Winmau World Masters 2025 | Day One Preview and Order of Play

The 2025 Winmau World Masters gets under way in Milton Keynes on Friday with eight quick-fire First Round ties.

Day One of the newly-revamped tournament features matches from the top half of the draw, with no fewer than six former World Champions among those in action.

Replacing The Masters, which was held as annual invitational event since 2013, the Winmau World Masters sees a return to the traditional sets format which was a staple of the original event first held by the BDO over 50 years ago.

The world’s top 24 ranked players are joined by eight qualifiers who came through Wednesday’s Preliminary Rounds as they compete for a total of £500,000 in ranking prize money.

Stephen Bunting returns to the Marshall Arena as reigning champion, having secured his first televised PDC title here 12 months ago.

Semi-finalist in the recent World Championship, crowd favourite Bunting claimed glory at the Bahrain Masters a fortnight ago and will make his return to the Premier League next Thursday after a decade’s absence.

Bunting begins his title defence against Scottish star Willie Borland – who came through the Preliminary Rounds to seal his first televised appearance since the UK Open last March.

Borland etched his name into darting folklore courtesy of a sensational nine-darter in a sudden death leg at the World Championship in 2021, but has struggled to hit the heights since, however he began his 2025 campaign in style with wins over the likes of Dirk van Duijvenbode, Alan Soutar and Mickey Mansell in the qualifying rounds.

Meanwhile, world number one Luke Humphries opens up with a showdown against 2022 Masters champion Joe Cullen.

The pair contested a World Championship classic a year ago which saw Humphries recover from 2-0 and 3-2 down to snatch a 4-3 victory, surviving two match darts from Cullen and eventually going on to become World Champion.

Humphries, who claimed the World Matchplay title and retained the Players Championship Finals crown in 2024, saw his reign as World Champion ended by Peter Wright, and was beaten in the opening round of last week’s Dutch Masters by Jermaine Wattimena.

Cullen’s unique preparation for this tournament saw him complete a charity climb of Mount Kilimanjaro less than a week ago, and he returns to the oche looking to draw inspiration from that terrific feat.

Peter Wright, the 2020 Masters champion, faces a tricky opener against qualifier Kevin Doets.

Wright starts the season as world number 12 having embarked on a resurgent run to the quarter-finals of the World Championship following five consecutive First Round exits in televised ranking events.

The two-time World Champion misses out on the Premier League for the first time in 12 years but will but fully focused on ranking competition this season as he aims to return to his prolific best.

Doets enjoyed a landmark run to the Last 16 of the World Championship a month ago and has started the new season brightly by thrashing Nathan Aspinall 6-1 in last week’s Dutch Masters and coasting through Wednesday’s Preliminary Rounds for the loss of just one set.

Former World Champion Gerwyn Price looks to continue his encouraging start to 2025 when he faces Germany’s Florian Hempel.

Price’s sole televised ranking quarter-final appearance last season came at the World Championship on New Year’s Day, and the Welshman went on to finish runner-up in the Bahrain Masters and reach the semi-finals of the Dutch Masters a week later.

Hempel averaged 110 in a 2-1 win over Mensur Suljovic in Wednesday’s Preliminary Rounds and went on to defeat Ryan Joyce and Gabriel Clemens to secure his place in the main draw.

Former World Champion Michael Smith starts out against Danny Noppert in a repeat of the 2022 UK Open final.

Noppert prevailed 11-10 on that occasion to claim a maiden PDC major title and was a semi-finalist in last October’s European Championship, while also picking up a Players Championship title earlier in the year.

Smith starts the season outside of the world’s top 16 for the first time in a decade, having seen his 2023 World Championship winning prize money drop off his Order of Merit tally and replaced by a Second Round exit at the hands of Doets.

Smith was runner-up in the 2020 Masters and will be determined to hit the ground running in Milton Keynes as he bids to challenge for a third major ranking title.

Rob Cross aims to pick up from where he left off in Den Bosch last weekend when he takes on William O’Connor in Round One.

Cross, runner-up in the 2023 Masters, took his tally of World Series titles to five courtesy of his success at the Dutch Masters, bouncing back from early exits in both the World Championship and Bahrain Masters.

O’Connor defeated Danny Lauby, Jeffrey De Graaf and Richard Veenstra in the qualifying rounds and is now vying to record his first win in a televised ranking event since beating Bhav Patel in Round One of the 2023/24 World Championship.

The opening match of the night sees newly-wed Josh Rock take on the in-form Jermaine Wattimena.

Rock takes to the big stage little over 48 hours after tying the knot and is hoping his honeymoon period begins in Milton Keynes as he competes with his new darts for the first time.

Wattimena reached his first major final at the European Championship last October and has continued that blistering form, defeating Humphries 6-3 in last week’s Dutch Masters and producing a trio of 95+ averages in overcoming Nathan Girvan, Niels Zonneveld and Nick Kenny in Wednesday’s qualifiers.

Damon Heta, nine-dart hero at the World Championship, commences his new season against former European Champion Ross Smith.

Heta’s heroics at Ally Pally proved bittersweet as he went on to lose the match to Luke Woodhouse but was consoled by a £60,000 bonus.

The Aussie number one, who picked up two Players Championship titles in 2024, faces formidable scorer Smith – who will be eager to bounce back after his shock straight sets exit at the hands of Paolo Nebrida in the Last 64 at Ally Pally.

The action gets under way from 7pm GMT, with First Round ties to be contested over the best of five sets, best of three legs per set.

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Winmau World Masters 2025 Day One Schedule

Thursday January 30

First Round

7pm-11pm
Josh Rock v Jermaine Wattimena
Damon Heta v Ross Smith
Rob Cross v William O’Connor
Gerwyn Price v Florian Hempel
Peter Wright v Kevin Doets
Luke Humphries v Joe Cullen
Stephen Bunting v William Borland
Danny Noppert v Michael Smith