Chris Dobey is still waiting for the elusive title that his blossoming career deserves and they’d be no better time to break his duck during this week’s PDC Summer Series in Milton Keynes.
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The Northumberland star has risen up to 20 in the world after a superb couple of seasons, which included two major semi-final appearances in 2019 at the World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals while he’s also reached the fourth round in back-to-back World Championships.
However, he finds himself in a tough position to qualify for this month’s prestigious World Matchplay after sliding down the ProTour Order of Merit due to a combination of poor form in floor events at the very start of the year and the inability to defend his 2019 prize money during lockdown.
Dobey isn’t obviously the only player to have money fall off their rankings but crucially his fourth career Pro Tour final came in last June’s Danish Darts Open, where he earned £10,000 by finishing runner-up to Dave Chisnall.
The 30-year-old subsequently finds himself 16 places and £7,500 behind Kim Huybrechts, who is currently holding the 16th qualifying spot on the ProTour Order of Merit, but with a total prize fund of £375,000 up for grabs across five tournaments this week, he’s certainly not without hope of returning to the Marshall Arena for the sport’s second biggest major.
A daily winners’ cheque of £10,000 somewhere along the line would be perfect timing and his performances during the online darts scene, including the Home Tour, more than suggest he can do it.
Dobey, who also played brilliantly to reach the last 16 at the UK Open back in March, told Sporting Life Darts during lockdown: “It’s going to be hard to predict as we have to adapt to the floor environment again and the schedule is going to be crazy. But it has to be like that to give us chances to qualify for the big majors.
That finish from Chris Dobey to beat Krzysztof Ratajski, who was waiting on 16 in the decider of an epic!
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) March 6, 2020
Both players averaged 105 and 10 of the 19 legs were won in 13 legs or fewer. Incredible standard.pic.twitter.com/OYR4TZwejL
“I’ve had some banter with Glen Durrant because he’s gone up the rankings due to not defending any money but others like me have gone down because it’s been coming off.
“I don’t think it’s fair but it can’t really be helped and hopefully I can make it up when tournaments return.
“I’ve set my targets once again for a title – which I said last year and didn’t manage despite going a close on several occasions. I reached a European Tour final and a couple of semi-finals in the majors.
“I lost 4-0 to Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix and I kicked myself really hard after that because it should never have been that scoreline.
Gordon Dobey opted against turning pro so he could guarantee supporting his family. Now his rising star son Chris has pledged to pay and support his dad through Q School to fulfil the family dream.
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) April 11, 2020
What a darting fairytale that would be…@Dobey10 https://t.co/Xggs6n0u0y
“I bounced back to reach another next semi-final at the Players Championship Finals but losing so narrowly to Gerwyn Price was another hard one to take because I did everything but win that game.”
“I worked hard after that and then enjoyed another good run at the World Championship. I had one bad set in the whole of the tournament against Glen and he punished me for it.
“Hopefully it’ll all come together soon for me and I can win my first major or a ranking title. I think that’s all that’s missing for me to step up to the next level.”
Dobey is only too aware of how the rising standards in the game are making it harder to win any title – let alone a major – but believes doing so could help him emulate close friend Nathan Aspinall.
Hollywood’s first ever appearance at a major tournament came against the Stockport star at the 2015 UK Open when both were starting their respective career in the big league.
While Dobey climbed the ranks steadily ever since before a sharper climb over the past two years, Aspinall took a roller-coaster approach to becoming a top 10 major-winning player having previously lost his tour card at the end of 2016.
The Bedlington ace, who also told Sporting Life about his hopes of paying his father Gordon through Q School next year, said: “We’ve always had this kind of rivalry since we got through Q School with exactly the same points at the start of 2015. We then qualified for the UK Open with exactly the same money and although he beat me 5-1, I didn’t do too much wrong!
“Ever since then we’ve become good friends and I always kept in touch with him when he lost his tour card, because that wasn’t nice.
“But after winning it back, look what he’s done! All it took for him was that one win from a Players Championship event to kick-start his career, then he’s made semi-finals of the World Championship twice and won the UK Open and US Darts Masters.
“Hopefully if I can get that one win that I’m missing then I can do something similar.”
Dobey is keen to stress how hard it is for any professional to climb up the rankings from the lower reaches.
He said: “There’s so much money in the game now that when you win a tour card, the top 64 are sitting on a lot of it.
“You need one good year out of your first two on tour to try and make an impact but my debut season was poor. I don’t think I even won more than £10,000 and couldn’t seem to win a game on Sundays.
“But my luck changed in my second year and qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts where I reached the quarter-finals. That money really helped me climb up the rankings and I’ve continued since then.”
“My proudest moment so far is still my night on the Premier League stage with all my friends and family singing my name. I’ve had the crowd against me before – like against Fallon Sherrock at the World Championship – so it makes experiences like that even more unforgettable.”
If all the stand-ins get a reception like Chris Dobey in Newcastle then this could take off...#PremierLeagueDarts pic.twitter.com/XAIy9tRzTs
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) February 7, 2019
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