The final stop on the 2026 World Series of Darts before the main event – Wollongong. This year will be the third staging of the Australian Darts Masters, but the nineteenth World Series event hosting in Australia.
It started in 2013, when Sydney hosted the very first World Series event with regional qualifiers, where Tic Bridge beat Raymond van Barneveld to show the World that the elite can be beaten. Phil Taylor went on to take the inaugural title, beating Michael van Gerwen in the final.
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For the next three years, the PDC visited Australia for two events, adding the Perth Darts Masters to the roster. Phil Taylor won both events in 2014 and 2015, followed by a fourth consecutive title in Sydney in 2016.
After winning all six World Series titles in Australia, 24 consecutive wins, this was finally put to an end in the first round of the 2016 Perth Masters, where an up-and-coming Corey Cadby put in a 103.58 average to a deny an incredible 111.65 average from the Power, before losing to a 109.57 average from Peter Wright in the Quarter-Finals. Michael van Gerwen went on to claim his first tile down under.
In 2017, the PDC traded in Sydney for Melbourne, where Phil Taylor returned to winning ways, before Gary Anderson won the final title in Perth the following week. 2018 saw Peter Wright claim the title in Melbourne, before Rob Cross won the inaugural Brisbane Masters.
In the final year before the Covid-19 pandemic, something happened that had never been seen before and has never happened since.
Damon Heta, a non-Tour Card Holder, went on to win the title, beating the likes of Wade, Anderson and Whitlock en-route, before overcoming Rob Cross in a last-leg decider. Michael van Gerwen went on to win the final event in Australia for three years the following week in Melbourne.
The PDC next returned to Australia in 2022, where the Queensland Darts Masters made it’s first an only appearance, won by van Gerwen, followed by the New South Wales Masters, won by Jonny Clayton, the week after. This was the final time Australia hosted two events, as the PDC looked elsewhere to spread darts around the World, with places like Poland, New York, and Bahrain joining the roster.
2023’s event was hosted in New South Wales for the second and final time, where Rob Cross claimed his second title down under, before the inaugural Australian Darts Masters, hosted in Wollongong, took over in 2024.
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The previous two events were won by Gerwyn Price and Luke Littler, with not a single oceanic qualifier winning a game over the two events. Local representative match wins now occur with regularity, last week in New Zealand for example both Raymond Smith and Adam Leek claimed PDC scalps.
With the likes of Raymond Smith and Brody Klinge showing real levels this year on the ADA Tour, there is a real chance we will see more Australasian winners in 2026. But how far could on ego?
Images: PDC
