Schedule of play released for early World Championship rounds
Early schedule of play released for first two rounds
Thursday 1 December 2016 08:37, UK
Gary Anderson will kick off his quest for a third successive William Hill World Darts Championship on the opening night of the event, Thursday December 15.
The Flying Scotsman has won each of the last two editions of the event, beating Adrian Lewis in last year's final to make it back-to-back Sid Waddell trophies after claiming his first in 2015 with victory over Phil Taylor.
The festivities get underway at Alexandra Palace on December 15, with every session, match and dart shown live on the relaunched Sky Sports Darts channel and it's the two-time defending champ Anderson who will headline the opening night.
Four first round matches will get the action underway, with Jamie Cavan and Kevin 'The Artist' Painter the first match of the 2017 Championship followed by Jamie Lewis v Mick McGowan and then Anderson's tough looking opener against the seasonally-named 'Frosty the Throwman' - Mark Frost.
Michael Smith against 'Rapid' Ricky Evans will bring down the curtain on the opening night.
A 72-player field has been assembled for this year's event which has a record £1.65m prize fund on offer and will run from December 15 until the final on Monday January 2, the preliminary and first round matches stretches across eight days.
Other first-round highlights include world No 1 Michael van Gerwen kicking off his quest for a second world title and 26th title of the year, he begins on Saturday December 17 against either Ross Snook or Kim Viljanen while Phil Taylor will play the winner of John Bowles v David Platt preliminary round encounter.
Raymond van Barneveld will play Robbie Green on Tuesday December 20 while on Wednesday December 21 Mensur Suljovic, James Wade and Robert Thornton will all to take to the oche for a bumper night of arrows.
Schedule of Play
Preliminary & First Round - (P) denotes Preliminary Round
Thursday December 15 (7pm)
Jamie Caven (29) v Kevin Painter
Jamie Lewis (30) v Mick McGowan
Gary Anderson (2) v Mark Frost
Michael Smith (11) v Ricky Evans
Friday December 16 (7pm)
Jerry Hendriks v Warren Parry (P)
Gerwyn Price (19) v Jonny Clayton
Steve Beaton (27) v Devon Petersen
Peter Wright (3) v Hendriks/Parry
Saturday December 17
Afternoon Session (1pm)
Tengku Shah v Masumi Chino (P)
Terry Jenkins (18) v Josh Payne
John Henderson (31) v Andrew Gilding
Benito van de Pas (15) v Shah/Chino
Evening Session (7pm)
Ross Snook v Kim Viljanen (P)
Cristo Reyes (32) v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Stephen Bunting (16) v Darren Webster
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Snook/Viljanen
Sunday December 18
Afternoon Session (1pm)
Kevin Simm v Gilbert Ulang (P)
Justin Pipe (26) v Chris Dobey
Mark Webster (25) v Joe Murnan
Ian White (14) v Simm/Ulang
Evening Session (7pm)
John Bowles v David Platt (P)
Daryl Gurney (24) v Jermaine Wattimena
Alan Norris (21) v John Michael
Phil Taylor (4) v Bowles/Platt
Monday December 19 (7pm)
Qiang Sun v Corey Cadby (P)
Mervyn King (22) v Steve West
Adrian Lewis (5) v Magnus Caris
Joe Cullen (28) v Sun/Cadby
Tuesday December 20 (7pm)
Boris Koltsov v Dragutin Horvat (P)
Brendan Dolan (23) v Christian Kist
Raymond van Barneveld (12) v Robbie Green
Simon Whitlock (17) v Koltsov/Horvat
Wednesday December 21 (7pm)
Zoran Lerchbacher v Simon Stevenson (P)
Mensur Suljovic (8) v Ron Meulenkamp
James Wade (6) v Ronny Huybrechts
Robert Thornton (9) v Lerchbacher/Stevenson
Thursday December 22 (7pm)
Jelle Klaasen (10) v Jeffrey de Graaf
Vincent van der Voort (20) v Max Hopp
Dave Chisnall (7) v Rowby-John Rodriguez
Kim Huybrechts (13) v James Wilson
Second Round
Friday December 23
Afternoon Session (1pm)
White (14)/Simm/Ulang v Price (19)/Clayton
Smith (11)/Evans v King (22)/West
Van de Pas (15)/Shah/Chino v Jenkins (18)/Payne
Evening Session (7pm)
Bunting (16)/D Webster v Whitlock (17)/Koltsov/Horvat
Anderson (2)/Frost v Henderson (31)/Gilding
A Lewis (5)/Caris v Cullen (28)/Sun/Cadby
Tuesday December 27
Afternoon Session (1pm)
Suljovic (8)/Meulenkamp v M Webster (25)/Murnan
Thornton (9)/Lerchbacher/Stevenson v Gurney (24)/Wattimena
Chisnall (7)/Rodriguez v Pipe (26)/Dobey
Evening Session (8pm)
van Barneveld (12)/Green v Norris (21)/Michael
Taylor (4)/Bowles/Platt v Caven (29)/Painter
Van Gerwen (1)/Snook/Viljanen v Reyes (32)/Van den Bergh
Wednesday December 28
Afternoon Session (1pm)
K Huybrechts (13)/Wilson v Van der Voort (20)/Hopp
Wade (6)/R Huybrechts v Beaton (27)/Petersen
Klaasen (10)/de Graaf v Dolan (23)/Kist
Evening Session (7pm)
Wright (3)/Hendriks/Parry v J Lewis (30)/McGowan
Plus 2 x Third Round games
Thursday December 29
Afternoon Session (1pm)
3 x Third Round games
Evening Session (7pm)
3 x Third Round games
Friday December 30
Afternoon Session (1pm)
2 x Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (7pm)
2 x Quarter-Finals
Sunday January 1 (7pm)
Semi-Finals
Monday January 2 (8pm)
Final
*Preliminary round matches are the best of three sets with the first round best of five and second and third round matches the best of seven sets. The quarter-finals then become the best of nine with the semi-finals the best of 11 and the final the best of 13.
*All sets are the best of five legs and any match heading into a deciding set must be won by two clear legs until it reaches 5-5 when a sudden-death leg will be played.
You can follow all the William Hill World Darts Championship from December 15-January on Sky Sports Darts and across our digital and social platforms (@SkySportsDarts). #LoveTheDarts
