Darts’ fans had never seen anything like it when Bobby George chucked a ton-plus average in the final of the News of the World Championship in 1979. Forty-odd years later and 100 averages are now ten-a-penny. Here are the five highest averages ever thrown in televised tournaments.
123.40
Michael van Gerwen v Michael Smith, 7-1, 2016 Premier League
Take a bow MvG, top of the shop courtesy of this 11-minute demolition of Michael Smith in a Premier League massacre in Aberdeen.
And the extraordinary thing? It should have been higher. Crazy as it seems, The Green Machine, who was averaging 137 as he went 5-0 up, missed three darts at double 18 to wrap up a 7-0 whitewash. Had he nailed the first of those three, he would have walked off stage with an almost unimaginable 133 average against his name.
121.97
Kim Huybrechts v Paul Lim, 4-1, 2017 World Cup
Paul Lim knows a thing or two about history-making darts having produced the first-ever TV nine-darter, but the Singapore Slinger was strictly a bystander this time round.
The Frankfurt crowd were right behind the popular Lim but finished up applauding a Huybrechts’ masterclass as he went out in 12, 12, 14 and 14 darts in a 4-1 win. In the leg he lost he wired the bull for a 161 checkout.
The Belgian toed the oche for the last time needing double 18 to break Van Gerwen’s record – but missed, nailing it with his second dart.
119.50
Peter Wright v Adrian Lewis, 7-2, 2017 Premier League
It would have been no consolation, but Adrian Lewis played his part in a bit of TV darting history during his 7-2 dismantling at the hands of Snakebite.
Jackpot actually lost this match with an eye-watering average of 109 meaning the combined match average was upwards of 288, and unsurprisingly a world record.
Wright, always averaging around 110 in a high-class contest in Exeter, went 6-2 up with legs of 11, 12 and 11 legs to threaten the Van Gerwen benchmark.
118.66
Phil Taylor v Kevin Painter, 9-0, 2010 UK Open
Ah, Phil Taylor. Remember him? Kevin Painter certainly did, regularly taking hidings off The Power with none quite as brutal as this one in the fourth round of the UK Open in Bolton.
Taylor had warmed up for his showdown with the Dartist by thrashing Wayne Mardle 9-2 24 hours earlier but that was nothing compared to this demolition in which the 16-time world champ hit six maximums and three-darters.
Best of all given how Taylor loved to thump his closest rivals, he didn’t allow Painter a single shot at a double.
118.21
Michael van Gerwen v Paul Nicholson, 8-3, 2014 Perth Masters
Adrian Lewis’ decision not to go to the inaugural Perth Masters didn’t do Paul Nicholson any favours.
Jackpot’s withdrawal made Nicholson the eighth seed and that meant a quarter-final humiliation at the hands of an inspired Van Gerwen. That Nicholson won three legs in an 8-3 clattering was commendable; that MvG came within four-tenths of The Power’s then world record was more noteworthy.
All odds correct at time of writing.
