The final darts event before the big one is the Players Championship Finals and it gets underway in Minehead on Friday afternoon. This is the last chance for players to win a trophy before the World Championship next month and with the event expanded this year plenty will be looking to take advantage.
The leading 64 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit are here with the draw decided by positions on that list so the top seed plays 64, second seed 63 and so on which means we’ll see a lot of different match ups and some big clashes as early as the first round.
Recent Winners
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Gary Anderson
2013 – Michael van Gerwen
2012 – Phil Taylor
2011 – Kevin Painter
2010 – Phil Taylor
2009 – Paul Nicholson
2008 – Phil Taylor
The Format
The first round is played out across two sessions on Friday with the second round in the afternoon session on Saturday. Both those rounds are the best of 11 legs. The last 16 takes place on Saturday evening with the quarter finals on Sunday afternoon. They are both the best of 19 legs before the semi-finals and the final are played out on Sunday evening over the best of 21 legs.
There are two boards in operation for the first two days with the second board streamed live on facebook and the main board on the ITV4 coverage.
Top Quarter
Rob Cross is the number one seed this week and as such he is in this part of the draw. He sets a decent standard with the other top 16 ranked players in this quarter being Joe Cullen, Ian White and Richard North who we saw for the first time at the World Grand Prix.
The lesser ranked qualifiers in this section are not bad. Raymond Barneveld leads them with James Wade, Kevin Painter, Adrian Lewis and John Henderson also here. The Grand Slam surprise package Steve Lennon will also start from this quarter too.
Second Quarter
Gary Anderson is the leading seed in this part of the draw. He is the fourth seed with his nemesis Mensur Suljovic as the fifth seed. The other two top ranked players in this quarter are Jonny Clayton and Alan Norris with the former a winner on the tour this season.
Gerwyn Price and Stephen Bunting represent a decent standard for the qualifiers with Benito van de Pas and Jelle Klaasen perfectly capable of progressing deep too. Keegan Brown, Steve Beaton and Ronny Huybrechts will be looking for pre-World Championship boosts to both their form and ranking.
Third Quarter
Daryl Gurney is the top seed in this third quarter. He is the number two seed this weekend with Dave Chisnall the seventh seed. Kim Huybrechts and Kyle Anderson are the other leading seeded players in the quarter, which looks pretty competitive.
That is highlighted by the talent among the lower ranked players. James Wilson, Vincent van der Voort, Robert Thornton and Justin Pipe are all capable of big runs this weekend with Mark Webster another who has the potential to be dangerous.
Bottom Quarter
This is the really competitive part of the draw, the quarter of death if you will. Peter Wright is the top seed in it as the number three seed with Michael van Gerwen lurking ominously. He is the sixth seed. We also have Michael Smith and Darren Webster of the top 16 seeds in this section.
Simon Whitlock is not in the top 16 seeds here but he is in the quarter and he is a big danger. Cristo Reyes, Mervyn King and Steve West will be hoping for big weekends while there will be another chance to see Paul Nicholson back on the big stage too.
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Betting
With a host of big names in the bottom of the draw I’m going to try my luck with some big prices in the top half of the draw. I don’t think this is a weekend to go mad on the outright market. I say that because the draw is not in world ranking order so it inevitably opens up and we’ve seen that in the past with the unheralded semi-finalists and finalists.
In the top quarter it will be all about Rob Cross but I like Joe Cullen. I’ve always rated Cullen and I’m pleased that he has won a couple of tournaments this year. He has done well on the stage too. He has reached the quarter final or better in five European Tour events and with this tournament having a history of being a breakthrough event for players I’ll pay to see how well he goes here.
In the second quarter I’m going to take a chance on Alan Norris. He was a semi-finalist in the UK Open in this venue earlier in the season and we’ve seen him go well at this time of year in the past. If he can hit his doubles well in the early stages and force his way into the latter starts then his confidence could come to the fore and he could escape a fairly weak quarter and maybe push beyond.
Tips
Back J.Cullen to win Players Championship Finals (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back A.Norris to win Players Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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