It is the final leg of the European Tour this weekend as the roadshow heads to Prague for the Czech Darts Open, the tournament which will determine the 32 qualifiers for the European Championship later in the season.
Peter Wright is the man who won the trophy here last year and he’ll be looking to keep hold of his title over the course of the weekend. Those yet to get into the top 32 in the European Order of Merit will be looking to win the cash they need to get there and book their ticket to the European Championship.
Recent Winners
2023 – Peter Wright
2022 – Luke Humphries
2019 – Jamie Hughes
The Format
We have the normal format this weekend 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
We have the draw in the normal order this weekend which means that the number one seed is in the top half of it. That player is Dave Chisnall and if everything goes to the way the seeds have come out he will meet Josh Rock in the semi-final. Usually there would be six seeds looking to stop that match from happening but Rob Cross has withdrawn to leave just five. The are The Masters champion Stephen Bunting, Ricardo Pietreczko, Ryan Searle, who will be looking to go one better than he went in Switzerland recently, Gerwyn Price and Chris Dobey.
One of the features of the European Tour this season has been the strength of the qualifiers in light of the change in the qualifying system and that is very much the case here where Michael Smith and Dimitri Van den Bergh stand out in the top half but Jonny Clayton and Raymond van Barneveld aren’t far behind them. Daryl Gurney is another in decent form in this half while the likes of Martin Lukeman, Callan Rydz, Kevin Doets and Luke Woodhouse have shown top potential on their day as well.
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Bottom Half
Ross Smith is the second seed in the tournament and as a result of that he will be the highest seed in the bottom half of the draw. If everything goes to the seeding in this half then Smith would meet the World Grand Prix finalist Luke Humphries in the semi-final but in this section there are a full complement of seeds who will be out to stop that match from happening. They are Michael van Gerwen, Damon Heta, Luke Littler, Gian van Veen, Danny Noppert and a Martin Schindler who will be looking for successive European Tour wins having triumphed in Switzerland a fortnight ago.
The qualifiers in this section of the draw are strong as well and they are headed up by the defending champion Peter Wright. The new star on the block is in this half as well with the World Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker here. James Wade is another big name in this part of the bracket with Nathan Aspinall looking to show what he can do. Gabriel Clemens has been in decent touch in recent times too while the likes of Krzysztof Ratajski, Brendan Dolan and Ritchie Edhouse are looking for big runs.
Betting
I’ve mentioned in the past that the record of Chris Dobey in European Tour events is so bad it is a bit of a mystery but if ever that is going to change it has to be this week because he looks to have a plum draw to go deep here. To be fair, while his record in these events is poor, he has made a semi-final of one recently and has had a couple of stinking first game draws in the last couple of European Tour offerings. That certainly isn’t the case here.
Dobey, who has won a couple of Players Championship titles in the last couple of months, really should be competing in the Sunday evening of these events near enough every time he toes the oche in them such is the quality that he has. Jermaine Wattimena or Patrik Kovacs feels like a good route through to Sunday and while a possible clash with Gerwyn Price could come next, would be an issue with him being 1-12 against the Welshman, it isn’t a flowing Price and if he can come through that Rob Cross has opened up the next part with Josh Rock now the highest ranked opponent he could play and he is suddenly missing doubles left, right and centre. This feels like a draw which is going to open right up, particularly a few days after a major and with another TV event beginning Thursday. I’ll play the 28/1 on Dobey to win this tournament.
Tips
Back C.Dobey to win Czech Darts Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
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