6–3. Van Barneveld finished the year seventh in the Premier League table to fail to qualify for the Play-offs for the first time since 2012. It was also his lowest position out of all of his 11 appearances at the event. The Netherlands team reached the final of the World Cup and it went to a deciding singles match in which Adrian Lewis beat Van Gerwen 4–1. Van Barneveld was knocked out in the first round of the World Matchplay for the second successive year as Brendan Dolan won 10–7. He did not drop a set in reaching the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix as he overcame Mervyn King, Lewis and Benito van de Pas, but was defeated 4–1 by Gary Anderson. At the Grand Slam, Van Barneveld averaged over 100 in each of his three group games to top the table and then saw off the BDO's number one Glen Durrant 10–7 to play Anderson in the quarter-finals. The lead changed hands six times and Anderson closed the match with 13, 12, 11 and 11 dart legs to progress 16–13. Van Barneveld reached another quarter-final at the Players Championship Finals and he averaged 103, but Van Gerwen's 108.03 proved too strong as he won 10–5. 2017 season Van Barneveld edged past Adrian Lewis 4–3 in the third round of the 2017 World Championship and his 5–3 victory over Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals meant that Van Barneveld had reached the semi-finals for the last three years in the event. He took the first set without reply in his quest to reach his first final since 2009. However, Michael van Gerwen then produced the best performance ever seen in a World Championship game as he hit a tournament record average of 114.05 to win 6–2. Van Barneveld averaged 109.34 himself, the highest to ever lose a World Championship match. He also had a high losing average in the quarter-finals of the UK Open as Peter Wright came from 8–7 down to win 10–8 with Van Barneveld averaging 108.10. The Netherlands won their first World Cup since 2014 by seeing off the Welsh team of Gerwyn Price and Mark Webster 3–1 in the final. 2018 season Van Barneveld reached the quarter final of the 2018 World Championship, losing to Michael van Gerwen 5–4. He reached his first premier event final for three years at the 2018 Masters, being defeated by