The players are listed with their world ranking at the time of the draw.[8]

    Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D
    (PDC Seeded Players) (PDC Tournament Finalists & Qualifiers)

     Gerwyn Price (1)
     Peter Wright (2)
     Michael van Gerwen (3)
     James Wade (4)
     Chris Dobey (Alt)[lower-alpha 1]
     Gary Anderson (6)
     José de Sousa (7)
     Jonny Clayton (8)

     Michael Smith
     Rob Cross
     Krzysztof Ratajski
     Joe Cullen
     Stephen Bunting
     Mervyn King
     Gabriel Clemens
     Luke Humphries

     Mensur Suljović
     Ryan Joyce
     John Henderson
     Boris Krčmar
     Mike De Decker
     Martin Schindler
     Raymond van Barneveld
     Bradley Brooks

     Lisa Ashton
     Rowby-John Rodriguez
     Jim Williams
     Matt Campbell
     Joe Davis
     Nathan Rafferty
     Fallon Sherrock
     Rusty-Jake Rodriguez [lower-alpha 2]

    1. Chris Dobey replaced Dimitri Van den Bergh, who was previously the Number 5 seed.
    2. Rusty-Jake Rodriguez was not confirmed to qualify as the European Development Tour winner until after the group stage draw.

    Group stage

    All group matches are best of nine legs
    After three games, the top two in each group qualify for the knock-out stage

    NB: P = Played; W = Won; L = Lost; LF = Legs for; LA = Legs against; +/− = Plus/minus record, in relation to legs; Pts = Points; Status = Qualified to knockout stage

    Knockout stage

    Second round (best of 19 legs)
    17–18 November
    Quarter-finals (best of 31 legs)
    19–20 November
    Semi-finals (best of 31 legs)
    21 November
    Final (best of 31 legs)
    21 November
                
    A1  Gerwyn Price (1) 92.97 10
    B2  Bradley Brooks 88.35 8
    A1  Gerwyn Price (1) 98.11 16
    B1  Jonny Clayton (8) 99.32 12
    B1  Jonny Clayton (8) 104.30 10
    A2  Nathan Rafferty 91.93 2
    A1  Gerwyn Price (1) 102.58 16
    C1  James Wade (4) 94.52 9
    C1  James Wade (4) 98.09 10
    D2  Rowby-John Rodriguez 90.37 2
    C1  James Wade (4) 96.58 16
    C2  Rob Cross 96.17 14
    D1  Ryan Joyce (Q) 95.04 4
    C2  Rob Cross 102.91 10
    A1  Gerwyn Price (1) 103.90 16
    E1  Peter Wright (2) 91.51 8
    E1  Peter Wright (2) 90.41 10
    F2  José de Sousa (7) 93.21 9
    E1  Peter Wright (2) 100.33 16
    E2  Fallon Sherrock 98.90 13
    F1  Mensur Suljović 84.18 5
    E2  Fallon Sherrock 90.58 10
    E1  Peter Wright (2) 100.70 16
    H1  Michael Smith 97.34 12
    G1  Michael van Gerwen (3) 100.43 10
    H2  Gary Anderson (6) 100.68 8
    G1  Michael van Gerwen (3) 97.44 13
    H1  Michael Smith 98.70 16
    H1  Michael Smith 95.13 10
    G2  Joe Cullen 92.04 5

    References

    1. Phillips, Josh (24 November 2020). "History-maker De Sousa defeats Wade in BoyleSports Grand Slam final". PDC. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
    2. Allen, Dave (21 November 2021). "Peerless Price completes Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts treble". PDC. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
    3. Allen, Dave (18 August 2021). "2021 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts qualification criteria confirmed". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
    4. "Fallon Sherrock and Michael Van Gerwen set new record averages". PDC. 14 November 2021. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
    5. "PDC Order of Merit Rules". PDC. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
    6. Allen, Dave (11 November 2021). "Van den Bergh replaced by Dobey at Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts". PDC. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
    7. Allen, Dave. "Wright faces Sherrock - Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts Draw confirmed". PDC. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
    8. "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
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