The PDC have just announced that The Master tournament will be rebranded as the Winmau World Masters in 2025. The former BDO branded tournament is the older established major tournament in darts and will now have a newly formed partnership with the PDC.
A few months ago, the PDC announced that in 2025 The Masters tournament will become a ranked televised major. Today, the PDC have announced further changes to the tournament as it will now be rebranded as the Winmau World Masters.
The Winmau World Masters was previously a BDO associated major tournament and is the longest established major darts tournament in the world that began in 1974.
In 1975, Winmau became the headline tournament sponsor and would remain that way for over 40 years, during which some of the best players to have stepped onto the oche were crowned winners of the tournament including:
- Eric Bristow
- John Lowe
- Phil Taylor
- Raymond van Barneveld
- Bob Anderson
- Dennis Priestley
- Michael van Gerwen
This announcement will see the Winmau World Masters operate under the PDC and will act as a PDC major tournament for an initial 10-year contract period.
Stephen Bunting was the 2024 The Masters winner and undoubtedly, players will now be eager to lift the revamped and historic title.
The event will be shown on ITV4 and will be held from 30th January – 2nd February at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena.
The format will include the top 24 players on the PDC Order of Merit and then an additional eight players who can qualify through preliminary round – the additional eight players are an expansion on previous years and a new addition to the tournament format.
The preliminary rounds will see 180 players (Tour Card Holders, JDC qualifiers, Secondary Tours, Global Affiliate Tours) competing for just eight places.
PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter provided further comment to the announcement, Porter said:
“We are delighted to share our exciting plans for reintroducing the Winmau World Masters to the darts calendar, which I’m sure will excite darts fans and players alike.
“Since the beginning of our working relationship with Winmau we have discussed the idea of reviving this historic event which in its heyday was one of the biggest prizes in the sport.
“We have worked closely with Winmau to adopt as many characteristics of the original format as is practical to, and in keeping with its global nature, the Preliminary Rounds will provide an opportunity for players around the world to play on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
“This event’s expansion and change to a ranked event was another positive step for players on the PDC circuit, and with tickets selling out in record time they can look forward to getting an opportunity to shine in front of a packed crowd at the Marshall Arena next year.”
See the full announcement video below:
Re-introducing…the @Winmau World Masters. 🏆
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 28, 2024
One of darts' most iconic tournaments will return in January 2025! 🙌#DartsReMastered pic.twitter.com/1z1r0Pqs0j
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