The European Tour is in full swing and the roadshow heads to Austria this weekend for the Austrian Darts Open, an event growing in popularity all the time and one which will have a fair impact on the overall standings regarding qualification for the European Championship later in the year.
Jonny Clayton was a surprise winner of the tournament last year and he is here to defend his title but he goes up against arguably one of the best fields of the campaign so far so he’ll have his work cut out to keep the crown.
Recent Winners
2018 – Jonny Clayton
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Phil Taylor
2014 – Vincent van der Voort
2013 – Michael van Gerwen
2012 – Justin Pipe
The Format
We are using the same format as last season for these tournaments which means that the last 32 of the tournament is played over two sessions of action on Saturday, with the last 16 on Sunday afternoon and the quarter finals on Sunday night. They are all the best-of-11 legs with the semi-finals also on Sunday evening. They are the best-of-13 and then the final in the same session is the best-of-15 legs. The draw has been pre-determined and is played in a straight knockout format.
Top Half
Michael van Gerwen goes in search of another European Tour event here and he is the number one seed and in the top half of the draw. He had a tough draw last week and came through it and he doesn’t have it too easy here. Daryl Gurney beat him in the Premier League on Thursday and he’s in this half of the draw while Joe Cullen, Dave Chisnall, Adrian Lewis, Peter Wright, Jonny Clayton and Darren Webster are the other seeds in this section.
Stephen Bunting heads the list of the qualifiers. They include a trio of the Premier League ‘contenders’ such as UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall, Steve Lennon and Chris Dobey while former world champion Mark Webster has made it through to this stage. The three other men in the draw are Tytus Kanik, Ryan Searle and Boris Koltsov who will be out to make a name for themselves this weekend.
Bottom Half
Gerwyn Price has taken over the mantle of second seed in the tournament and he will head up the bottom half of the draw over the weekend. He will be looking for a decent weekend to take into the last couple of weeks of the Premier League with him. The other seven seeds in the bottom half are Mensur Suljovic, James Wade, Rob Cross, Ricky Evans, Michael Smith, Max Hopp and the runner up from last week Ian White.
Raymond van Barneveld is the standout challenger among the qualifiers in this section of the draw. He isn’t the only world champion among them as Steve Beaton is also here. Jeffrey de Zwaan is another of those Premier League contenders in the draw while John Henderson, Darius Labanauskas, Mervyn King, Jamie Hughes and Keegan Brown are the other men in what looks like being a competitive part of the draw this weekend.
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Betting
The value in the leading contenders in these draws is starting to get a little thin on the ground but there is one player I like this weekend and that is Gerwyn Price. The Welshman didn’t perform in the Premier League on Thursday night so he has a point to prove in this tournament and that is generally when he is at his best.
Price has already won a European Tour event when he scooped the International Darts Open last year and he has been unlucky this term. He has reached the quarter final of three different European Tour tournaments this year, losing out in the deciding leg of each of them so with an ounce more luck he could easily have added to his title haul. He has won two titles on the floor this year so winning isn’t an issue. He’s run into MVG in one of those quarter finals which he won’t do here until the final. At 25/1 he’s my idea of the value in this draw.
Tips
Back G.Price to win Austrian Darts Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betway (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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