A Visit to the Masters

Posted: 10.10.13 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

I went along to the Winmau World Yesterday, it was emotional!

I have always fancied going to The Winmau Masters! I love going to Lakeside and the PDC UK Open is another favourite but The Masters has always been on my hit list. Well this year I have made it! The qualifying event that was held yesterday is obviously of great interest, not least as some of the members of our website were competing.

The venue and the tournament arrangement itself shouldn’t faze any dart player. The matches were played in the Sports Arena in West Park more or less adjacent to the KC Football Stadium. It looked pretty much like any darts open that dart players go along to on a regular basis.

A card system was in operation which helps with match preparation as you know when your game is although it can be frustrating when lanes stand empty for 20 minutes due to walkovers or no shows!

However, what did faze the players was the growing importance of the games as each round went by. In the deciding games for a spot at The Masters today nerves played a huge part and there was considerable distress and emotion on show for the players that fell at the last hurdle. How do you prepare for a one match shoot out with the biggest prize of your darting career at stake? Answers on a postcard please to Darts Performance Centre HQ! We do have some ideas of course and we will return to this topic another time.

The players that did hold their nerve, including high profile qualifier Wolfie Adams, are rewarded with a game against one of the seeds. The matches today are as follows:

Winmau World Masters 2013 Men's last 16 Draw Best of 5 Sets

David Neads (Wales) v Wesley Harms (Netherlands) 16

Ron Meulankamp (Netherlands) v Remco Van Eijden (Netherlands) 8

Daniel Larsson (Sweden) v Glen Durrant (England) 9

Dennis Nilsson (Sweden) v Martin Atkins (England) 12

Danny Noppert (Netherlands) v Jeffrey De Graaf (Netherlands) 5

Mark Layton (Wales) v Ross Montgomery (Scotland) 14

Rick Hofstra (Netherlands) v Robbie Green (England) 11

Tony Eccles (England) v Jan Dekker (Netherlands) 10

Madars Razam (Latvia) v Geert De Vos (Belgium) 7

Ryan Searle (England) v Richie George (England) 15

John Michael (Greece) v Stephen Bunting (England) 1

Nigel Lamb (England) v Darryl Fitton (England) 4

Benito Van De Pas (Netherlands) v Gary Robson (England) 13

Pip Blackwell (England) v Scott Waites (England) 3

Andy Chalmers (England) v Tony O'Shea (England) 6

Martin Adams (England) v Jamie Wilson (England) 2

All the games are live on Winmau TV. Look out for the Darts Performance Centre 180 card

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The Darts Performance Centre is a resource to assist dart players of all standards play better darts. The site is arranged as an online coaching manual. There is advice on technique, nerves, psychology, goal setting, practice games, an area to log your statistics and an interactive area where your darting questions are answered by two sports scientists, one with 30 years dart playing experience and an invite to our exclusive members only events!