We have seen the PDC world champion crowned and now it is time for the other code to determine theirs as the BDO World Championship gets going at the Lakeside Country Club on Saturday with 40 leading players from that side of the darting divide heading to Surrey looking to become world champion.
Glen Durrant did that for the second time last year and will go in search of an illustrious hat trick of titles this year. A number of players will fancy their chances of denying him on this famous Lakeside stage.
Recent Winners
2018 – Glen Durrant
2017 – Glen Durrant
2016 – Scott Waites
2015 – Scott Mitchell
2014 – Stephen Bunting
2013 – Scott Waites
2012 – Christian Kist
2011 – Martin Adams
2010 – Martin Adams
2009 – Ted Hankey
The Format
Much like the PDC equivalent of this tournament, the event is played over set play. The preliminary round and the first round are played over the best of five sets with the event moving up to the best of seven for the last 16. The four quarter finals with be a first to five with the two semi-finals being the best of 11 sets. The champion will then be determined on the second Sunday of the tournament in a final over the best of 13 sets.
Top Half
Mark McGeeney heads into the tournament as the number one seed and he is the leader in the top half of the draw. The other seeds in this part of the draw are the former champion Scott Waites, previous finalist Martin Phillips as well as regular semi-finalists Richard Veenstra and Wesley Harms. Michael Unterbuchner made the last four last year and will be looking to go two steps further this year. The other seeds are Willem Mandigers and Wayne Warren.
There are some competitive qualifiers in the top half as well making sure this will be fiercely competitive. Former PDC star Wes Newton is one of them while Paul Hogan is capable of going deep here. Tony O’Shea is a former finalist in this tournament while Nigel Heydon is another who has PDC roots. Dirk Telnekes and Conan Whitehead will look to showcase their talents.
Bottom Half
It looks like a competitive bottom half of the draw but it will largely be all about defending champion Glen Durrant, who could well be playing in his final BDO tournament. Jim Williams, Gary Robson and Scott Mitchell all produced creditable performances in the Grand Slam in November and will fancy their chances here. Ross Montgomery, Chris Landman, Daniel Day and Dave Parletti make up the seeds in the bottom half.
One man stands out by a country mile among the unseeded players in this section. Former PDC World Championship finalist Andy Hamilton is in this bottom half of the draw and he’ll be targeting a first world title. Winmau World Masters winner Adam Smith-Neale is also in this section while the extremely talented Dean Reynolds could be a dangerous outsider here. Kyle McKinstry is another who is not lacking in ability.
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Betting
Both my bets this year are going to come from the top half of the draw where many of the leading contenders are out of the way. That’s not to say the likes of Mark McGeeney and Michael Unterbuchner do not merit respect but I’d rather take them on than Glen Durrant, Scott Mitchell and even Andy Hamilton.
Richard Veenstra usually performs well on this stage having made the semi-final a few years ago and he went down in a final set epic to Michael Unterbuchner here last year. Since then the Dutchman has won some big BDO events and recently made the final of the Finders Masters out in Zuiderduin. Some players can be beaten by the prestige and history of this Lakeside stage before they set foot on it. Veenstra won’t be. He’s in decent nick and if the doubles flow he has the draw to go deep.
I also can’t resist a cheeky punt on Paul Hogan at 40/1. He has a humdinger of a preliminary round draw with Wes Newton to overcome but he could easily half in price should he come through that encounter. He’s in the best quarter of the draw and we saw in Minehead how good he is when he took out Jeffrey de Zwaan and pushed Gerwyn Price to a deciding leg in a great game of darts at the UK Open. Hogan didn’t qualify for this last year but two years ago he laid it down to Glen Durrant big style and if he has that sort of form with him here he could well still be competing on the second Sunday.
Tips
Back R.Veenstra to win BDO World Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Betfair (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back P.Hogan to win BDO World Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Boylesports (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
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