One of the best sporting careers of all time draws to a close over the next three weeks when Phil Taylor competes in his final darts tournament which is the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.
72 men head to London to compete for the biggest prize in the game in the tournament which is becoming as traditional a part of Christmas as a bloke with a beard in a red suit and mince pies and turkey. Michael van Gerwen is the defending champion and favourite to win it again.
Recent Winners
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Gary Anderson
2015 – Gary Anderson
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2013 – Phil Taylor
2012 – Adrian Lewis
2011 – Adrian Lewis
2010 – Phil Taylor
2009 – Phil Taylor
2008 – John Part
The Format
One of the best things about this tournament is the fact that it is competed for in set play format. The preliminary round is the best of three sets with the first round proper being the best of five sets. The second and third rounds are the best of seven sets before we move up to the best of nine for the quarter final. The two semi-finals are the best of 11 sets and the final on New Year’s Day is the best of 13 sets.
The draw has already taken place and put into brackets and the event is a straight knockout tournament right from the beginning.
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Top Quarter
This is the part of the draw that Michael van Gerwen occupies. He goes in search of his third world title which would cap off a decent few months to end the year. He will have to come through some dangerous seeds though not least Raymond Barneveld. Kyle Anderson, Steve Beaton, James Wilson, Ian White, Gerwyn Price and Dave Chisnall are the other seeds in the quarter.
The qualifiers are not too bad here either. Former Lakeside champion Christian Kist is one of them. Winmau World Masters winner Krzysztof Ratajski and Vincent van der Voort are two other decent level qualifiers. Ted Evetts, Willie O’Connor, Richard North and Peter Jacques are the other qualifiers with the winner of the preliminary match between Willard Bruguier III and Cody Harris also here.
Second Quarter
It is Daryl Gurney who is the highest ranked seed in this quarter although Mensur Suljovic certainly isn’t too far behind him. In terms of the year they have had it could be Rob Cross who is the biggest danger however. John Henderson, Michael Smith, Robert Thornton, Jelle Klaasen and Stephen Bunting complete the list of seeded players.
Dimitri van den Bergh sets a decent standard among the qualifiers with Jan Dekker, Kevin Painter, Steve Lennon Marko Kantele and Ronny Huybrechts confirmed in the section. The winners of the matches between Seigo Asada and Gordon Mathers and Alan Ljubic and Brendan Dolan will complete the quarter.
Third Quarter
As the number two ranked player in the world it is Peter Wright who is seeded highest in this quarter but his participation is in doubt as he has been suffering from gallstones in the lead up to the tournament. Johnny Clayton, Alan Norris, Kim Huybrechts, Adrian Lewis, Cristo Reyes, Simon Whitlock and Darren Webster will be looking to take advantage if he is not fit.
Devon Petersen will be a popular qualifier in this section as will Diogo Portela from Brazil. Martin Schindler, Antonio Alcinas, James Richardson and Kim Viljanen are all in this section while the winners of the preliminary matches between Kenny Neyens and Jamie Lewis and Alexander Oreshkin and Kevin Munch will also make their way into this quarter.
Bottom Quarter
Gary Anderson is the leading seed in the bottom quarter but all eyes will be on Phil Taylor in it to see if he can end his career in a fairy tale manner. James Wade, Mark Webster, Benito van de Pas, Joe Cullen, Justin Pipe and Mervyn King are the other seeded players looking to be the one to end Taylor’s career.
Chris Dobey is the man who gets the first opportunity to do that. He is one qualifier in the section with Zoran Lerchbacher, Keegan Brown, Jermaine Wattimena and Steve West the other confirmed players. The winners of the preliminary matches between Jeff Smith and Luke Humphries, Kai Fan Leung and Paul Lim and Xiao Chen Zong and Bernie Smith will also be in here.
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Betting
I’m going with two bets in the tournament where I’m staying well away from Michael van Gerwen and taking advantage of the doubts over Peter Wright and potentially injury troubles for Gary Anderson.
One man who will be in line to benefit from any withdrawals or fitness doubts over those two is Phil Taylor. We don’t need to be worried about Taylor’s motivation here. He will be eager to go out on a winning note. We know he can still win big events by the way he took down the World Matchplay earlier in the year and while set play hasn’t been his thing previously it might be ideal for him now in case he does hit a flat spot which are more frequent in his play. Generally it is only Michael van Gerwen or Peter Wright who has denied him in TV events in 2017 and with Taylor not playing MVG until the final and Wright seemingly not fit I’ll take Taylor to take advantage.
Alan Norris was a quarter finalist here two years ago and was going along fine until he ran into Raymond Barneveld in inspired form last year. We know from the year he made the Lakeside final that this time of year and in particular set play suits him well so I fancy we might see another good run. If Wright isn’t fit or is poor due to a lack of practice and goes early Norris’ quarter becomes wide open. He can score with any of them and if he hits his doubles a deep run can’t be ruled out.
Tips
PLACED – Back P.Taylor to win PDC World Championship (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 13.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back A.Norris to win PDC World Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 251.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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