Raymond van Barneveld posts lowest ever PDC average – 20 years after debut season

Raymond van Barneveld made unwanted history as he crashed out in the second round of Players Championship 2.

The five-time world champion suffered a crushing 6-1 defeat to Owen Bates in Hildesheim on Tuesday.

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Van Barneveld had beaten Yorick Hofkens in the opening round in Germany but his run came to an immediate end in his next match.

The 58-year-old averaged just 69.39 in his defeat to Bates, the lowest three-dart average of his PDC career.

Bad Ray at the office

It represented a significant drop off in performance for the Dutch darts icon.

Barney had averaged 86.27 in his first round tie with Hofkens, which saw him claim a 6-3 victory.

Meanwhile, Van Barneveld also averaged over 80 on Monday despite losing to Tom Sykes in the first round.

With just one win across the first two ProTour events of the year, Van Barneveld has won just £1,250 in prize money so far in 2025.

His average against Bates is not the worst of his darts career, though.

Van Barneveld previously posted a 65.86 three-dart average at a MODUS event six years ago.

On that occasion, he was thrashed 5-0 by Martin Adams during his hiatus from the PDC.

The veteran was absent from the Tour in 2020 after handing in his Tour Card and retiring after the PDC World Darts Championship at the start of the year.

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It came after over a decade on the PDC circuit, having made his debut back in 2006.

Van Barneveld would come out of retirement and make his return at the start of 2021, regaining a Tour Card at the first attempt.

However, his difficult start to the year follows an underwhelming end to 2025.

Having withdrawn from the Masters prior to the tournament, Van Barneveld had been without a win since October before beating Hofkens on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, he suffered first round exits at both the Players Championship Finals and PDC World Darts Championship to end last year.

Van Barneveld also made just a single ProTour quarter-final in 2025, which came in Leicester back in April.

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Elsewhere on Tuesday, Wessel Nijman went on to claim victory at Players Championship 2.

The Dutchman beat Gerwyn Price 8-7 in the final after a last leg decider, with both players averaging over 100.