Has there ever been a 9-dart leg at the World Grand Prix?

It's a relatively common occurrence for a player to notch a perfect leg on the professional circuit.

However, hitting a nine-darter in the unique double-in-double-out format World Grand Prix has proven to be a far trickier nut to crack.

Such is the difficulty in achieving it, just three players have managed to achieve the feat since the inception of the competition back in 1998, with the most recent occurrence taking place over a decade ago!

On that occasion, Robert Thornton sent the spectators packed inside Dublin's Citywest Hotel into delirium, pinning the bullseye with a nine successive perfect dart having kicked off with a double 20 before landing four straight treble 20s and a treble 17.

Incredibly, the Scottish star's achievement came just 20 minutes after his opponent that night, James Wade, had etched his own name into the sport's history books by recording his own perfect leg in a match that will live long in the memory of those fortunate enough to have been housed inside the fabled Irish venue.

The first ever televised nine-dart leg in a double-in-double-out format competition came during the 2011 staging of the event, where Brendan Dolan struck gold in front of a raucous home crowd in his semi-final victory over the previously mentioned 'Machine', James Wade.

The History Maker was however unable to back up his feat by capturing the coveted title, succumbing to defeat at the hands of Phil Taylor in the showpiece final.

How many nine-dart legs have there been in a double-start darts match?

• Brendan Dolan v James Wade (2011)
• James Wade v Robert Thornton (2014)
• Robert Thornton v James Wade (2014)

Darts World Grand Prix Records & Statistics: Most titles, most 180s, highest average, 9-dart legs & more