The 2021 PDC season gets underway on Friday when the top 24 players in the world make their way to Milton Keynes for an expanded edition of The Masters, the first chance since the World Championship for the stars to showcase their talents.
Peter Wright did exactly that last year when he added this crown to his World Championship one and he will be looking to make a successful defence here. This event will be the first that new world champion and world number one Gerwyn Price will line up in.
Recent Winners
2020 – Peter Wright
2019 – Michael van Gerwen
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – James Wade
2013 – Phil Taylor
The Format
We have an extended event this weekend with 24 players taking to the oche rather than the usual 16. The first round sees the players ranked 9-24 meeting over the best of 11 legs on Friday evening with the winners progressing to face one of the top 8 in the last 16 on Saturday. The quarter finals, semi-finals and final all take place on Sunday with the last 16 and last eight being the best of 19 legs and the latter stages the best of 21 to find the winner on Sunday evening.
Top Half
The new world champion and world number one Gerwyn Price is the top seed this week and he is the headline attraction in the top half of the draw. If he is going to follow in the footsteps of van Gerwen and Wright and add this trophy straight after the World Championship he will have to come past some seasoned campaigners. The man Price beat in the world final is in this half of the draw in Gary Anderson while the other two top eight seeds at the former world champion Rob Cross and the Premier League finalist Nathan Aspinall.
There are eight other players in this part of the draw with Michael Smith probably the one with most to gain with a Premier League spot potentially up for grabs. Adrian Lewis is the last man in the field and he’ll be looking to take advantage while Joe Cullen competes for the first time since he ran van Gerwen close in the World Championship. Ally Pally semi-flnalist Stephen Bunting is also in this half with the other players being the Premier League champion Glen Durrant, Mervyn King, Ian White and Mensur Suljovic.
Bottom Half
Michael van Gerwen will look to prove he is still the man to beat when he heads up this second half of the draw. The defending champion Peter Wright is also in this half of the draw and eyes immediately turn towards a potential semi-final between the two. The other two men to escape the Friday action courtesy of being in the top eight in the world rankings are Dave Chisnall, who will be looking to back up his run to the last four of the World Championship, and James Wade who is a former winner of this title.
Eight players start their campaign in this half of the draw from the first round on Friday night including two current TV title holders in the form of the World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh and the Grand Slam winner Jose de Sousa. The World Cup winner Jonny Clayton is also in this half of the draw as are Chris Dobey, Krzysztof Ratajski, Simon Whitlock, Daryl Gurney and the Dutch ace Jeffrey de Zwaan.
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Outright Betting
I’m going to back Gary Anderson to overcome the loss in the world final here. At 14/1 he looks a pretty decent bet when you consider the scrutiny and pressure that will be on Gerwyn Price, who is no guarantee to come past the winner of Joe Cullen or Jonny Clayton in the last 16. I suspect life will have changed for Price in the last few weeks and he might need an event or two to come to terms with that. When you consider the seeds in the other quarter both have question marks over them Anderson might not have much to beat.
Anderson spoke almost religiously about practicing hard and making 2021 a big year during the World Championship and even in the lead up to this tournament he has been suggesting he is bang up for pushing for another world title. I’m not sure if it is too early in the year for his work to have started and be paying off but he may not need to be at his very best to go well here. The format is good for him, the draw certainly isn’t unkind so at 14/1 he’s my pick this weekend.
Quarter Betting
I’m not always one for betting on the quarters in these condensed fields but I’m compelled to get involved in the second quarter here purely because the draw looks so open with question marks over so many. Rob Cross has a lot to prove while I read somewhere that Nathan Aspinall is using new darts for the first time so that is a serious question mark. Of those outside the top eight nobody is quite sure if Glen Durrant is back to his best so this quarter feels wide open.
With that in mind I’m going to take a chance on Mervyn King to come through and deliver the goods. King went well in the Players Championship Finals towards the back end of 2020 where he made the final and then followed that up with a creditable run to the last 16 of the World Championship where the eventual champion Gerwyn Price denied him after King himself had walloped Jose de Sousa. King has spoken of using new darts and they certainly appear to be working. He’s a former finalist in this event so starts the year well and at 6/1 he looks great value to progress to the last four again here.
Tips
Back G.Anderson to win The Masters (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 15.00 with 888sport (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
WON – Back M.King to win 2nd Quarter for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with Coral
Back him here:
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