New Zealand Darts Masters 2025 | Day One Preview and Order of Play

The New Zealand Darts Masters commences in Auckland on Friday as the PDC stars and Oceanic representatives go head-to-head.

The seventh event in this year’s World Series of Darts calendar sees 16 players competing for £100,000 in prize money at the Spark Arena from August 15-16.

Friday’s opening round will see the PDC superstars each face an Oceanic representative as they bid to reach Saturday’s quarter-finals.

Reigning champion Luke Humphries, who claimed his first World Series title in last year’s New Zealand Masters in Hamilton, begins the defence of his crown with a clash against Haupai Puha.

Humphries triumphed at the US Darts Masters in New York in June to double his World Series tally and is looking to bounce back from last week’s whitewash defeat to Mike De Decker.

The world number one has been struck down with illness since arriving Down Under but will be determined to avoid a potential scalp at the hands of Tour Card holder Puha – the New Zealand number one who was narrowly beaten in a last-leg decider by Luke Littler in Wollongong a week ago.

Teenage trailblazer Littler aims to pick up from where he left off last week when he takes on DPNZ qualifier Mark Cleaver.

Littler secured his first World Series silverware of the year at the Australian Masters, adding to his sensational World Matchplay triumph last month.

The world number two now looks to make it ten matches unbeaten in all competitions by sweeping aside rank outsider Cleaver – who featured alongside Puha for New Zealand in June’s World Cup of Darts.

Gerwyn Price, the 2022 New Zealand Masters champion, faces home hopeful Jonny Tata – quarter-finalist at the 2023 WDF World Championship.

Second seed Price has picked up six World Series titles in total – a tally bettered only by Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen – the most recent of which coming at the Poland Darts Masters last month.

Top seed Stephen Bunting faces a tricky opener against five-time PDC World Championship qualifier Ben Robb.

Bunting has picked up two World Series titles this year, as well as reaching a further two finals.

The Bahrain Masters and Nordic Masters champion has reached the final in four of his six World Series outings this year, with the only blemishes coming at the US Masters – where he suffered a shock first round defeat to Jason Brandon – and last week’s Australian Masters, where he was denied by Littler in the semi-finals.

Robb returns in search of a first win in this event since 2019 – when he defeated Simon Whitlock in the opening round before losing out to Rob Cross in the quarter-finals.

Aussie icon Whitlock aims to bounce back from last week’s 6-1 drubbing at the hands of Josh Rock when he faces World Championship semi-finalist Chris Dobey.

Dobey enjoyed a landmark campaign in Wollongong by reaching his first World Series semi-final courtesy of wins over Tim Pusey and Gerwyn Price, before eventually losing out to De Decker.

De Decker’s World Series debut proved to be worth the wait as he embarked on a terrific run to the final, dropping just six legs along the way before going down 8-4 to Littler.

The Belgian number one begins his maiden campaign in Auckland against Australia’s former Tour Card holder Gordon Mathers in the opening match of the evening.

World Cup of Darts winner Josh Rock looks to bounce back from last week’s quarter-final whitewash to Bunting when he meets DPNZ qualifier John Hurring – who missed match darts to defeat Rob Cross in this event back in 2018.

Damon Heta, last year’s runner-up in Hamilton and a winner of two Players Championship titles in 2025, opens up against World Series debutant Dean Reyland.

The action gets under way from 8am BST (7pm local time), with First Round matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

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New Zealand Darts Masters 2025 Day One Schedule

All times BST (local time +11 hours)

Friday August 15

First Round

8am-12pm
Mike De Decker v Gordon Mathers
Josh Rock v John Hurring
Gerwyn Price v Jonny Tata
Damon Heta v Dean Reyland
Stephen Bunting v Ben Robb
Luke Humphries v Haupai Puha
Luke Littler v Mark Cleaver
Chris Dobey v Simon Whitlock