Winner of World Matchplay Darts is too close to call as Michael van Gerwen defends title after ending Phil Taylor’s 7-year reign
Barry Hearn admits he can't pick a winner for the £100,000 jackpot when 32 elite stars clash at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN begins the defence of his World Matchplay Darts title next Saturday after Phil Taylor’s seven-year reign ended last year.
There’s a tidy £100,000 waiting for the new champ — and I just can’t pick a winner this time because the event is so open.
Usually I get some kind of gut feeling of who will be standing on the oche at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens showing off the trophy with the winner’s cheque tucked into their back pocket. Not this time, as the top 16 in the world take on the top 16 from the pro tour.
But as expected, irrepressible Dutchman Van Gerwen is favourite with some bookies.
I’m a huge fan of darts, a sport that has moved on to the world stage and I’m expecting shocks and thrills galore.
The top boys will be coming back pretty tired, I should think, after playing in Auckland, Shanghai and Tokyo with Blackpool the next stop on this whirlwind tour of darts hot-spots around the globe.
I can tell you that next year there are well laid plans to take darts to Las Vegas — and I’d like to think we could take as many fans to Vegas as Ricky Hatton did in his heyday as world champion.
OK, I might be dreaming a bit, as the venue — the recently refurbished Tropicana — has an arena that holds just 1,500. The Hitman was regularly fighting there in front of 15,000!
I did think I was dreaming when the stakes were upped to an unbelievable level for last week’s Zipang Casino Japanese Darts Masters.
An extra £50,000 bonus was made available to anyone who made a nine-dart finish in the tournament.
Not impressed? Well, let me explain.
If the same player made a nine-dart finish, and then checked out in nine darts again, he would have received an astonishing £1million. To anyone who says it’s impossible, then they should remind themselves about Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor’s record.
On May 24, 2010, in the Premier League final against James Wade, Taylor made history by being the first player to ever hit two nine-dart finishes in a single match.
In total he has 11 nine-dart finishes, so those who say it’s impossible should think again.
The £1million bonus money for Tokyo was put up by Dafabet’s Tom Hall, who is a crazy sports fanatic whose enthusiasm would rub off on anyone — including me!
So much so that I am putting in place a £1m bonus for the brand new Home Nations snooker series that begins in October with tickets just going on sale.
The events take place in Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester and Cardiff and if any player wins all four events then they pick up a cool million quid on top of the prize money.
I reckon Ronnie O’Sullivan is sharpening his cue as we speak.
Angling for the Mania attraction
I WOULD like to wish all competitors at today’s Fish O’Mania XXIII event at Cudmore Fisheries, Stoke-on-Trent, the very best of luck.
There are 32 anglers — from an original entry of 2,450 — chasing a top prize of £50,000.
Tight lines boys!