The 2025 Winmau World Masters starts on Friday with a new-format and substantially increased prize fund, as the first major tournament of the 2025 season gets underway.
In late 2024 it was announced that the PDC and Winmau had reached an agreement to re-launch the Winmau World Masters, a tournament that was previously part of the BDO and the longest running major tournament in darts.
See also – PDC announce return of the Winmau World Masters
Stephen Bunting won the 2024 tournament and after winning the Bahrain Masters and finishing runner-up at the Dutch Darts Masters last weekend, he’s in great form as he looks to retain the title.
The new format will have preliminary rounds to open the tournament up to more competitors which starts Wednesday 29th.
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The new format tournament has the top 24 players from the PDC Order of Merit gaining automatic qualification to the 32-player tournament with the top 16 coming in seeded.
The 8 remaining places will be qualifiers through preliminary rounds which start today and have a huge field of players involved that you can see below:
The entries for the 2025 @Winmau World Masters Preliminary Rounds are in!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 27, 2025
Eight spots up for grabs…
Watch all the action on Wednesday 29th on PDCTV 📺
👉 https://t.co/AVskBUamlZ pic.twitter.com/pfwUuM8zF2
All eyes will be on Stephen Bunting coming into this tournament.
The 2024 title was his first major title (non-ranking) in the PDC and kickstarted a year that saw him reach the semi-finals of the 2025 World Darts Championship, reach 5th in the Order of Merit, and secure a Premier League place.
Related – 2025 Premier League Darts line-up
The draw (below) has already thrown up some interesting first round ties.
Luke Humprhies is the top seeded player and starts his campaign against the 2022 Master winner Joe Cullen.
Michael Smith who has plummeted down the ranking to joint-16th in the OoM enters the tournament unseeded and has been drawn against Danny Noppert.
Dimitri Van den Bergh (also unseeded) has been drawn against Gary Anderson in what will be a one-to-watch tie alongside World Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker who has been drawn against James Wade.
De Decker has had a very controversial few weeks.
The Belgian was snubbed from the Premier League line-up and would go on to blast the PDC calling them ‘scandalous’ as well as criticising Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price for their selection.
See also – Nathan Aspinall hits back at Mike De Decker following ‘criticism’
We don’t yet know who some of the other big name players will face as they have been drawn against qualifiers. This includes Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Stephen Bunting and Gerwyn Price.
**UPDATE – qualifiers have been decided and have been added to the draw below:
2025 Winmau World Masters Draw
Format:
Preliminary Rounds – Best of three sets, best of three legs per set
First Round – Best of five sets, best of three legs per set
Second Round – Best of seven sets, best of three legs per set
Quarter-Finals – Best of seven sets, best of three legs per set
Semi-Finals – Best of nine sets, best of three legs per set
Final – Best of 11 sets, best of three legs per set
Draw Bracket:
(1) Luke Humphries v Joe Cullen
(16) Josh Rock v Jermaine Wattimena
(8) Damon Heta v Ross Smith
(9) Gerwyn Price v Florian Hempel
(4) Rob Cross v William O’Connor
(13) Danny Noppert v Michael Smith
(5) Stephen Bunting v William Borland
(12) Peter Wright v Kevin Doets
(2) Luke Littler v Andy Baetens
(15) James Wade v Mike De Decker
(7) Jonny Clayton v Martin Schindler
(10) Chris Dobey v Ryan Searle
(3) Michael van Gerwen v Bradley Brooks
(14) Gary Anderson v Dimitri Van den Bergh
(6) Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies
(11) Nathan Aspinall v Andrew Gilding
Schedule:
Wednesday January 29
Preliminary Rounds
Thursday January 30 (1900 GMT)
First Round x8 – Match Schedule TBC
(1) Luke Humphries v Joe Cullen
(16) Josh Rock v Jermaine Wattimena
(8) Damon Heta v Ross Smith
(9) Gerwyn Price v Florian Hempel
(4) Rob Cross v William O’Connor
(13) Danny Noppert v Michael Smith
(5) Stephen Bunting v William Borland
(12) Peter Wright v Kevin Doets
Friday January 31 (1900 GMT)
First Round x8 – Match Schedule TBC
(2) Luke Littler v Andy Baetens
(15) James Wade v Mike De Decker
(7) Jonny Clayton v Martin Schindler
(10) Chris Dobey v Ryan Searle
(3) Michael van Gerwen v Bradley Brooks
(14) Gary Anderson v Dimitri Van den Bergh
(6) Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies
(11) Nathan Aspinall v Andrew Gilding
Saturday February 1
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
Second Round x4
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Second Round x4
Sunday February 2
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals
Final
Source – PDC website
2025 Winmau World Masters Prize Money
Winner: £100,000
Runner-Up: £50,000
Semi-Finalists: £30,000
Quarter-Finalists: £17,500
Second Round Losers: £10,000
First Round Losers: £5,000
Preliminary Round Last 16 Losers: £2,500
Preliminary Round Last 32 Losers: £1,000
Preliminary Round Last 64 Losers: £750
Total: £500,000
**With the tournament now being re-formatted as a PDC ranking major, the prize money has almost doubled from 2024 which had a prize fund of £275,000 in total with £65,000 going to the winner.
How and Where to Watch
The Winmau World Master has several options available to watch this year depending on where you are in the world, including terrestrial TV for the UK and a number of streaming services across Europe.
UK
ITV4, ITVX
Germany, Austria & Switzerland
DAZN
Netherlands, Iceland & Scandinavia
Viaplay
USA
FanDuel
Australia
Fox
New Zealand
Sky
Belgium
VTM
Czech Republic & Slovakia
Nova
Hungary
Prago Sport – Sport 1
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