If you know your Darts then you can sometimes find value in the annual World Championships that are held every year. The PDC and BDO are roughly held at the same time and slightly overlap but Phil Taylor produced yet another masterclass in the PDC version.
The bad news is that he has no plans to retire (bad news for his rivals anyway) as the PDC prize money looks set to double. That is also a warning sign for the BDO whose field looks very thin on quality this year.
After losing both the 2008 BDC World Champion in Mark Webster and recent finalist Simon Whitlock to the PDC, then this year looks bad talent wise for the BDO event. When you also consider that recent BDO Champions Raymond Barneveld and Jelle Klaasen have also made the transition along with the Dutch talent of Michael Van Gerwin then you have to wonder just what the BDO event is turning into.
Mervyn King was another player who also recently made the transition and will the BDO version of the world title merely serve as the “poor mans” version and as a stepping stone to the PDC?
I looked down the field of the BDO event this week and only five names jumped out at me. They were Tony O’Shea, Ted Hankey, Scott Waites, Darryl Fitton and Martin Adams. With Fitton being a shock first round casualty then I would be very surprised not to see Martin Adams in another Lakeside final this Sunday as he was the only big name in Adam’s half of the draw.
Of course there are always room for upsets and players like Keith Deller and Tony David have come out of nowhere in the past to win it. It always makes me chuckle when I continually hear the commentators at the BDO event refer to the outstanding quality on offer.
I think that this is purely an attempt to deflect attention away from the PDC circuit. It just isn’t possible for the BDO event to be as strong as the PDC when they have lost many of their best players and the best player on the planet bar none is plying his trade in the PDC.
See you soon
Carl
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