After a tough Q-School last week we now know the make up of the PDC tour for 2017 but before the tour gets underway we have one more tournament which is The Masters which takes place in Milton Keynes this weekend.
There are no ranking points on the line this weekend but it is a nice reward for the top 16 in the world who get the chance to play for the £60,000 first prize.
Recent Winners
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – James Wade
2013 – Phil Taylor
The Format
The top 16 have been put into the draw in order of their world ranking with 1 playing 16, 2 vs 15, 3 vs 14 and so on in the first round. The tournament is played out in knockout form from the start with the first round and the quarter final the best of 19 legs and the semi-final and final, both on Sunday evening, over the best of 21 legs.
Top Half
The world champion and world number one Michael van Gerwen is housed in this part of the draw. In terms of the top eight players he is joined by Adrian Lewis, James Wade and Mensur Suljovic.
The lower ranked players in the top half are Jelle Klaasen and Kim Huybrechts ahead of their Premier League returns next week, Robert Thornton and Simon Whitlock.
Bottom Half
The world number two Gary Anderson leads the way in the bottom half with many people expecting him to come through and set up a rematch of the world final. Anderson is joined by Phil Taylor, Dave Chisnall and Peter Wright.
The lower seeds in this section of the draw look really strong too. Raymond Barneveld showed his class at Alexandra Palace and he is one of them. Benito van de Pas, Ian White and Michael Smith make up the draw.
Betting
In terms of an outright bet this isn’t one to get too stuck into but it should be a good weekend of darts and so I will head into it with one outright punt. I’m going in the bottom half so that I don’t have to worry about picking a player to beat MVG before the final. The chances are that player will lose to him anyway but at least we’ll have made a few quid with the place.
Gary Anderson is the obvious man in the bottom half but I just wonder how up for this he will be. I would imagine more of his focus will be on the Premier League next week so instead I’ll have a go at Peter Wright.
There is definitely a TV tournament in Peter Wright and until he wins one even events like this have to be taken seriously. Wright might feel he has something to prove having gone down in the World Championship semi-final but until then he looked comfortably the real deal. With Anderson having the trickier route to the semi-final there is enough value in Wright’s double figure price to back him this weekend.
Tips
Back P.Wright to win The Masters (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 12.00 with Betfair (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
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