The PDC World Darts Championship continues on Monday evening when another four matches take place inside Alexandra Palace with three of them coming in the first round as well as a former champion playing in the second round.
That former champion is Gerwyn Price who is defending the £500,000 he won when he landed this title a couple of years ago so he will be doubly desperate to make it into the third round. Some promising youngsters and a veteran make up a good card.
Geert Nentjes vs Leonard Gates
The opening match of the night sees the Dutch youngster Geert Nentjes looking to crown a solid enough year by making it through to the second round when he takes on the American player who we’ve seen a fair bit of on our screens in 2022 in Leonard Gates.
We saw Gates at the WDF World Championship earlier in the year where Steve Hine took care of him in the second round and then we saw him at some of the World Series events including the finals where he took care of Devon Petersen before losing to James Wade and he competed at the Grand Slam where he almost beat Damon Heta so if this comes down to big stage form then Gates is likely to offer up a decent challenge here. Nentjes has had some appealing results this season not least a 6-0 European Tour win over Josh Rock which gets all the more impressive by the day. Nentjes has played on this stage twice before but hasn’t won a match although Kim Huybrechts and Nathan Aspinall are significantly harder opponents than he faces here. I’d expect the Dutch player to win but this will be the first World Championship match he has played as a favourite and that is a different kind of pressure so I’m happy to leave this one alone.
Ritchie Edhouse vs David Cameron
There are a number of sleeper good games in the first round draw this year and one of them comes along in the second match of the evening when Ritchie Edhouse takes on the recently crowned Seniors World Masters champion David Cameron.
Cameron is no stranger to a World Championship having competed in the BDO/WDF version on a number of occasions and made it into this tournament courtesy of his exploits on a Canadian tour which is gaining in quality all the time with the likes Danny Baggish, Leonard Gates, Jules van Dongen, John Part and Matt Campbell all participating in events on that this season. He still lacks that kick that you need to be assured of winning matches at this level. Edhouse caused a major shock at the recent Players Championship Finals when he dumped Michael Smith out in the first round barely a week after ‘Bully Boy’ had won the Grand Slam. Edhouse also qualified for the Grand Slam so he arrives here in decent form and I would expect him to win this but he misses too many doubles for me to chance him at a short price or to cover a handicap at a more backable one. Where I am happy to trust him is in the 180 department as this match has the feel or a four or five setter about it so a 3.5 180 line looks very coverable. Edhouse might not be a Michael Smith or Dirk van Duijvenbode on the 60 but he knows how to fill the bed up and if we go four sets here an average of a 180 per set should not be beyond him. I think he’ll get that on a mundane night so if he plays well he can go way beyond that.
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Steve Beaton vs Danny van Trijp
The last of the first round matches on the night is a clash of the old and the new as the veteran former world champion Steve Beaton embarks on another World Championship journey when he meets the Dutch youngster Danny van Trijp.
Van Trijp qualified for this tournament via the Challenge Tour where he has already done enough to secure a tour card courtesy of the exploits on tour of Scott Williams so he can attack this match with a bit of freedom knowing his status is secure for next season. It looked like time was running out on the tour for Beaton but then out of nowhere he made the final of the last Players Championship event of the season to establish a more solid position in the rankings which should take the pressure off him in this match. You either get rough or smooth with Beaton on this stage though. He beat Fallon Sherrock in trying circumstances here last year but the year before he lost in the opening round to Diogo Portela in a dog of a match in which he averaged 84. Something tells me van Trijp is a bit of value here but a poor showing in the Modus league recently puts me off getting involved in this one.
Gerwyn Price vs Luke Woodhouse
The second round match in this evening session sees the world number one arriving into the tournament when Gerwyn Price takes on a Luke Woodhouse who came through in the opening round on Sunday afternoon and will now look to pull off a major upset.
Woodhouse took care of the Ukrainian qualifier Vladyslav Omelchenko under what probably would have been trying circumstances for the professional player. I say that because he’ll have known nothing about his opponent and what to expect from him and these days there is always an air of awkwardness when competing against a Ukrainian with all they have going on at home. Despite all that, Woodhouse averaged 87.89 and finished around 40% so it was a solid performance which if he cleans it up he could scare Price. Price won’t need me to tell him he will need to make a fast start here to keep the crowd quiet but if he does that and allows his class to come through then he should have way too much but Woodhouse has nothing to lose and he’ll know he only trails Price 3-4 on their career meetings so he might well lay it down to Price. With the potential crowd involvement I’m happy enough to leave this alone although I might talk myself into a small punt on Woodhouse around the 11/2 mark if the earlier bet has landed.
Tips
Back R.Edhouse – Over 3.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
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