Is there too much pressure on Beau Greaves to become the greatest female darts player of all time?

Beau Greaves became the youngest ever world darts champion at the age of just 18 when she defeated Kirsty Hutchinson at the Lakeside on Sunday and there’s already been much hype about what she can go on and achieve in the game.

It was her 20th victory in a row in all competitions and her average of 92 across the four sets that featured just 13 legs would have been the envy of many experienced pros – male or female.

It was the third highest Lakeside average for a woman behind Trina Gulliver’s efforts of 95.97 and 94.92 in the 2006 and 2001 semi-finals respectively but the highest ever in a ladies final.

Gerwyn Price subsequently labelled her a future PDC major winner but are we putting too much pressure on her shoulders and inadvertently tempting her to join the professional ranks too early?

We’ve had Beau around us for years and I remember her coming to the first ever Champions League of Darts several years ago as a child when she did a short feature for the BBC.

We all knew she had bags of potential with her technique and talent while there’s been plenty of legends who have taken her under their wing to give her opportunities.

But we’ve got to be careful not to put too much pressure and expectations on her shoulders at such a young age. Remember what happened to Michael van Gerwen after he won the World Masters aged 17? He struggled with confidence for several years after that and found it difficult to live up to all the hype.

There was a lot of expectancy on Leighton Bennett at the Lakeside last week but he didn’t even get through his boy’s semi-final. We have to be careful because we are dealing with teenagers who are still learning the game and still growing.

As incredible as her achievements are – including an average of over 105 at the Isle of Man Darts Festival this year - we’ve got to let her have three or four years discovering whether she wants to do this for the long term and not get on her back if her form drops for whatever reason.

Ultimately the WDF World Championship is still a premium product for the ladies’ game and currently the PDC don’t offer a women’s world title.

In three years’ time when Beau is 21, she might well have multiple world titles to her name already but then there will be a serious decision to make about whether to remain in the WDF system or attempt to win a PDC Tour card.

If she tries to enhance her immense talent in the PDC ranks, she could well turn into the most formidable female player we’ve ever seen.

Piling on pressure at too young an age could have adverse mental health impacts and we need to be wary of this. Beau is a strong kid and has been around legendary female players for several years now so the advice she’ll have received will have helped her no end.

It is probably down to Beau and Fallon Sherrock over the next five years to take the women’s game into a new era, so hopefully she will be able to handle it as long as everyone does their bit and not expect too much too soon.

WDF or PDC?

I love Beau’s talent and her potential is unlimited so future success will come down to whether she has the longevity.

If she stays with the WDF then by the time she’s 30, she could start to trouble Trina Gulliver’s record of 10 world titles which we all thought would never be broken.

Ultimately though, money does talk and the temptation of having a crack at earning a Tour Card in the PDC could prove too strong to resist.

By 2030 I would like to see at least eight women with Tour Cards but in order to do that, we need the likes of Beau Greaves on the Order of Merit.

In terms of inspiring the next generation, the PDC are so much better at putting their talent out there – and that goes for Fallon Sherrock, who is a household sporting name because of what she’s achieved in their events.

We will be talking about Sherrock and Lisa Ashton again during the PDC Women’s World Matchplay in Blackpool this summer but will Beau Greaves be there? She didn’t play in the first batch of Women’s Series events in March but there are still two more for her to potentially earn a spot.

It seems as though she’s pitched her tent with the WDF for now but there will be a lot of questions about the ladies game over the next 18 months, especially while the PDC don’t have a Women’s World Championship.

Considering how far the women’s game is behind the men in terms of its development, we can’t afford to see the same kind of split that affected the PDC and BDO back in the 90s. There’s not enough talent to sustain two different versions and it will make it harder for women to move forward as a whole.

In an ideal world, the PDC would allow future female tour card holders to play in the WDF World Championship but then the male players will inevitably question why they can’t do the same.

The PDC contracts state you can’t compete in any other televised or streamed events that aren’t organised by them – unless there is prior permission like we saw with Cameron Menzies and Brian Raman at the Lakeside. We all welcomed that decision due to the fact they’d qualified for the tournament before it was moved to April and subsequently after they’d earned Tour Cards – but it was a one off.

If I were Beau, I’d have a crack at the Women’s Series because she’s certainly good enough to finish in the top eight on the Order of Merit and qualify for the Matchplay – and then also the Alexandra Palace in December.

The only thing standing in her way is potential clashes between PDC events and WDF ‘gold’ events. Some players, like Kirsty Hutchinson, have stated their intentions to put PDC events first in a bid to reach their big majors.

It’ll be fascinating to see what Beau Greaves decides to do.

Duff delivers

There will be pressure on Neil Duff to try his luck in the PDC next season but he might want to stay with the WDF to defend his world title.

Although he’s quite a new name to most casual darts fans despite pushing 50, he has been on the radar since making the World Masters quarter-finals in 2019, winning several ranking events since then.

But crucially he’s also worked with the same sports therapist as the one that helped Glen Durrant and Scott Mitchell achieve great things.

He had a bit of fortune against Jim McEwan but ultimately he was very good at finishing players off and racing over the finishing line when it was in sight – including the deciding set against Thibault Tricole in the final.

I wonder how Duff becoming Northern Ireland’s first ever world champion will sit with Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan?!

Cameron’s last chance?

Cameron Menzies was incredibly entertaining to watch at the Lakeside so he’ll be bitterly disappointed not to have walked away as world champion.

It may be his last chance to achieve such status – with the WDF at least - because I can’t see him losing his tour card any time soon in order to get another bite at the cherry.

Duff and Tricole, by contrast, have never had a PDC Tour Card so they may now feel happy to continue staying with the WDF and playing in their competitions, including the World Championship.

Lakeside problems

Whoever set the ticket prices got it wrong, and as a result the attendances were a lot lower than we’d all have wanted.

No fault should be levelled at the WDF because they weren’t in control of that, so instead the blame should be aimed at the venue.

We all know that Bob Potter has sponsored this event and we should be grateful because if it wasn’t for him, there wouldn’t have been as much prize money on offer.

He loves the legacy he has with this game – and you can tell that everywhere you look when walking around the Lakeside. However, the rest of the Potter family aren’t as invested in the game of darts. When Bob ever leaves us, I don’t think the Lakeside will ever back the WDF World Championship again.

We are hanging onto it by a very thin thread and then we’ll have to look for a fresh venue. That sits very bitter on my tongue, because that venue is something very dear to all of us.

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