We have another European Tour event this weekend as the European Darts Grand Prix takes place out in Stuttgart as those who qualified for the event will look to boost their chances of making it into the European Championship at the end of the season.
Jose de Sousa won this tournament the last time it was held a couple of years ago and he is in the field looking to defend the title this year. He is up against one of the better looking fields of the season though.
Recent Winners
2020 – Jose de Sousa
2019 – Ian White
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Peter Wright
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Kim Huybrechts
2014 – Mervyn King
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 been the European Tour king so far this season and he will lead the way from the seeding point of view in the top half this week as he is the number one seed. The winner of the Premier League night at the o2 on Thursday, Joe Cullen, is seeded to be his semi-final opponent but Rob Cross is one of the other six seeds who will have something to say about that. The others are Martin Schindler, Damon Heta, Ryan Searle, Daryl Gurney and Krzysztof Ratajski.
The one apparent thing about this tournament is the quality of the qualifiers and such is the strength of the field that Callan Rydz, a finalist on the floor just last week, is a qualifier for this tournament. Kim Huybrechts, Stephen Bunting, Jelle Klaasen, Jim Williams, Ryan Joyce, and Mickey Mansell are all seasoned campaigners while Martin Lukeman has already made a European Tour final this season. Rowby-John Rodriguez and Adam Gawlas will get the chance to show us what the future of the game can bring.
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Bottom Half
The defending champion Jose de Sousa is the man who is the highest seed in the bottom half of the draw this week. With the likes of Gerwyn Price missing it is the world champion and world number one Peter Wright who will be seeded to reach the semi-finals against de Sousa. A bunch of decent names will be looking to deny that happening. They are the former World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh, Brendan Dolan, the winner of the Czech Darts Open last week in Luke Humphries, Premier League leader Jonny Clayton, world finalist Michael Smith and Dirk van Duijvenbode.
In the main the level of qualifiers in the bottom half of the draw aren’t of the same standard although one player who certainly is of a high class is the UK Open champion Danny Noppert. Adrian Lewis is another household name while Gabriel Clemens is a serial qualifier for these things. Martijn Kleermaker, Danny Jansen, Ryan Meikle, Luke Woodhouse and Karel Sedlacek are just some of the other qualifiers who will be looking to make an impression here.
Betting
There are three quarters in this draw which look a bit of a minefield so I’m going to take an outright bet in the other one and that comes in the form of Dimitri Van den Bergh. The Belgian made it to the final of the European Tour event a couple of weeks ago where he ran into a storm in the form of Michael van Gerwen but we know he can win at this level and on the big stages. I happen to think this will be a weekend where the Premier League players have their minds on other things which should suit Van den Bergh here.
We know at his best that the Belgian number one is a class act and with some big tournaments on the horizon I’m sure he’ll have been putting the work in. Van den Bergh has also made the semi-final of another European Tour event where he ran into MVG again, a quarter final of a European Tour event and the final of a Players Championship event. His form has been good for a while now without winning a title. With a kind draw I think he can put that right this weekend.
Tips
Back D.Van den Bergh to win European Darts Grand Prix (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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