For the first time ever without Phil Taylor, players will be relishing their chances of success in Blackpool.
2nd Quarter Winner
Daryl Gurney has gone from strength-to-strength and has managed to control his biggest issue which was his attitude. Two years he made the mistake of sarcastically clapping the crowd when missing his doubles, however, the 32-year-old has come an awful long way since.
Since being knocked out of the semi-final last year, the Northern Irishman went on to win the World Grand Prix, finish 5th in the Premier League just missing out on a play-off spot and reach the semi-final of both the UK Open and Players Championship.
An opening match against complete rank outsider Steve West shouldn’t hold too many issues for Gurney, which will only help build his confidence. To win the quarter, he will inevitably meet either van Barneveld (best priced 8-1) or Gary Anderson (best priced 11/10).
Gurney had no issues against van Barneveld in the Premier League, comfortably winning 7-3 and is now the superior player. Anderson is the bookies’ favourite to win the quarter, but after his shock defeat to world no.182 Royden Lam in the first round of the Shanghai Masters at odds of 1/33, we are taking a chance with Gurney to progress at 9-2.
3rd Quarter Winner
I’m surprised to see Peter Wright as short as evens to win the 3rd quarter, despite this side of the draw being quite poor.
You never know quite what you’re going to get with Snakebite at the moment - and although he won the Players Championship last month - he was fortunate to make it to the third round in Shanghai. He’s been changing his darts and he has shown more frustration when losing legs – something not normally associated with the Scot.
You do have to go back 11 years since James Wade won in Blackpool, being the youngster player to do so at just 24.
However, there is a different feel about Wade of late who will be desperate to earn back a Premier League spot. In the past month he’s beaten both the World Champion Rob Cross and Premier League Champion Michael van Gerwen. His game has definitely improved.
Wade still needs to brush up on his finishing, and needs to be more diverse than just hitting the 20s. However, overall his scoring has improved and at 3/1, he represents more value than Peter Wright.
van Gerwen v The Field
Call me crazy, but 11/10 for the field against the Green Machine represents quite a bit of value. The Premier League champion will have to face Adrian Lewis, Daryl Gurney and potentially Michael Smith before the semi-finals if there are to be no major upsets.
The first two reached the semi-finals last year and Michael Smith comfortably handled van Gerwen 8-4 in Shanghai where he was expected to claim yet another title.
The World Matchplay always springs a surprise or two and without the 16 time winner Phil Taylor, other players will be licking their lips at the chance of winning such a prestigious trophy.
