As with all European Tour events the opening day of action in the German Darts Masters sees the qualifiers battling it out over two sessions of play on Saturday for the right to face one of the seeded players in the last 32 on Sunday.
Among the names on show on the first day of the event are former world champions Steve Beaton and Stephen Bunting as well as former world finalists Kevin Painter and Alan Norris.
The really big names are all saved for the evening but there should still be some good darts provided by Daryl Gurney, Cristo Reyes, Jeffrey de Graaf and Andrew Gilding on what is going to be a busy afternoon in Munich.
There isn’t a whole lot I fancy in the afternoon session. Most of the favourites look good things and those who you would want to take on aren’t playing anything special which always makes betting difficult.
In truth the same can be said for the most part about the evening session as well with the favourites generally looking like good things but there is one man who I’m going to take in what is largely a day to watch and observe and keep our money in our pockets for the rest of the event.
Stuart Kellett came over to the PDC with a big reputation having made the Winmau World Masters final and reached number two in the world in the BDO but it is fair to say he is yet to deliver his best form on a PDC stage.
That might be about to change though as there are signs Kellett could be rediscovering his best stuff. He made the last 16 of the UK Open where Michael Smith was among his victims there and since then he has nailed a nine dart finish in qualifying for one of the later European Tour events in the year.
Kellett faces Kevin Painter in the first round here with the winner progressing to play Justin Pipe so there is a chance for whoever comes through here to earn themselves a few quid and build even more confidence.
Painter’s form has left him at the minute. He has only made two last 16s in tour events in the last 12 months and for someone with his quality that is a very poor return so his confidence is likely to be very low going into this match.
Kellett leads an admittedly dated head to head between the two 2-1 and looks to be heading to Germany in better nick of the two so at 6/4 he’s the call to get it done in this one.
Back S.Kellett to beat K.Painter for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Bet365
Back him here:
