PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf assesses the top ten PDC stars - based on their last 200 legs played - following last weekend's Ladbrokes UK Open in Minehead.
#1 Averages - Gary Anderson
#1 OChE - Gary Anderson
#1 Doubles - Ryan Joyce
#1 171-180 - Gary Anderson
#1 99, 101+ Checkout - Niels Zonneveld
Long after Gary Anderson had been marked as a potential candidate for retirement, the two-time World Champion continues to break new ground on the Form Guide.
The Scot has produced an unprecedented output of 180s and other three-treble visits - recording more than 100 in his last 200 legs - the first time in the history of the Form Guide that this has happened.
The Flying Scotsman also retains his large lead in averages and winning efficiency for the second straight week, despite his round of 16 loss to Martin Lukeman at the 2024 UK Open.
That loss still boosted his average to 102.03, more than 2.5 points clear of World Champion Luke Humphries, a runner-up in Minehead last weekend.
Dimitri Van den Bergh's second ranking TV event title came as a total surprise to darts fans paying attention to form - his most recent averages reading on the Form Guide saw him rank only 57th among Tour Card Holders, with 91.63.
Nevertheless, his triumph in Minehead made him one of the PDC's most improved players. His current form places him 20th in the world for his scoring efficiency, well ahead of where one would expect a 94-averaging player to be.
The Belgian's OChE rating would enable him to win more than 55% of his legs against ProTour opponents, ahead of Premier League participants Nathan Aspinall and Michael Smith.
Peter Wright continues his recovery of form in this week's Form Guide, with an increase of 1.56 points in his averages from last week.
Two-time World Champion Wright is now one of the six Premier League contestants averaging in excess of 95, and one of 22 in the PDC.
That longer list includes some surprising names, including young Dutch Tour Card debutant Wessel Nijman, who completed six ton-plus checkouts in the space of 18 legs at the UK Open.
It also features Cameron Menzies, who became the ninth most leg-efficient player in the PDC with an authoritative defeat of Thibault Tricole in round three of the UK Open.
The list also includes the sharp-shooting Lukeman, the man with the fourth highest doubles percentage in the PDC after pinning ten of 13 checkouts in his last 16 success against Anderson.
Lukeman's 57 three-treble visits put him well behind most of the other UK Open quarter-finalists, but his 13-dart deciding leg victory against Danny Noppert and 10-5 demolition of Anderson speak eloquently to his ability to win in spite of less scoring power.
Ryan Joyce has remained for weeks as the player with the #1 doubles percentage among PDC Tour Card Holders over their last 200 legs.
Why has he not achieved results that correspond with that great achievement?
For a player with an OChE rating of 54, Joyce wins an impressive number of legs in 21 darts or fewer (99%) - compared to 97% for Van den Bergh - but he lags behind his peers when winning in 15 darts or fewer (38% - Van den Bergh takes 43%).
With so many legs at the highest levels of darts being decided within 15 darts, a missed or made dart at double in the fifth visit is of much greater importance than one in the seventh.
*OChE (Ordinal Checkout Efficiency) explained:
OChE is a metric designed to evaluate the efficiency at which players convert their averages into legs won.
The statistic is the % of legs a player would expect to win on the ProTour, calculated from a weighted average of 4,5, 6 & 7 visit checkout rates.
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