The European Tour season continues this weekend when the stars of the game head to Zwolle for the Dutch Darts Championship, the eighth event of the campaign and one which forms part of the qualifying series for the European Championship.
Ian White was the winner of the inaugural staging of this tournament back in 2018. The pandemic has stopped it being hosted again until now but we are guaranteed a new champion as White failed to qualify for the event.
Recent Winners
2018 – Ian White
The Format
We might not have had many European Tour events last year but the format for these tournaments remains the same as before, which means that the qualifiers meet each other over the course of the play on Friday before 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 has won three European Tour titles this season and is the highest ranked seed in the top half of the draw this weekend. He is seeded to meet Peter Wright in the semi-final but there are six seeds who will all fancy their chances of progressing through themselves. They are the Premier League star Joe Cullen, the man who has lost in the final of the last two European Tour events in Rob Cross, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Martin Schindler, Nathan Aspinall and Brendan Dolan.
There is some serious talent among the qualifiers in this top half of the draw this weekend. They are headed by the UK Open champion Danny Noppert but also include the former world champion Jelle Klaasen and former world finalist Simon Whitlock. Callan Rydz is probably good enough to be a seeded player but that isn’t how it has played out this week. Martijn Kleermaker and Jermaine Wattimena will be looking to thrill the home crowds while Ryan Meikle and Steve Lennon are among those who could be dangerous dark horses.
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Bottom Half
Gerwyn Price is the top seed in the bottom half of the draw this weekend. He’ll be looking to build up some form to take into the upcoming World Series events but he might have his work cut out. He is seeded to take on Ryan Searle in the semi-final but Jose de Sousa is one of the other six seeded looking to deny him his run. Dirk van Duijvenbode Krzysztof Ratajski, the Thursday night winner in the Premier League, Michael Smith, Damon Heta and Chris Dobey are the other seeds in this half.
There are some eye catching players among the qualifiers in this half of the draw as well. They are probably headed by the former world champion Scott Waits while former world finalists Dave Chisnall and Jim Williams are in this half as well. Mervyn King has qualified for this event while the likes of Danny Jansen, Vincent van der Voort, Wesley Plaisier and Niels Zonneveld are some of those hoping to entertain the home crowds. Ross Smith and Connor Scutt have the potential to be dangerous.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of outright bets this weekend and they are both at the higher end of the market as I’m not convinced this draw is going to open up like we’ve seen recent ones do. My main bet is on Michael Smith who has flattered to deceive in recent European Tour outings but now that the Premier League is over for him he can give these events his full focus. We know he is in decent form. He didn’t just land the Premier League weekly title on Thursday but it was only a couple of weeks ago that he did the Players Championship double on the floor. Smith just needed a bit of luck to go his way in the Premier League to land one of those weekly nights and he had that and I fancy he’ll kick on from here. At 12/1 he’s a fair price in a draw which doesn’t look as hard as it could do.
The other bet I like this week is Danny Noppert. I always like to take a home player in these things and after winning the UK Open earlier in the year Noppert has established himself as a leading light in the game. If he can add a European Tour title to his CV he is going to go to the World Matchplay as a leading fancy and will be well ahead of the queue for any spare spots in the World Series and Premier League next season. Noppert was in great form in the previous European Tour event until he ran into Peter Wright who averaged 111 against him in the quarter final. Noppert averaged 104 himself in that contest. Noppy averaged over a ton in the last 32, last 16 and the quarter final of that event and if he can carry that form into this one he is going to be tough to beat even allowing for the fact van Gerwen is in his half.
Tips
Back M.Smith to win Dutch Darts Championship (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 13.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back D.Noppert to win Dutch Darts Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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