2012
van Barneveld was the victim of one of the biggest upsets in PDC World Championship history in 2012. He lost 0–3 in the first round to world number 85, James Richardson, winning just 4 legs during the match. He teamed up with Vincent van der Voort for the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts to try to defend the title van Barneveld won with Co Stompé in 2010. Together they enjoyed comfortable victories over Austria and Northern Ireland to set up a semi-final clash with the Australian pair of Paul Nicholson and Simon Whitlock. Van Barneveld beat Nicholson 4–0 in their singles match, but this was the only point the Dutch won as they relinquished their crown in a 1–5 defeat.
van Barneveld was a Sky Sports pick for the Premier League. During the tournament he produced his then highest ever televised average of 112.28 whilst defeating Kevin Painter 8–6. He went into the final round of matches knowing a win over James Wade would secure him a place in the play-offs, but could only manage to draw the match 7–7 to finish 5th in the table, out of the play-off places on leg difference.
van Barneveld won the UK Open Qualifier 5 by beating Andy Smith 6–3 in the final, after earlier overcoming the likes of Simon Whitlock and Terry Jenkins. He also hit a nine-dart finish in his third round match against Michael Barnard. He completed a weekend double by winning Event 6 a day later after defeating Ian White 6–2 in the final. In the UK Open itself, he beat Jelle Klaasen and Andy Hamilton to reach the last 16. In this match he played Peter Wright and looked to be exiting the tournament as van Barneveld trailed 6–8, with his opponent on a 138 finish to win the match. Wright hit treble 20, single 18 and required a single 20 to leave double tops when he returned. However, he incredibly hit another treble 20 to bust his score and van Barneveld went on to take a 9–8 victory. He played Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals and never recovered from a poor start in which he lost the opening five legs and succumbed 5–10. However, van Barneveld gained revenge over Chisnall in the final of the European Tour Event 3 in Düsseldorf, by defeating him 6–4 and claimed his first European Tour title.
At the World Matchplay van Barneveld lost to Terry Jenkins 10–13 in the last 16. In September, he broke his highest ever televised average for the second time this year by averaging 113.04 in a 6–1 win against Jenkins at the European Championship. He went on to the quarter-finals, where he lost 8–10 to Kim Huybrechts.
In November 2012, van Barneveld won his first major tournament in over five years at the non-ranking Grand Slam of Darts. He beat Mark Walsh 5–0 in his first group match, before losing 4–5 to BDO World Champion Christian Kist in his second. However, a 5–2 win over Wayne Jones from 0–2 down was enough to see him qualify for the knockout stage, where he defeated fellow Dutchman Wesley Harms 10–4 in the last 16, avenged his earlier loss to Kist in the quarter-finals by winning 16–10, and beat Andy Hamilton 16–10 in the semi-finals to set up an all-Dutch clash with Grand Prix champion Michael van Gerwen. Van Barneveld was never behind in the final and although he missed five chances to win 16–13, he sealed the title in the following leg with an 11-darter against the throw. After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, van Barneveld finished fourth on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Players Championship Finals where he missed a total of four match darts against Steve Beaton in the first round to lose 5–6.
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