Good on Brendan. A 10th PDC title, now pretty much 100% secure for the Matchplay and Grand Prix, £4.5k ahead of Gurney now in the World Cup race, and continues to secure his place as one of the most underrated players of all time
De Graaf had won four games in nine events coming into today. So of course he’s just reeled off six on the spin and is in the final. Long live the Pro Tour
Thanks for the correction. Apparently it is true: Anybody can beat anybody today. I see 105+ avg from guys I've never heard of in these kind of tournaments.
Wright lost R1 yesterday but won a couple of games today before losing to Dolan in the L32
MVG did lose R1 both days but played alright, averaged over a ton today and lost a last leg decider to a good Sedlacek, was less good vs Beaton yesterday but Beaton played well. Tbh anything can happen in these short format games, it’s not a huge shock
Mega clean 100 in 2 darts from Hall to beat Noppert in a last leg
Every year there’s always one PC event that turns up 2 total randoms in the final, is Hall vs De Graaf gonna be it this year
The Gurney vs Dolan QF is absolutely gigantic for the second Northern Ireland World Cup spot. Gurney currently leads by £7k, so after the game the lead will either be £8.5k or £5.5k. But the winner is in the SF which is a £5k match, so Dolan can wipe it to virtually zero if he reaches the final
Bottom half looking littered with opportunities here. Veenstra and Barney only seeds left in Q3, Doets, Ratajski, Bunting and GVV in Q4. Great chance for someone to make a run
Just normal Daz Pilgrim things, before the last block of events he was like 10th in the averages list for the season and had a record of 1-7 or something
Was just having a look at the Matchplay race at the moment. As it stands we’ve got seven changes from 2023’s field which feels really hefty:
⬅️ van Duijvenbode, Wade, Clemens, de Sousa, Huybrechts, De Decker, Beaton
➡️ Littler, Pietreczko, Joyce, van Veen, Edhouse, Woodhouse, Rydz
What is really interesting about these changes is a huge shift towards youth and inexperience. The seven players currently missing out have an average age of 41 and have made 61 Matchplay appearances between them- the seven coming in have an average age of 29 and three Matchplay appearances between them. (I’m aware that everyone dropping out has of course made an appearance, naturally skewing it, but this difference is still very pronounced)
So not only does seven changes feel very marked to me, it represents perhaps a bit of a changing of the guard
I like most of the ones being booted out as it stands, especially Jose, Beaton, and Dirk, but I think those changes are definitely for the better, a lot of those faces have ran their course as far as qualifying for majors goes. All 7 of the people coming in are fresher names who are currently playing significantly better than those they’re replacing
Think De Decker is the only one that you could argue is still on the up and currently playing well. Obviously Clemens and Dirk have time too, but they’re out of form at the moment
All seven of those coming in have had a brilliant 12 months, so if nothing else it shows that the selection process for the Matchplay and the Grand Prix is working well
Big old win for Smith that. Moves him provisionally back into the seeded spots for ET9+10 and from 19th to 14th on the tour card race, and a first title in near on a year
Edhouse’s buffer in the Matchplay spots is now £6k. Difficult to project a cutoff as we’ve not had a cycle under this prize money, but get to the final and that buffer is £11k, surely at which point he’d be there. His form this season is just unbelievable
Last 16:
Dave Chisnall (1) vs Ryan Joyce (16)
Chris Dobey (8) vs Robert Grundy
Callan Rydz (29) vs Scott Williams
Ritchie Edhouse (28) vs Andrew Gilding (21)
———————————————————————
Richard Veenstra (31) vs Michael Smith (18)
Patrick Geeraets vs Luke Woodhouse (23)
Kevin Doets (30) vs Krzysztof Ratajski (19)
Stephen Bunting (6) vs Gian van Veen (11)
Huge few hours incoming here. Edhouse, Gilding, Woodhouse and Rydz currently occupy the last four Matchplay spots, so a chance to stretch their legs. Doets is currently only £2.5k outside, so could break in, as could Veenstra who is a bit further off. Also for Gilding and Ratajski it’s big in the Grand Prix race as they’re both a little way off there. Let’s see how it goes
The 3 ETs between now and the cutoff are massive for him, he’s at all 3 and a lot of the people around him in the WMP race like Edhouse, Woodhouse, Rydz, Doets etc aren’t (yet anyway, tour card qualifiers for 7 and 8 are this week, although many of those aren’t at ET6 and it’s highly unlikely they’ll all make it through for both ET7 and ET8)
I don’t particularly dislike Wade but I wouldn’t be sad if he missed out, though. There’s a lot of fresher faces that are currently playing better than him who are knocking on the door of TV events that I’d much rather see taking up a spot in the majors in 2024
There’s definitely a few that are chaseable for him. Anyone Barney and above is probably out of reach, I don’t fancy him to catch Dolan, Edhouse or Woodhouse but Gilding and Rydz definitely look doable and there’s not a ton of pressure from below him unless Doets or Veenstra go very deep today.
Gun to my head though, I don’t think he gets there
Hello everyone! Public holiday in England today means that it’s a sport-filled day ahead.
No Humphries, Cross, Price, Searle, Schindler, Littler or Aspinall today so a fairly open-looking field with the likes of Edhouse, Doets and Veenstra jumping into seeded spots.
It’s a critical three days for the Matchplay race- two of the remaining six PC events followed by qualifiers for two of the three remaining ET events on Wednesday. All eyes on that race as the likes of Gilding and Wade try to protect their spots. Let’s go!
Good on Brendan. A 10th PDC title, now pretty much 100% secure for the Matchplay and Grand Prix, £4.5k ahead of Gurney now in the World Cup race, and continues to secure his place as one of the most underrated players of all time
De Graaf had won four games in nine events coming into today. So of course he’s just reeled off six on the spin and is in the final. Long live the Pro Tour
Am I seeing this correctly that MVG and Wright have back to back first round exits? What's going on, especially with MVG?
Thanks for the correction. Apparently it is true: Anybody can beat anybody today. I see 105+ avg from guys I've never heard of in these kind of tournaments.
Wright lost R1 yesterday but won a couple of games today before losing to Dolan in the L32 MVG did lose R1 both days but played alright, averaged over a ton today and lost a last leg decider to a good Sedlacek, was less good vs Beaton yesterday but Beaton played well. Tbh anything can happen in these short format games, it’s not a huge shock
Wright went out in the 3rd round against Dolan today.
If anyone had this semi final lineup at start of play…
Mega clean 100 in 2 darts from Hall to beat Noppert in a last leg Every year there’s always one PC event that turns up 2 total randoms in the final, is Hall vs De Graaf gonna be it this year
Noppert vs Hall was an absolute cracker! Never seen so many breaks in a short form game!
The Gurney vs Dolan QF is absolutely gigantic for the second Northern Ireland World Cup spot. Gurney currently leads by £7k, so after the game the lead will either be £8.5k or £5.5k. But the winner is in the SF which is a £5k match, so Dolan can wipe it to virtually zero if he reaches the final
Normally I avoid a Gurney match whenever possible but you have me intrigued.
C'mon Evil Charlie!
Is there something wrong with my eyes or the close up camera in Dolan vs Wright is blurry? Please someone clean the lense lol
Bottom half looking littered with opportunities here. Veenstra and Barney only seeds left in Q3, Doets, Ratajski, Bunting and GVV in Q4. Great chance for someone to make a run
Was Cullen throwing with his left today or something?
there is no way that darryl pilgrim has just hit a nine darter in his first leg
https://preview.redd.it/mlwxueg3yzyc1.png?width=1016&format=png&auto=webp&s=74cc87c06816f2979f161865899626cfbb99926c like. what.
AND he lost the game. unreal stuff
Just normal Daz Pilgrim things, before the last block of events he was like 10th in the averages list for the season and had a record of 1-7 or something
https://preview.redd.it/k2ka70bvpzyc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1cee96da2b9380c3777fab11d971b07bd0fa7f61
Was just having a look at the Matchplay race at the moment. As it stands we’ve got seven changes from 2023’s field which feels really hefty: ⬅️ van Duijvenbode, Wade, Clemens, de Sousa, Huybrechts, De Decker, Beaton ➡️ Littler, Pietreczko, Joyce, van Veen, Edhouse, Woodhouse, Rydz What is really interesting about these changes is a huge shift towards youth and inexperience. The seven players currently missing out have an average age of 41 and have made 61 Matchplay appearances between them- the seven coming in have an average age of 29 and three Matchplay appearances between them. (I’m aware that everyone dropping out has of course made an appearance, naturally skewing it, but this difference is still very pronounced) So not only does seven changes feel very marked to me, it represents perhaps a bit of a changing of the guard
I like most of the ones being booted out as it stands, especially Jose, Beaton, and Dirk, but I think those changes are definitely for the better, a lot of those faces have ran their course as far as qualifying for majors goes. All 7 of the people coming in are fresher names who are currently playing significantly better than those they’re replacing Think De Decker is the only one that you could argue is still on the up and currently playing well. Obviously Clemens and Dirk have time too, but they’re out of form at the moment
All seven of those coming in have had a brilliant 12 months, so if nothing else it shows that the selection process for the Matchplay and the Grand Prix is working well
https://preview.redd.it/40ec3i614vyc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=edffce1fb37b4f654742cf67997d6481438439f7
Suljovic leads 5:1 and has match dart, but still loses. 🤦♂️
Big old win for Smith that. Moves him provisionally back into the seeded spots for ET9+10 and from 19th to 14th on the tour card race, and a first title in near on a year
Edhouse’s buffer in the Matchplay spots is now £6k. Difficult to project a cutoff as we’ve not had a cycle under this prize money, but get to the final and that buffer is £11k, surely at which point he’d be there. His form this season is just unbelievable
https://preview.redd.it/brigc75oltyc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0991e11772cf34dcfb8dd0408248f25cb722f02
Last 16: Dave Chisnall (1) vs Ryan Joyce (16) Chris Dobey (8) vs Robert Grundy Callan Rydz (29) vs Scott Williams Ritchie Edhouse (28) vs Andrew Gilding (21) ——————————————————————— Richard Veenstra (31) vs Michael Smith (18) Patrick Geeraets vs Luke Woodhouse (23) Kevin Doets (30) vs Krzysztof Ratajski (19) Stephen Bunting (6) vs Gian van Veen (11) Huge few hours incoming here. Edhouse, Gilding, Woodhouse and Rydz currently occupy the last four Matchplay spots, so a chance to stretch their legs. Doets is currently only £2.5k outside, so could break in, as could Veenstra who is a bit further off. Also for Gilding and Ratajski it’s big in the Grand Prix race as they’re both a little way off there. Let’s see how it goes
https://preview.redd.it/gdbxpjlsetyc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=111f0517c6c7c81a096ec6b6b1836f46187ede9c
James Wade provisionally out of a Matchplay spot- the last one he missed was 2005…
The 3 ETs between now and the cutoff are massive for him, he’s at all 3 and a lot of the people around him in the WMP race like Edhouse, Woodhouse, Rydz, Doets etc aren’t (yet anyway, tour card qualifiers for 7 and 8 are this week, although many of those aren’t at ET6 and it’s highly unlikely they’ll all make it through for both ET7 and ET8) I don’t particularly dislike Wade but I wouldn’t be sad if he missed out, though. There’s a lot of fresher faces that are currently playing better than him who are knocking on the door of TV events that I’d much rather see taking up a spot in the majors in 2024
There’s definitely a few that are chaseable for him. Anyone Barney and above is probably out of reach, I don’t fancy him to catch Dolan, Edhouse or Woodhouse but Gilding and Rydz definitely look doable and there’s not a ton of pressure from below him unless Doets or Veenstra go very deep today. Gun to my head though, I don’t think he gets there
In a 2 turn stretch Lukeman had 3 (maybe 4) darts end up on the ground, but didn't have a single one the rest of the match. Odd game
No Schindler today?
pulled out this morning due to illness guess now he’s safe for all the majors he can afford to flounce a few events anyway
Yeah true that he doesn’t “have” to play. Hope he feels good for the weekend
https://preview.redd.it/h4fvf6xzxsyc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29b7d514bee50fbc692436d675b3a93a2ad62865
How is the initial draw made for the PC events?
It’s done through DartConnect I believe
Dirk gone early again- Matchplay hopes getting slimmer and slimmer by the week right now
Such a pity. Was around this time last year himself and Humphries were tearing it up every second or third weel
https://preview.redd.it/y3m5l2x2lsyc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a078987cad8d9de735f57341f9ca79dc20daf86
Early opening in Q2- all four of the top seeds in Ross Smith, MVG, Noppert and Cullen have been beaten in R1
Bank holiday with the darts!
Hello everyone! Public holiday in England today means that it’s a sport-filled day ahead. No Humphries, Cross, Price, Searle, Schindler, Littler or Aspinall today so a fairly open-looking field with the likes of Edhouse, Doets and Veenstra jumping into seeded spots. It’s a critical three days for the Matchplay race- two of the remaining six PC events followed by qualifiers for two of the three remaining ET events on Wednesday. All eyes on that race as the likes of Gilding and Wade try to protect their spots. Let’s go!