By Darts Weekly Staff
5 JANUARY 2017 • 3:40PM
John Part became the first overseas player to be inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame, at the PDC Annual Awards Dinner last night.
The three-time world champion and former Las Vegas Desert Classic winner was inducted into the organisation’s Hall of Fame on Wednesday night, recognising his achievements as the sport’s most successful North American player.
“I love darts and I think there are a lot of great, fantastic things happening in the game,” Part said.
“It’s been really wonderful, and I’m so happy to have been at the onset of the current game, and to get some acknowledgement of that is fantastic.
“All I’ve ever done is play a game I love, and I got to keep going to different places and do a lot more than play darts, and I’ve had a lot of good times. This means a great deal to me.”
The Dorchester in London held the PDC Annual Awards Dinner last night, with newly crowned PDC world champion Michael van Gerwen’s domination of the circuit matched by his haul of four trophies.
The world number one won 25 tournaments in 2016 before recapturing the PDC World Championship title on Monday.
Having earlier been voted by his fellow throwers as the PDPA Players’ Player of the Year and by fans worldwide as the PDC Fans’ Player of the Year, van Gerwen went on to scoop the top honour of PDC Player of the Year – an accolade which he had shared with Gary Anderson 12 months ago.
The Dutchman also took home the Best Pro Tour Player award after winning £270,000 in the PDC’s non-televised events during 2016.
“I love winning trophies and this is a memorable night for me,” van Gerwen said.
“Everyone keeps pushing each other and playing better and better, and we’re happy that we are part of this game.
“We have a great sport and I hope we can have many more years like this.
“We all work really hard for it and people might not understand what we sacrifice but it’s very difficult but I love it.
“I love what I do and I hope I can do much more in the future as well because I want to be number one and stay number one.”
There were also awards for Benito van de Pas (Young Player), Mensur Suljovic (Most Improved Player) and Phil Taylor (Televised Performance).
2017 PDC ANNUAL AWARDS
HALL OF FAME
John Part
NINE-DART CLUB
Gold Pin Badges (Televised Events)
Michael van Gerwen, Adrian Lewis, Alan Norris
Silver Pin Badges (Non-Televised Events)
Ross Smith, Jamie Caven, Mark Dudbridge, Richie Corner, Michael van Gerwen Stuart Kellett, Adrian Lewis, Alan Norris, Dave Chisnall, Devon Petersen, James Richardson, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Steve Brown, Daniel Cole, Rob Cross, Richard Baillie, Jeffrey de Graaf, Yordi Meeuwisse, Simon Whitlock.
BEST PRO TOUR PLAYER
Michael van Gerwen
TELEVISED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Phil Taylor – Unibet Champions League of Darts Final
Nominated
Michael van Gerwen – Betway Premier League (Aberdeen)
Peter Wright – SINGHA Beer Grand Slam of Darts Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen – William Hill World Darts Championship
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Mensur Suljovic
Nominated
Joe Cullen
James Wilson
Chris Dobey
PDC FANS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Michael van Gerwen – with almost 50% of the vote
PDPA PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Michael van Gerwen – with over 50 % of the vote
PDC YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Benito van de Pas
Nominated
Corey Cadby
Josh Payne
Chris Dobey
PDC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Michael van Gerwen
Nominated
Gary Anderson
Phil Taylor
Peter Wright
lovethedartsmag.com 