The countdown to Christmas is in full swing which means that it is time for the 2022 PDC World Championship to begin as 96 of the leading arrer flingers descend on Alexandra Palace once again looking to claim the ultimate prize of the Sid Waddell Trophy and the £500,000 that went with it.
Gerwyn Price was the man who enjoyed those luxuries last year but he’ll be all too aware he won the title without a crowd so he’ll be doubly eager to make a successful defence of his crown now that fans are back.
Recent Winners
2021 – Gerwyn Price
2020 – Peter Wright
2019 – Michael van Gerwen
2018 – Rob Cross
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Gary Anderson
2015 – Gary Anderson
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2013 – Phil Taylor
2012 – Adrian Lewis
The Format
This is the fourth year of the new format. The top 32 in the world rankings all progress through to the second round with the first round of the event seeing the 32 qualifiers from the pro tour order of merit meeting one of the international qualifiers for the right to take on a seeded player in the second stage of the event.
The first and the second round are the best of five sets. The third round and the last 16 are the best of seven sets with the quarter finals up to the best of nine. The two semi-finals are the best of 11 and the champion will be crowned on January 3 over the best of 13 sets. After doing away with it last year the final set tiebreaker is back this year which means that a deciding set needs to be won by two clear legs unless it gets to 5-5 in which leg 11 is a sudden death as was always the case prior to the 2021 competition.
Top Quarter
Gerwyn Price isn’t just the defending champion this week he is the world number one and the headline act in the top quarter of the draw as a result. It is 24 players per quarter for this tournament with eight seeds in each. Price’s World Cup winning partner Jonny Clayton is the next highest seed in this section of the draw, closely followed by Michael Smith. Stephen Bunting was a semi-finalist here last year and he’s in this quarter along with the former World Grand Prix finalist Dirk van Duijvenbode. Glen Durrant and the European pair of Gabriel Clemens and Kim Huybrechts complete the seeds here.
This quarter is going to get a lot of attention because among the players who are in it from the first round are the two women in the draw in Fallon Sherrock and Lisa Ashton. Sherrock has got good history on this stage and will be out to show her best again. Ross Smith and Jeff Smith are two other qualifiers who have made it into this quarter while Keane Barry and Lewi Williams will be doing it for the youngsters. Danny Lauby impressed last year too.
Second Quarter
James Wade has made it into the tournament as the fourth seed but followers of darts will know he has never made the final of this event let alone win it. That might be music to the ears of Dimitri Van den Bergh who is the next highest seed in the section. Joe Cullen was involved in an absolute epic with Michael van Gerwen here last year and he’s in this quarter looking to build on that. Krzysztof Ratajski is also here. Vincent van der Voort, Simon Whitlock, Devon Petersen and Mervyn King complete the list of seeds in this quarter.
There are plenty of household names in the qualifiers in this section including the newly crowned World Youth champion Ted Evetts. Former world finalist Jim Williams is in here too are the German pair of Florian Hempel and Martin Schindler. Martijn Kleermaker will make his PDC World Championship debut after Covid-19 put paid to his hopes last year. Steve Lennon, Jamie Hughes and Ryan Joyce are all here too.
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Third Quarter
The former champion Peter Wright will look to add the World Championship crown to the World Matchplay title he won earlier in the year and he’ll attempt to do it from the third quarter. The former Grand Slam of Darts winner Jose de Sousa is the other main seed in this section although the twice semi-finalist, Nathan Aspinall, will be looking to go deep from here too. Players Championship finalist Ryan Searle and Danny Noppert are both in this quarter while Damon Heta, Mensur Suljovic and Brendan Dolan round off the seeds.
This is another section with a host of good players among the qualifiers. They include a man who has had a great year on the floor in Callan Rydz and the veteran Paul Lim who is here for another showing. Bradley Brooks made a name for himself at the Grand Slam last month and he’s in this quarter while Alan Soutar could be dangerous. Jason Lowe took care of Michael Smith here last year and he’ll be aiming for more scalps this time around. Luke Woodhouse and Ryan Meikle round off the pick of the qualifiers.
Bottom Quarter
Michael van Gerwen will be itching to claim his world title back with it being three years since he last won it and if he is going to do that he’ll have to do it from the bottom quarter of the draw. One of his old nemesis is the next highest seed in this quarter in Gary Anderson while the man who dumped MVG out in the quarter final last year is also here in Dave Chisnall. The other seeds in this section are Chris Dobey, Luke Humphries, Ian White, the former champion Rob Cross and a Daryl Gurney who looked like he was coming good again at the Players Championship last month.
Two of the biggest qualifiers in the entire field are in this quarter of the draw in Raymond van Barneveld and Adrian Lewis. They are going to ensure we get some belting action throughout the first couple of rounds. Scott Mitchell has the BDO world title to his name and if he is going to add the PDC version he’ll do so from the bottom quarter, while Matt Campbell, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Darius Labanauskas and Nick Kenny will all be out to show how dangerous they can be.
Betting
Usually I pick out a few names to get stuck into in this tournament but since the field has gone up to 96 players the best value tends to be in the quarter markets, especially when you consider that Rob Cross is the only person ranked outside the top eight in the world to have won this event since John Part won the first running at Alexandra Palace in 2008. This tournament usually gets a top drawer champion and although a case can be made for more players than ever this year, that is a trend I don’t see ending.
I usually pick by draw and I think Dimitri Van den Bergh has a blinding draw if he can come through his opener against either Florian Hempel or Martin Schindler. That isn’t a complete gimme given that one of those will have played on the stage before him but if he does come through that the seeds in his quarter tend to flatter to deceive here. James Wade has never made the final here while the bright lights still don’t agree with Krzysztof Ratajski and sloppy spells still keep costing Joe Cullen. With Devon Petersen and Simon Whitlock out of form it might be that Mervyn King stands between the Belgian and the semi-finals. At 18/1 I think that’s a great draw for the former World Matchplay winner who has twice made the last eight here and is a much more established player now.
Tips
Back D.Van den Bergh to win PDC World Championship for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Sky Bet (1/2 1-2)
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