After a few weeks off for the beginning of the World Series events, the European Tour returns this weekend when it heads to Germany for the European Darts Matchplay, which will be held in Trier and features 45 leading lights.
Joe Cullen was the light which shone brightest the last time this tournament took place in 2019 and he will attempt to make a successful defence of his crown and bolster his seeding for the European Championship later in the year.
Recent Winners
2019 – Joe Cullen
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – James Wade
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
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
With Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith all withdrawing from the competition, Gerwyn Price will be the number one seed and the top dog in the top half of the draw as a result. He is seeded to face Jose de Sousa in the semi-final so the Welshman will be content with his draw. Six other seeds will be looking to stop that semi-final from happening. They are the Premier League star Jonny Clayton, Daryl Gurney, Nathan Aspinall, Martin Schindler, Rob Cross and Krzysztof Ratajski.
There are a number of qualifiers who are in the draw and the biggest one of them has to be Danny Noppert, the UK Open champion who recently went well in the last European Tour event and in the Dutch Darts Masters. The home star Gabriel Clemens is another top player who is a qualifier this weekend while Scott Williams, a recent winner on the Players Championship scene, is also in this half. Jermaine Wattimena, James Wilson and Jamie Hughes also catch the eye.
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Bottom Half
With all the high profile withdrawals it is Ryan Searle who has the number two seeding this week and he is the highest seed in the bottom half of the draw as a result of that. If the tournament goes to the seeding he will face Luke Humphries in the semi-final but there is a lot of darts to be thrown before that happens and the defending champion Joe Cullen will be one of the players looking to ensure it doesn’t take place. The others are the recent Dutch Darts Masters finalist Dirk van Duijvenbode, the winner of that tournament Dimitri Van den Bergh, Chris Dobey, the World Cup winner Damon Heta and Stephen Bunting.
The qualifiers in this section have a few standout names in them. Martin Lukeman has already made a European Tour final this season and he’ll be looking to do that again from this half while Mervyn King is a big name. Callan Rydz hasn’t had the 2022 that he would have wanted but he can change that with a good run this weekend. Ian White is no stranger to success on the European Tour and he’ll be looking for more this weekend while Steve Lennon and Jeffrey de Zwaan have the potential to be dangerous.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount I like in this draw but when you consider that Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Jose de Sousa and Rob Cross are all in the top half of it and are probably the standard setters in experience if not ability then I think it makes sense to focus on the bottom half of the draw where Ryan Searle and Luke Humphries, the two highest seeds in it, are good players but not always the most consistent players and won’t have played much competitive darts recently either.
Dirk van Duijvenbode certainly has and he might be in the best form he’s been in since he made the final of the World Grand Prix a couple of seasons ago. He played well in the World Cup a couple of weeks ago and prior to that he made the final of a Players Championship event and the quarter final of the other. He them reached the final of the Dutch Darts Masters last week where he had Peter Wright and James Wade among his victims and in a draw in which recent activity could be a huge advantage he’s in the perfect section of it. I’ll take him this week.
Tips
Back D.van Duijvenbode to win European Darts Matchplay (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
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