For many, the third week in July is only notable in the sporting calendar for hosting The Open Championship but it also signals an invasion of the seaside resort of Blackpool as darts enthusiasts the length and breadth of the country descend on the Winter Gardens for a nine-day extravaganza of white-hot tungsten with the Stanjames.com World Matchplay.
Ever-present on the calendar since the PDC’s inauguration in 1994, the World Matchplay is a fans’ and players’ favourite due the unique ‘win by two clear legs’ rule over an increasingly marathon-like leg format. True darts fans pack out the famous arena session after session, embracing in the holiday-like surroundings creating an atmosphere like nowhere else on the circuit. Of the 16 showings to date, it may come as little surprise that Phil Taylor has scooped first prize on no less than 10 occasions with Larry Butler, Peter Evison, Rod Harrington (twice), Colin Lloyd & James Wade the only other arrowsmiths who have managed to get their hands on the silver pot. This year’s field is arguably the best ever with the top 16 in the PDC rankings being joined by the next best 16 performers from the PDC Pro Tour in 2010. Such criteria has resulted in former finalists John Part, Peter Manley & Wayne Mardle missing the cut after a relatively poor couple of years on the circuit for the trio. Amongst those replacing them are debutants Mark Webster and Australian pair Simon Whitlock & Paul Nicholson.
Again few surprises in the way the layers see the Outright market with Taylor available at no bigger than 4/9 (Stan James) with James Wade 12/1 (Sportingbet), Simon Whitlock 14/1 (Various), Raymond van Barneveld 18/1 (Various) & Gary Anderson 22/1 (Extrabet) his most likely challengers. ‘The Power’ probably couldn’t have wished for a smoother run through his quarter with Welshman Barrie Bates his opponent on Tuesday evening before a potential clash with Players Champion Paul Nicholson in round two. Londoners Colin Lloyd, Mark Walsh & Kevin Painter will fight it out to face the world number one in the quarter finals. Taylor is 2/9 to take the quarter with Walsh the next best at 18/1.
The other quarter of Taylor’s half is without the doubt the most appetising with big hitters Whitlock, Anderson and Mervyn King all landing themselves in that particular section of the draw. Scotsman Anderson has been in a rich vein of form over the summer months. His runner-up spot at last month’s UK Open has been followed by a couple of wins on tour in Barnsley and Las Vegas and he will fancy his chances of a good run here despite exiting in round two to Wade on his debut last year. His potential round two clash with King is scheduled for Thursday evening and providing Whitlock takes care of Tony Eccles and Terry Jenkins or Steve Brown, the Aussie will lie in wait on Friday afternoon. Anderson, openly not a fan of the early afternoon starts, may well not have much left in the tank to take out Whitlock over the best of 33 on the back of being pushed the distance (as we would fully expect him to be) by King some 18 hours earlier. Given that only Taylor has managed to knock him out of TV ranking tournaments in 2010 and a relatively stress-free passage to Friday’s quarter finals, Whitlock gets the nod at 15/8 (Various) to take this quarter.
Despite coming to a complete stand-still in terms of playing tournament darts in 2010, Raymond van Barneveld makes the journey having banked enough on the Order of Merit in the previous two years to assume the number two seeding. It’s difficult to gauge what sort of game the Dutchman will bring and he will certainly be tested by round one opponent Denis Ovens. ‘The Heat’ will have his followers in Blackpool, especially after his best ever showing on the box at the UK Open and 2 more tour finals in the last 6 weeks. This will be Ovens’ 11th Matchplay yet he has never managed to progress past round two. He may never get a better chance as a win over the five-times World Champion (that’s a 2/1 shot) would set him up against the winner of the Wes Newton v Alan Tabern encounter before a likely showdown with Adrian Lewis in the quarter finals. Lewis however has bit of work to do before reaching that stage. He should have too much for former BDO World Champion in his opener with Co Stompe or Andy Hamilton waiting in round two. Despite being capable of some scintillating scoring at times, we doubt that Stompe can match ‘Jackpot’ over the best of 25 legs. A meeting with Hamilton would be the third between the pair at this stage in the last five years having taken one apiece, but the realisation for Lewis that he has finally found his way out of the shackles of Taylor’s side of the draw may just spare the youngster on one step further towards a maiden major title. Van Barneveld is a weak 5/2 favourite to win the quarter. Ovens has beaten Lewis on TV in the last two Grand Slam of Darts and although Totesport’s 18/1 on Ovens for the quarter is tempting, we are mindful that no non seed has reached the semi finals since 2006 and with quality generally showing through over the longer format, we will be wading in on ‘Jackpot’ at 7/2 to take the spoils.
Number 3 seed Wade will be competing in his 5th World Matchplay with his course form reading – Runner Up, Winner, Runner Up, Quarter Final. Andy Smith, Dennis Priestley & Vincent van der Voort are his only obstacles in reaching a fifth successive quarter final and it’s easy to see why he has been installed as the 10/11 favourite to win this quarter. His likely opponent in the quarter finals is far from certain, though an interesting runner may be Wolverhampton’s Wayne Jones. ‘Woody’ is one of those who is rarely missing from the latter stages of floor tournaments (he reached his 3rd tour final of the year in Holland a month ago) but often flatters to deceive on the big stage. He does have a World Championship semi final place and a World Masters runner up spot on his darting CV and should he find a way past Colin Osborne & Ronnie Baxter, like Ovens before him, he may well turn out to be good trading material. With the majority of the contenders taking care of each other in the opposite half of the draw, Wade will be disappointed not to make it a fourth final in six years. The best each way price out there is 10/1 (Sportingbet’s 12/1 is win only) but we at puntinplay are not into throwing half of our stake away (with the Taylor victory inevitable) and we shall instead be investing in the 7/2 about ‘The Machine’ in the To Reach The Final market (then praying he doesn’t take out Taylor over the best of 35 legs in the final).
As ever, there are a few specials knocking about. The tournament sponsors were caught with their trousers down shortly after the draw was made, offering 5/6 about under 1.5 whitewashes over the week; this despite matches being the best of 19, 25, 31, 33 & 35 and also despite the fact that there hasn’t been a whitewash of any kind since 2004.
Taylor famously won £100,000 for hitting the only 9 darter in the tournament’s history against Chris Mason in 2002 but the perfect game being recorded is a best price 6/4 shot this time around.
A couple of tournament 180s markets will be attracting some interest from the puntinplay team. 2008 saw 97 180s in round one compared to 84 in 2009. It is quite surprising to see Skybet setting their mark at over/under 106.5 as we see nothing to suggest that there will be 23 more 180s in the round than last year especially as the players may be a little slow at getting going due to the absence of the traditional Bobby Bourn warm up tournament this time around.
Taylor is a must-back 5/2 to register the most 180s in the tournament. History tells us that the winner of this market will need to go all the way to the final in order to clock up enough leg mileage – Taylor claimed this market last year by hitting 18 more 180s than closet challenger (and tournament runner up) Terry Jenkins.
Another Skybet offering that may well keep the interest going right up until the last is the tournament highest checkout market. It’s priced pretty much as you would expect with those expected to be around for the week heading up the betting although it only takes one man to ping a very attainable 167 or 170 to reap returns. With Denis Ovens & Wayne Jones identified as a couple of lively outsiders who could be around longer than expected, it may be worth a small investment at 66/1.
Verdict
Simon Whitlock to win 3rd Quarter at 15/8 (Various)
Adrian Lewis to win 2nd Quarter at 7/2 (Sportingbet)
James Wade to reach the final at 7/2 (Various)
Under 106.5 1st round 180s at 5/6 (Skybet)
Phil Taylor to hit most tournament 180s at 5/2 (Various)
Denis Ovens to hit highest tournament checkout at 66/1 (Skybet)
Wayne Jones to hit highest tournament checkout at 66/1 (Skybet)
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Stanjames.com 2010 World Matchplay Tournament Outright (Seeding) Best Prices
Phil Taylor (1) 4/9
James Wade (3) 12/1
Simon Whitlock (12) 14/1
Raymond van Barneveld (2) 18/1
Gary Anderson 22/1
Mervyn King (4) 40/1
Adrian Lewis (7) 40/1
Andy Hamilton (10) 80/1
Colin Osborne (11) 80/1
Mark Walsh (8) 80/1
Ronnie Baxter (6) 80/1
Terry Jenkins (5) 80/1
Mark Webster 80/1
Colin Lloyd (9) 100/1
Paul Nicholson (16) 100/1
Wes Newton 100/1
Vincent van der Voort 125/1
Denis Ovens 125/1
Jamie Caven 125/1
Alan Tabern (15) 150/1
Kevin Painter 150/1
Jelle Klaasen 150/1
Co Stompe 150/1
Mark Dudbridge 150/1
Wayne Jones 150/1
Dennis Priestley (14) 200/1
Robert Thornton (13) 200/1
Steve Beaton 200/1
Andy Smith 200/1
Barrie Bates 500/1
Steve Brown 500/1
Tony Eccles 500/1
Stanjames.com 2010 World Matchplay 1st Round Draw & Bracket
All matches best of 19 (must win by 2 clear legs)
Dennis Priestley (6/5) v Vincent van der Voort (4/6)
James Wade (1/3) v Andy Smith (9/4)
Colin Osborne (4/7) v Wayne Jones (11/8)
Ronnie Baxter (4/7) v Jamie Caven (11/8)
Andy Hamilton (4/6) v Co Stompe (6/5)
Adrian Lewis (8/15) v Mark Webster (6/4)
Alan Tabern (10/11) v Wes Newton (10/11)
Raymond van Barneveld (4/11) v Denis Ovens (2/1)
Robert Thornton (9/4) v Gary Anderson (1/3)
Mervyn King (4/11) v Jelle Klaasen (2/1)
Simon Whitlock (2/9) v Tony Eccles (3/1)
Terry Jenkins (4/11) v Steve Brown (2/1)
Colin Lloyd (4/6) v Kevin Painter (6/5)
Mark Walsh (8/15) v Mark Dudbridge (6/4)
Paul Nicholson (8/15) v Steve Beaton (6/4)
Phil Taylor (1/14) v Barrie Bates (13/2)
