We’ve had a few World Series events already but the Masters always feels like the real return to darts after the Christmas fun of the World Championships. MVG goes into this as red hot favourite but Michael Smith is riding the crest of a wave, winning the 3 of his last 5 events, including that magical World Championship win.
It’s hard to go against those 2 that head the market, but in recent years the seeded players have been poor. The finalists in the last two years have been seeded 11, 13, 18 and 20. This could be because it’s usually the first tournament after the Worlds so the top players are a bit rusty, however that won’t be the case this time around, with the two World Series events already giving the top players some competitive match practice.
I am going to take on the top pair though with Gerwyn Price. He doesn’t have the easiest draw ever, likely playing Dirk Van Duivenbode in his first game, but in the World Series events he looked much better then at the Ally Pally. He reached the final in Copenhagen and Bahrain, but said himself he fell a bit flat given the lengthy nature of the final days.
Mvg and Smith don’t have a walk in the park to the latter stages either, Smith plays either Heta or R.Smith and MVG could have a potential clash with World Semi Finalist Gabriel Clemens up first, and will also have to beat Cross or Van den Bergh and potentially Peter Wright to reach the final, so 2/1 feels far too short. Price is available at 9/2 or 5/1 in most places and this represents excellent value on someone who has reached back to back finals.
Outside of the short prices I’m looking at Dimitri Van den Bergh at around 33/1 to have a good run. Dimi has played in the World Series unlike many of the unseeded players, so he has match practice, and an opening round tie against Gary Anderson isn’t one that will worry him massively. Dimi has shown before he is more then capable of going deep in tournaments, he reached the SF at the Ally Pally and is a former Matchplay winner. If he can start finding the treble 20 with his first dart, he could well be difficult to stop.
The last player that’s worth a mention is a Callan Rydz. He isn’t in the best form of his life, losing his opening game at the Ally Pally, but he matched Josh Rock’s scoring, his doubles just let him down on the day. He has an opening tie with James Wade before playing Clayton if he wins, 2 players who are playing nowhere near there best darts. He is the biggest outsider of the field which makes no sense to me given the draw he’s been dealt, and he has shown he is capable of mixing it with the best. It’s a long shot but at around 150/1 he could well be worth a couple of pound each way.
Picks:
Gerwyn Price - 5/1
Dimitri Van den Bergh - 33/1
Callan Rydz - 150/1
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