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 | |||
| Dates | 13–21 November 2021 | ||
| Venue | Aldersley Leisure Village | ||
| Location | Aldersley, Wolverhampton | ||
| Country |  England | ||
| Organisation(s) | PDC | ||
| Format | Legs | ||
| Prize fund | £550,000 | ||
| Winner's share | £125,000 | ||
| High checkout | 170 Fallon Sherrock  Rowby-John Rodriguez  Michael van Gerwen Michael Smith  Peter Wright | ||
| Champion(s) | |||
 Gerwyn Price | |||
| |||
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
editThe 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
editThe 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
editSince 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
editA further eight places in the Grand Slam of Darts were filled by winners of a qualifying event on 5 November.
These are the qualifiers:
Mike De Decker 
Gabriel Clemens 
Stephen Bunting 
Raymond van Barneveld - Martin Schindler
- Ryan Joyce
Krzysztof Ratajski 
Boris Krčmar
Additional qualifiers
editThe 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 [a]
|
| 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 [b]
|
Draw
editThe draw was made on 5 November, with the players split into 4 pools based on their current world ranking.[7]
Pools
editOne 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) | ||
|
|
|
|
|
- ^ Chris Dobey replaced Dimitri Van den Bergh, who was previously the Number 5 seed.
- ^ Rusty-Jake Rodriguez was not confirmed to qualify as the European Development Tour winner until after the group stage draw.
Group stage
editAll 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
Group Aedit
13 November
14 November
15 November
|
Group Bedit
13 November
14 November
15 November
|
Group Cedit
13 November
14 November
15 November
|
Group Dedit
13 November
14 November
15 November
|
Group Eedit
13 November
14 November
16 November
|
Group Fedit
13 November
14 November
16 November
|
Group Gedit
13 November
14 November
16 November
|
Group Hedit
13 November
14 November
16 November
|
Knockout stage
edit| 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
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ Allen, Dave (21 November 2021). "Peerless Price completes Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts treble". PDC. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit Rules". PDC. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.