Old vs Young

Old age is like everything really, to make a success of it, you’ve got to start young! Incidentally, Phil Taylor didn’t seriously take up the game until he was 26 which makes me think how good these young players could become today! The World Grand Prix 2014 however was a tournament which showed that age is just a number as Taylor overcame the competitive field to win his 6th Grand Slam title at the age of 54. Taylor’s triumph also made it 7:1 to the PDC in Grand Slam titles against the BDO but I won’t mention that or I risk being branded a BDO basher…again!

In my last post, I wrote that ‘Taylor’s year continues to disappoint his fans’. I knew I shouldn’t have said that. Yet again Taylor came back with a bang, like he always does, with one of his most successful tournaments yet. Taylor kicked off his campaign with a 5:0 victory over Richie George, son of PDC legend Bobby George, before beating Christian Kist 5:1 with an all time record average for the competition of 114.65. He then beat fellow Stokee Andy Hamilton in his final group match to top his table with an impressive +11 leg difference and 6 points. In the first knockout stage, Mr Taylor was initially losing to Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright but he eventually won the match 10:4 before crushing Michael Smith 16:3 in the next round. As a result, this set up a clash against old rival Mervyn King in the semi final in which Taylor led throughout the match and won 16:9. In the final, it was a repeat of the World Grand Prix final of 2013 as Taylor took on Chisnall and although it wasn’t a repeat of that hammering, the outcome was the same as Taylor won the match 16:13 with a 102.45 average which meant he averaged over 100 in every match throughout the tournament. Despite the predictable final result, it was an excellent match in which Chisnall showed he can battle it out amongst the big boys with a gutsy performance. He had bounced back from being 5:0 down at the beginning of the match. 

I think this tournament showed that darts is more open and unpredictable than it has ever been before. You may argue this with Taylor winning again but did you predict Taylor would win at the start of the week? Michael Van Gerwen and James Wade were the two form players going into the event but they both failed to make the semi finals. On the other hand who would have predicted out of form Kim Huybrechts would hit a 9 darter and knock out world champion Van Gerwen? This shows that no-one can predict what’s going to happen in the world of darts and that’s why its the sport we know and love. 

Therefore, I think this winter’s World Championship will be one of the most unforeseeable major tournaments that we have ever had. Maybe there is only about 6 or 7 players that can realistically lift the trophy but I believe that more than 20 different players are in contention for the semi final spots. Thus I am not going to make any predictions but the bookies have now got Taylor as the favourite at 7/4 with current world champion Van Gerwen at 2/1. 

On the subject of predictions, it was a tournament of limited success for my players to watch out for as Stephen Bunting and Gary Anderson both made it out of Group H. Ironically, it was the star of my previous article, Mervyn King, who knocked them both out! Anderson resoundingly lost 10:4 to ‘The King’ in the second round and after Bunting secured a fantastic 10:8 win against James Wade he came up short against King in the quarter finals by a scoreline of 16:9. Subsequently it meant it was another impressive tournament for Mervyn King who seems to be on his best run of form since moving to the PDC and I now believe that next year King will return to the Premier League and Bunting will make his debut.
However, in my opinion, these 3 players weren’t the players to make the biggest impact on the Grand Slam. I think they were Dave Chisnall, Kim Huybrechts and Keegan Brown. Chisnall is now a seasoned professional on the PDC tour having moved to the PDC in 2011. Since then I believe that Chisnall has shown potential without really threatening for the majors. This is summed up by him earning a Premier League place in 2014 but only achieving 7th place. I think he is similar to many players in the world’s top 20 who have the potential but just need that extra spark to win their first major. Will his run to the Grand Slam final provide him with this spark? He will need it going into the World Championships as he has never made it past the third round of the illustrious tournament. 

I think going into the Grand Slam, Huybrechts was in a similar position to Chisnall as despite having the experience of the PDC tour, he has never really lived up to his potential. Huybrechts also moved to the PDC in 2011 and it was predicted he would be one of the rising stars on the circuit but since then he has only reached one major final at the Players Championship. However, despite still not reaching another final at the Grand Slam, his run to the semi finals will give his fans cause for optimism. He caused the biggest shock of the tournament when beating Van Gerwen in the quarter finals in which he hit his first ever televised 9 darter and beat the world champion 16:10. Incredibly, he was leading the match 12:3 at one point which showed the level at which he was playing. Even Huybrechts’ exit from the tournament can be considered unlucky as he lost 16:15 to Chisnall in the most exciting match of the week. If Huybrechts can recreate this form at the Alexandra Palace, he will undoubtedly progress to the later stages. 

Keegan Brown was probably the biggest surprise package of the tournament. Before the tournament you may not even have heard of Keegan Brown and I didn’t even know much about him…but we do now! The 22 year old progressed through his group with a 5:1 win over two time world champion over Adrian Lewis before beating fellow youngster Rowby-John Rodriguez 5:3. On top of the world, he then beat Raymond Van Barneveld in the second round 10:7 before narrowly losing out to Chisnall 16:14 in the quarter finals. His celebrations in particular attracted even more attention but his results won’t have been a shock for Simon Whitlock. Whitlock is Brown’s mentor and saw him lift the 2014 World Youth Championship. I’m sure Whitlock is now wishing he could recreate the form of his apprentice!

Finally, the Grand Slam showed what an excellent position darts is in currently with talent stretching from all corners of the globe. The Players Championships are up next but my thoughts are already at the World Championships which is now just a month away. I’m hoping you won’t miss a minute of the action with Sky Sports new dedicated darts channel and I will be get to witness the event first hand at the Alexandra Palace. One thing’s for sure, if we can recreate the crowd noise from Wolverhampton it will be an excellent atmosphere but maybe the endless singing of ‘Hey Baby’ might not be necessary!

Return of the King?

He’s reached a Premier League final, hit 2 televised 9 darters and been a regular in the World’s top 16 over recent years but I still think Mervyn King hasn’t lived up to his potential. Well, not yet he hasn’t. Could this be his time though as he now seems to have put his high profile controversies behind him and based on recent performances, he looks ready to surge up the rankings once again. 

Mervyn King has been playing professional darts for 20 years but he only made his switch to the PDC in 2007 despite allegedly claiming to BDO press officer Robert Holmes that he would "rather pack up darts than play for the PDC”. However, during the 2007 BDO World Championships, when rumours surfaced about his switch to the PDC, he even threatened to quit the tournament. Eventually when he did move to the PDC, the BDO threatened legal action against King as because he had reached the Semi Final of their World Championships, he was then obliged to return the following year. 

Back to the dart board and King had a very successful first year in the PDC by reaching 2 semi finals and quickly climbing to number 13 in the world. He was even awarded the Best Newcomer Award at the PDC Awards Dinner. In 2009, his performances continued to improve as he reached the World Championship and World Matchplay Semi Finals and he therefore surged to World Number 6. In the same year, King also hit his first ever televised 9 darter which was followed up by another in the 2010 UK Open. However, the highlight of 2009 for King was undoubtedly his run to the Premier League final. 

Moving on to 2010 and again King reached the Semi Finals of the Premier League but this time Phil Taylor prevented him from reaching another final. Despite this, the rest of the year only brought limited success and he failed to qualify for the 2011 Premier League.

Since 2010, King has been a steady player on the PDC circuit without pulling up any trees. His lack of form towards the start of this period was possibly linked to his father’s death as his father was a regular presence at the major tournaments. As a result, It wasn't until 2012 that he reached another major final in the Grand Prix where he met future World Champion Michael Van Gerwen. However, despite leading 3:0, he went on to lose the match 6:4 and King was quick to blame the crowd for his collapse after they booed him on his doubles. This was only one of King’s many controversial moments.

His largest controversy to date was in the 2009 Premier League match when he threw a dart over Taylor as he went to pick up his flight. During the post-match interview, neither of them would look at each other in the eye. This resulted in King becoming somewhat of a target by the crowds boo’s and in another Premier League match this riled him to extreme lengths as he stopped mid throw and made gestures back towards the fans. Other controversies include him blaming the air conditioning and even the length of the oche for his defeats! Fellow players have even accused King of shouting while they were throwing and he exchanged heated words with John Henderson on stage during the 2010 Grand Prix. 

However, it seems like King has put the controversy behind him this year as he has returned to form by winning European Tour 7 in September, as well as reaching the final of the Dutch Darts Masters and the semi finals of the UK Open and European Championship. More recently however, last weekend he reached another final at the Unibet Masters where he defeated Van Gerwen 11:9 in the Semi Final with a fantastic performance. In the final, he came across James Wade and led 5:0 after the first session with a 110 average and he then moved 9:2 in front. Despite this, he couldn’t complete his maiden major victory as he squandered 8 championship darts to lose 11:10. This meant he still hasn’t won a major and therefore his doubters will still hold this against him. But my question is, with this being one of his most successful years, has he done enough to get back into the Premier League?

In addition to Mervyn King, Michael Van Gerwen and James Wade are also in fine form. At Crawley, James Wade won the 17th Players Championship and then lost to Van Gerwen in the final of the following tournament the next day. In the final tournament in October, Van Gerwen triumphed again in the European Championship in Germany as he hit a 9 darter against fellow dutchman Raymond Van Barneveld in the semi finals before defeating Terry Jenkins to claim another major crown. Incredibly, despite only winning his first major just over 2 years ago, at the age of 25, only Phil Taylor has won more major titles than him. Then as previously referenced, James Wade won the most recent major with a victory in the Unibet Masters. Surely now Wade has nailed down his return to the Premier League next year and if Van Gerwen continues in this vain, could he ever break Taylor’s records? 

In contrast, Taylor’s year continues to disappoint his fans. After a disappointing start to the year in the Premier League, he looked back on track when he won the World Matchplay in July but since then he has failed to kick on and failed to reach the final of the last 3 events. For the 1 millionth time, everyone will ask whether Taylor has come to the end but I have learnt never never to write him off. 

Finally, the Grand Slam of Darts is now on the horizon and the draw took place on Monday. It was an interesting draw which paired together Wade and King, for a repeat of their scintillating final last weekend, as well as Anderson and Bunting who are my 2 players to watch out for this winter. Again, this is one of my favourite tournaments with the group stage providing it with a unique selling point. Another reason why I love this tournament is it gives us the chance to see the PDC up against the BDO, so far it is 6:1 in terms of championship wins, favouring the PDC but that is largely due to Taylor’s 5 victories! So on the 8th November we begin this wonderful tournament and then it is only 1 month to go until all eyes will turn to the Ally Pally for another World Championship.