Nowadays, the perfect, nine-dart finish is far more commonplace than was once the case but, even so, a televised nine-dart finish remains a rarity. In 2019, for example, a total of 47 players hit a nine-dart finish in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, but just one them – Michael van Gerwen, during his second round win over Adrian Lewis in the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals – did so in a televised event.
The first televised nine-dart finish was achieved on October 13, 1984 – long before the formation of the PDC, as the World Darts Council (WDC), in January, 1992 – during the MFI World Matchplay at the Fulcrum Centre, Slough. In a quarter-final match between John Lowe and Keith Deller, both former British Darts Organisation (BDO) world champions, Lowe hit six trebles in as many darts, followed by treble 17, treble 18 and double 18, to collect a record prize of £102,000. Lowe won the quarter-final 3-1 and went on to win the whole tournament, beating Cliff Lazarenko 5-3 in the final, for which he received a further £12,000.
Click to watch John Lowe’s televised nine dart finish