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Paul Nicholson looks ahead to the return of darts

PDC Summer Series: Paul Nicholson assesses the return of darts and the race for the World Matchplay

By Paul Nicholson

19:54 · SAT July 04, 2020

Paul Nicholson looks ahead to the return of darts in his latest column and the implications of the PDC Summer Series on World Matchplay qualification.

Follow Paul @TheAsset180 Nicholson on Twitter

The race to qualify for the World Matchplay promises to be a short yet intense and exciting one as the stars of the PDC gear up for the Summer Series.

Five one-day Players Championship events will be staged from Tuesday to Sunday (July 8-12) in Milton Keynes to bring competitive ‘real’ darts back for the first time since March with a bang, and with a total of £375,000 to play for, there’s sure to be plenty of movement on the rankings lists.

After the final event ends, the top 16 on the main PDC Order of Merit will be seeded at the World Matchplay, which will be held behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, while the leading 16 on the one-year Pro Tour standings who haven’t qualified via the main list, will take the remaining spots.

Click here for the current PDC Order of Merit and Pro Tour standings

In addition, the player who earns the most money over the five days will automatically qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts later this year.

Former major winner and pundit Paul Nicholson will be commentating on all five days so in this week’s column, he shares his thoughts about which players he thinks will thrive, who is in danger of missing out, and various other talking points surrounding the sport’s return.

Matchplay race too close to call

The qualification situation for the World Matchplay has become even more fascinating by the fact that prize money that would have been defended from the last few months has been wiped, meaning some players have moved up and down the rankings without even throwing a dart.

However, I haven’t seen anyone complaining about lost prize money over the past three months because everyone understands that the PDC and PDPA had an almost impossible job to work out a solution that was fair to everyone.

You have to tip your hat to the players for that and they’re all chomping at the bit to return to action.

Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski is now 15th in the world which is a landmark moment for Eastern European darts while Glen Durrant has also become a top 16 player.

But while both are almost certain of a spot in the World Matchplay via the Pro Tour list should they be overtaken on the main one, the same can’t be said of those just behind them, and that’s what makes the Summer Series potentially juicy.

Last year’s quarter-finalist Stephen Bunting, for example, has subsequently slipped to 17 in the PDC Order of Merit but is also outside the qualification spots on the Pro Tour list, so things have suddenly got very tricky for him because of what’s happened.

Around 12 months ago he was runner-up at the Czech Open but that £10,000 has been taken off – and that’s about the difference between him and Durrant in the rankings.

Jamie Hughes won that event and he’s now in a weaker position on the Pro Tour Order of Merit – around £4000 more than Kim Huybrechts who is clinging onto the last qualification spot – while there are other big names who need to do something serious.

Chris Dobey is a prime example. Despite being 20th on the main Order of Merit with £218,000, he’s is 16 places and £7000 behind Huybrechts on the Pro Tour list, which is in no small part due to him being unable to defend prize money over the past few months.

However, I still think he’ll make it because if you look at his work ethic over the past few months, he’s arguably been more active playing online tournaments than anyone else.

Chris has been backing this up with some really good performances and looks in the zone to overhaul those above him. I really wouldn’t be surprised if his first PDC title comes during the Summer Series and what a time to do it.

The situation could have been more brutal if many big TV majors had been wiped off but it has certainly added to the pressure of those players outside the highest echelons of the game.

Mervyn King has never missed a Matchplay since moving to the PDC but he’s currently around £4000 from the bubble point on the Pro Tour list while Steve Beaton, who has remarkably qualified every year since 2001 without being a seed, is only £3000 clear of Huybrechts!

Moving days

With £375,000 to play for over five days, the fluctuations are almost immeasurable. The gaps can be bridged in one day – let alone five – so those rankings will be changing as much as ‘moving day’ in a golf tournament.

It’s going to be hectic for us commentators to keep up with it all and a statistical nightmare for everyone to follow!

We’ve never had such a fascinating World Matchplay race because normally at this point in the season with a couple of events left before the cut off, we pretty much know who’ll be there apart from the last spot or two.

This time a player you may think is safe on the first morning could be out of it by day three, but back in it again by day five.

Seeding motivations

Hardly anyone is safe on the current Pro Tour Order of Merit list except perhaps Joe Cullen and Brendan Dolan, but if Joe has an amazing Summer Series, he might end up in the world’s top 16 and qualify that way.

Those at risk of dropping out of those places are Adrian Lewis, Simon Whitlock, Ratajski and Durrant – but none of them will exactly cherish being 16th seed unless they weren’t going to be there at all!

Whitlock is the one in serious trouble, however, and if he doesn’t come into this Summer Series looking sharp then his World Matchplay hopes could be in tatters by Sunday.

At 14th on the main Order of Merit with £244,250, he could feasibly be overtaken by Ratajski, Durrant, Bunting and/or Cullen, which could effectively rule him out considering he’s way down on the Pro Tour list on £12,500. He hasn’t played well on the floor for a while and that’s worrying.

Prize money targets

Michael van Gerwen will be favourite each day but nobody is going to win all five events and take home a grand total of £50,000.

You could go down as far as those around 40 on the Pro Tour list with just £10,000 to their names and you wouldn’t be surprised if they sneak into the World Matchplay on the back of five good days.

In terms of mindset, the right one is just to practice hard for that first event rather than setting yourself a prize money target for the full five days.

If the likes of Steve West, Ricky Evans, John Henderson and Luke Humphries, who are all just outside the Pro Tour top 16, have bigger picture thoughts like "£10k over five days should be enough", then it might hamper their chances of blasting out of the blocks and making a fast start.

The last thing you want is to be needing to do well on that final day.

Pressure points

The good thing for those players further down the rankings is that they don’t have the same kind of pressure and that could make the likes of Jeff Smith a very dangerous climber.

Jeff had such a great start to his debut season and would have a lot more than £8,500 had it not come to an abrupt halt, so don’t rule him out of doing something special.

On the flip side you have players like Ron Meulenkamp and William O’Connor, who have made such great strides over the past year or so that they are now being expected to qualify for more of these big televised tournaments. Being so close to the bubble point will make these five days very high pressure.

Top of the tree

There are of course plenty of big stars with no worries whatsoever about qualifying for the World Matchplay but it’ll still be great to see them in action as they look to run into some tournament form ahead of their bids for major glory.

A lot of attention will be on Nathan Aspinall, who won the PDC Home Tour so brilliantly, and he’ll be very hard to beat as usual with no pressure on his shoulders.

It’ll be intriguing to see how a refreshed and recharged Michael Smith performs after losing an incredible 40lbs in lockdown. He looks great and we all admire him for what he’s done.

Obviously I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of shape van Gerwen is in, having not taken part in the Home Tour to spend more time with the new arrival to his family.

We haven’t seen much of Peter Wright either while Gerwyn Price has been doing a lot of work on his house during lockdown.

Gary Anderson exceeded expectations during his run to the Home Tour final and while he’s obviously a player who responds to big crowds, I don’t think he’ll feel demotivated about the lack of a crowd for the forthcoming World Matchplay. Don’t forget, he won the UK Open when it was behind closed doors.

James Wade isn’t a big practice player but with a lack of competitive action, how cold will he be?

I think there are question marks over everybody and that’s what makes this so fascinating.

Jackpot ready to pay out

The one player I’m interested about the most is Adrian Lewis because I haven’t seen anything of him on social media or on the online darts scene.

He’s been doing stuff in the background and I really want him to come back with a bang.

If it doesn’t go well and he misses out on the World Matchplay, then he’ll almost have to start again in his efforts to return to the top 10.

I’ve said before that he needs to reassess his lifestyle and hopefully this was the perfect time for him to do it ahead of what could be a hot Summer Series.

Boosting the bank balance

Some players will come to this harbouring few aspirations of making the Matchplay and therefore solely focus on earning some much-needed money after a difficult few months.

There will be others like Richard North, who perhaps needed a long break from the tour to regroup after a long run of poor form, ready to make a big impact again having restored their confidence playing a lot of online darts.

If he could bag around £5000 over five days, he’d be delighted with that and it could kick-start his career.

Playing conditions

Waiting to be told when it’s safe to throw under the new Covid-19 enforced regulations will affect some players more than others, especially the faster ones who like to get to the oche quick.

The German players like Gabriel Clemens have already experienced this scenario in their Super League last month so may have a slight advantage when it comes to being used to the rhythm.

One thing they won't be bothered about, however, is not being able to shake the hand of a player they've lost to!

Grand Slam inventive

There is the added carrot that whoever wins most prize money over the five days will earn a spot at the Grand Slam of Darts.

That person could well be Ian White – the floor maestro – and I believe he’ll have a big say in this Summer Series.

It’s great what the PDC have done to offer this incentive and it’ll probably mean the vast majority of top players will compete on all five days given how tough it is to qualify for the Grand Slam.

This feels like a darts festival and the intensity and atmosphere will be palpable.

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