The European Tour campaign continues this weekend with the European Darts Grand Prix, the sixth event of the 14 which act as the qualifying route for the European Championship towards the end of the season.
Gary Anderson boosted his chances of appearing in that event when he won this tournament a year ago and he is back in the field looking to make a successful defence of the title. The draw looks quite open here which will help.
Recent Winners
2024 – Gary Anderson
2023 – Gerwyn Price
2022 – Luke Humphries
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 have a slightly new format this season which means that the players ranked 17-32 on the order of merit and 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’ve flipped the bracket this week which means that the second seed is the highest in the top half of the draw. That player is Michael van Gerwen, who showed signs of a return to form in the Premier League earlier in the week. He is seeded to meet the man who he beat in the quarter final in Birmingham in the semi-final this weekend in Rob Cross. Gerwyn Price, the defending champion Gary Anderson, Damon Heta, Nathan Aspinall, James Wade and Josh Rock are the other seeds in this section.
This is a strong half of the draw because the automatic qualifiers outside the top 16 have plenty of quality in them, not least because the World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker is among them, as is the winner of the fourth European Tour event of the campaign in Gian van Veen. There is also Joe Cullen, Ryan Searle, Raymond van Barneveld and the home number one Martin Schindler in this half with qualifiers including Max Hopp, Krzysztof Ratajski, Niels Zonneveld and Dirk van Duijvenbode all in this part of the draw.
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Bottom Half
That means that the number one seed will head up the bottom half of the draw this weekend. That player is Luke Humphries and given that Luke Littler has made it clear that he isn’t returning to Germany anytime soon, the world number one will be expected to win this tournament. He is set to collide with Jonny Clayton in the semi-final but the likes of Stephen Bunting, Peter Wright, Danny Noppert, Chris Dobey, Dave Chisnall and Michael Smith are the other seeds looking to deny that happening.
Ross Smith was a finalist in the last European Tour event in Austria last week and he is one of the automatic qualifiers outside of the top 16 in the field this weekend. The reigning European champion Ritchie Edhouse and the man he beat in the final to get that crown in Jermaine Wattimena are here too while Wessel Nijman, Cameron Menzies and Ryan Joyce are all capable of big runs. Home favourite Gabriel Clemens, Michael Unterbuchner and Connor Scutt are some of the more interesting qualifiers.
Betting
This feels a wide open draw to me, not least because this is the third European Tour event in quick succession so everyone should be up to speed but we are also at the stage of the Premier League where that might be getting the attention of those involved in it. With that in mind, I’ll take a player in both halves of the draw this week with Dirk van Duijvenbode my pick in the top half. He has a tricky section to come through but these days I prefer Dirk when he has a tough route than when he has a comfortable one. He walloped Gian van Veen on his way to a quarter final defeat in Austria last week but that 6-1 winning margin tells us that the big Dutchman is scoring well. If he can see off Michael van Gerwen in round two his draw could open up to the levels which allow him to have a big weekend.
I’ve also got this nagging feeling that Peter Wright isn’t playing anywhere near as badly as his results might suggest that he is. It was only a month or so ago that he made the final of a Players Championship tournament where Callan Rydz, Danny Noppert, Chris Dobey, Josh Rock and Gary Anderson were all victims before he lost in the final to Cameron Menzies. Wright has been unlucky in the last two European Tour events too having gone out in a deciding leg to Luke Littler and then Ross Smith, both of whom went deep in those respective competitions. At 50/1 there’s enough meat on the Wright bone for me to have a nibble.
Tips
Back D.van Duijvenbode to win European Darts Grand Prix for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back P.Wright to win European Darts Grand Prix (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 51.00 with Betway (1/2 1-2)
