What is a nine-darter?

Quite simply the sport's Holy Grail, the nine-dart finish represents ultimate darting perfection, but what exactly does it entail?

What's a nine-dart finish?

A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is when a player takes nine darts to finish a leg of 501, and is the fewest darts that can be thrown to win a leg.

Requiring nine perfect darts, a nine-darter typically requires two scores of 180 followed by a finish of 141, though variations of the method are occasionally seen.

Sometimes players will score 180, 177 and require a 144 finish, whereas in the World Grand Prix, where legs can't be started until a player has hit a double, nine-darters usually require a finish on the bullseye.

Brendan Dolan hit the first nine-darter in the unique double-in-double-out format event, starting with D20, T20, T20 for a score of 160.

After a 180, a score of 161 was left, with Dolan checking out on the bull.

A nine-dart finish is the sport's equivalent to a 147 in snooker or a perfect game in bowling, a nine-darter is also referred to as a perfect leg, with zero margin for error to be achieved.

There have been over 100 perfect legs broadcast on TV, with John Lowe recording the first during the MFI World Matchplay in October 1984.

Lowe checked out 141 with T17, T18, D18 after scoring two maximum 180s - he was handsomely rewarded for making history by landing a bumper cheque worth £102,000!

Mark Mothershaw

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