BDO World Trophy 2019

Posted: 29.08.19 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

Here is our preview for the 2019 BDO World Trophy.

The BDO World Trophy. What an event! Every year it looks certain it won’t happen but then the stars align and it is full steam ahead. I was at the first ever event in Blackpool, moonlighting by helping out the BDO with their social media.  James Wilson won it, £30K he took home.  The winner's cheque is down to £8000 now. Anastasia won the Ladies comp, £6000 was the prize. It is only £2000 this year But hey ho, at least we have a tournament.

I was also at Event City the following year in a different role as Peter Sajwani’s manager. Geert de Vos was the champion and he won £10,000. Darryl Fitton timed his win to perfection as he pocketed £20K in 2016 at a hastily arranged gathering at the Lakeside. I was back on Twitter duty for the BDO and my one big memory is very, very late finishes!

Then there was the Barry debacle. There were virtually no spectators and the atmosphere and credibility of the event suffered. Peter Machin wasn’t bothered though. We had a power cut during the final and he continued to practise with the aid of ref, Charlie, shining his torch from his phone on the board.

Ah, the power cut.  Other than the nightclub, the loss of electricity was my memory from Barry. David Gill the BDO photographer and me were in the press room at the top of the building, blissfully unaware that the building was being evacuated until we made a rather eerie descent down the stairs to be reunited with the players and officials still in the building.

Peter won £8,000 for his efforts. In 2018 the venue was moved to Preston and this was the first event I was not involved with in some way. Duzza won it and took home £8000.

In the Ladies event the winners have been Lisa Ashton for two years on the bounce, Aileen de Graaf in Barry and Fallon Sherrock last year.

So what about this year? We have another new venue for the event. It is at the King George’s Hall in Blackburn. There are tickets available here and it is also being screened by Euro Sport.

Men’s Tournament

The men’s tournament kicks off on Friday and now Duzza has defected to the dark side we have a wide-open tournament where a strong case can be made for a number of players. Jim Williams is in great form and recently won the Champion of Champions event in Cardiff. The Quiff is 9/1 to become champion.

Jim is also in the bottom half of the draw which looks slightly less daunting. Also, in the bottom half though are  Harms, Smith-Neale and Mandiggers. The top half has Mitchell, Veenstra, Warren, Waites and Unterbuchner. So that half is very tough.

If you are looking for form players then very recent winners are Nick Kenny in France last weekend who is a huge 66/1 and Performance Darts sponsored player Adam Smith – Neale who won the French Classic at the weekend too, is 25/1.

Sharing favouritism is a revitalised Wesley Harms 9/1 and Scotty Dog also 9/1.Richard Veenstra at 10’s and Scott Waites, who always seems to come alive at majors despite what form he has arrived in.

We also have four qualifiers to add into the mix and we won’t know who they are until tomorrow, Thursday 29 August.

The games on Friday are:

(1) Richard Veenstra (NED) v Justin Thompson (AUS)

(9) Wayne Warren (WAL) v Qualifier 4

(12) Mario Vandenbogaerde (BEL) v Brian Lokken (DEN)

(13) Ross Montgomery (SCO) v Sebastian Steyer (POL)

(14) Andy Hamilton (ENG) v Adam Smith-Neale (ENG)

(16) Kyle McKinstry (NIR) v Nick Kenny (WAL)

(15) Derk Telenekes (NED) v Qualifier 1

(7) Gary Robson (ENG) v Joe Chaney (USA)

Evening session – Games to commence at 6pm

(3) Wesley Harms (NED) v Paul Hogan (ENG)

(11) Chris Landman (NED) v Mark McGrath (NZL)

(10) Willem Mandigers (NED) v Qualifier 3

(8) Scott Waites (ENG) v Dan Day (ENG)

(4) Scott Mitchell (ENG) v Qualifier 2

(5) Michael Unterbuchner (GER) v Roger Janssen (BEL)

(2) Jim Williams (WAL) v Wez Newton (ENG)

(6) Dave Parletti (ENG) v Martijn Kleermaker (NED)

Who to Pick?

We are going to go with an in-form Jim Williams in the favoured half of the draw bracket. He has a nice start v Wez Newton and his biggest threat is probably Harms who he won’t meet until the semi final. Wesley has Paul Hogan first up which will be a very tough beginning to the 2019 World Trophy.

Outsider wise how can you not back Big Dog? He came from nowhere to win the Masters, is in form and throws Performance Darts! Seriously though he has a chance. Another player we helped out for a while is Nick Kenny. He seems to have sorted his mindset out and is taking the game more seriously and is worth a flutter.

In the top half of the draw I am sticking with the two Scotts to show how valuable experience is! Mitchell and Waites with Scotty Dog just getting the vote.

So Williams and Mitchell as E/W winners and the rollercoaster £1 on Smith-Neale and Kenny.

The Ladies start on Saturday and we will preview that tomorrow. 

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