PDC The New Era

[MancheStar]

After Rob Cross coming through the PDC system winning the challenge tour, then onto the pro tour and becoming world champion. Then at Qschool a lot of the qualifiers have played the development tour and came though the system. That with how poorly the results were by the BDO high profile players it looks like a totally new era of darts is coming. The PDC is going to the next level yet again all hail uncle Bazza!!!

[Astonvilla]

The performance over the next few months of people like Hughes and Menzies will be really interesting. We should learn whether QS was just a fluke
series of results or if top BDO stars are now mostly comparable with 100's of Challenge/Development/International players.

I think the days when top BDO players could view gaining a card at QS as a formality have now gone. It may even be winning one should be seen as a bonus and that switching is more likely to initially lead to the Challenge Tour and certain qualifiers.

[Minty26]

In this day and age it is nigh on impossible for someone to come through the BDO system and compete with the best in the world.
The PDC tour is so competitive and frequent that your average 'solid' BDO tour player can't live with it.
If you take Cross as your example it is hard not to say that you have more chance 'graduating' from challenge tour to main tour in this day and age IMO.
When is the last time someone someone from the BDO even broke the top 10 ?
Even Waites who won the grand slam etc can no longer compete with the real professionals.
That is not to say there are some BDO players that with a change of system and more dedication etc would not be able to compete in the PDC.
I don't think Hughes or Menzies can do it but who knows.

For the record I think Durrant would be a top 10 PDC player.

[Astonvilla]

I think plenty of ex BDO players will be successful in future but its quite likely it will be after a couple of seasons improving in the Challenger Tour.

Like anything though there will be exceptions. Spotting them isnt going to be easy though.

[Skewball]

Not trolling but it did suprise me a little how Hughes, Menzies and Smith, and even Oshea (given his good start to 2019 Lakeside points) and Fitton (based on Lakeside performance) struggled as much as they did. I really did think they would come through quite easily to be honest. Did most people if they were being honest expect them to get a tour card? I put bloody money on it!

[Ginge]

Not trolling but it did suprise me a little how Hughes, Menzies and Smith, and even Oshea (given his good start to 2019 Lakeside points) and Fitton (based on Lakeside performance) struggled as much as they did. I really did think they would come through quite easily to be honest. Did most people if they were being honest expect them to get a tour card? I put bloody money on it!

Tony's points total so far puts him 6th in the season list:

Turkish Open 22/10/2017 placed 1 35 pts
World Masters 27/09/2017 placed 9 21 pts
Jersey Classic 12/11/2017 placed 5 12 pts
Jersey Open 12/11/2017 placed 5 12 pts
Czech Open 18/11/2017 placed 9 8 pts
Turkish Masters 22/10/2017 placed 17 3 pts

Barely any top players were at the Turkish, and the Jersey events were hardly a stellar field. I fully expect him to start dropping down and will probably be an unseeded played at Lakeside in the 16-24 bracket of the rankings, IMO.

[Bram_1900]

This era will still feature Steve Beaton on the 24th place of the OOM

[nikkiboy]

Q school was a war of attrition, imagine playing the welsh or Dutch open every day for four days and you have an idea the difficulty of winning it. I'd wager that if most of the current tour card holders had to play it then they would struggle to hold onto their cards.

[oche balboa]

In this day and age it is nigh on impossible for someone to come through the BDO system and compete with the best in the world.
The PDC tour is so competitive and frequent that your average 'solid' BDO tour player can't live with it.
If you take Cross as your example it is hard not to say that you have more chance 'graduating' from challenge tour to main tour in this day and age IMO.
When is the last time someone someone from the BDO even broke the top 10 ?
Even Waites who won the grand slam etc can no longer compete with the real professionals.
That is not to say there are some BDO players that with a change of system and more dedication etc would not be able to compete in the PDC.
I don't think Hughes or Menzies can do it but who knows.

For the record I think Durrant would be a top 10 PDC player.

Nearly all players would have some BDO background. Many of them got a tour card yesterday

[Addicks Fan]

Not trolling but it did suprise me a little how Hughes, Menzies and Smith, and even Oshea (given his good start to 2019 Lakeside points) and Fitton (based on Lakeside performance) struggled as much as they did. I really did think they would come through quite easily to be honest. Did most people if they were being honest expect them to get a tour card? I put bloody money on it!

Tony's points total so far puts him 6th in the season list:

Turkish Open 22/10/2017 placed 1 35 pts
World Masters 27/09/2017 placed 9 21 pts
Jersey Classic 12/11/2017 placed 5 12 pts
Jersey Open 12/11/2017 placed 5 12 pts
Czech Open 18/11/2017 placed 9 8 pts
Turkish Masters 22/10/2017 placed 17 3 pts

Barely any top players were at the Turkish, and the Jersey events were hardly a stellar field. I fully expect him to start dropping down and will probably be an unseeded played at Lakeside in the 16-24 bracket of the rankings, IMO.

I'd be surprised if he qualified to be honest, unlikely to be seeded for many events, and just don't think he can pick up enough points at the larger opens. Wouldn't mind being proved wrong, as he's got a great throw if he does find some form.

[The Jolly Man]

Q school was a war of attrition, imagine playing the welsh or Dutch open every day for four days and you have an idea the difficulty of winning it. I'd wager that if most of the current tour card holders had to play it then they would struggle to hold onto their cards.

But these same players play week in week out in these massive fields and short formats then end up at Lakeside as seeds. So in theory they were well prepared for this.

When saying you think players would struggle to retain tour cards if they had to go to q-school (I think) 8 of the 33 tour card winners returned straight back onto the tour after dropping off in 2017 and a further 3 have had a card previously.

[MancheStar]

The performance over the next few months of people like Hughes and Menzies will be really interesting. We should learn whether QS was just a fluke
series of results or if top BDO stars are now mostly comparable with 100's of Challenge/Development/International players.

I think the days when top BDO players could view gaining a card at QS as a formality have now gone. It may even be winning one should be seen as a bonus and that switching is more likely to initially lead to the Challenge Tour and certain qualifiers.

It’s going to be interesting this weekend on the challenge tour to see how Yozza and Menzies get on I reckon they’ll bounce back from there disappointment at Qschool. But I suppose it’s just a case of watch this space.

[DavidB]

Q school was a war of attrition, imagine playing the welsh or Dutch open every day for four days and you have an idea the difficulty of winning it. I'd wager that if most of the current tour card holders had to play it then they would struggle to hold onto their cards.

Said this myself yesterday - definitely something in that!

[Astonvilla]

Well the class player in the field cruised in on day 1 with no problems so anyone you think is equal to cadby should have no worries.

[DavidB]

It’s all on the day especially with more games than a usual pro tour event and a complete open draw - Cadby’s toughest games were probably his first and last - not saying he had an easy draw at all but there are a number of factors.

[Astonvilla]

I think the blunt reality is that it is intensely competitive and there isnt that much between the top 100 or 150 or so players at QS. So then results are
totally unpredictable.
Look at BDO events like the Dutch Open. The best players come through that usually dont they? I think at QS people overestimated the abilities of the
top switchers and the ex top PDC players (like Newton) relative to the lesser known ones.

[trotter]

How many of the 128 won't be at the first Pro Tour do we reckon....might be less seeing it's early and no.entry fee......therefore how many spots will go to the first challenge tour ranking ?...I'd like to see Menzies and Hughes get in......I feel they'd be better suited to the pro tour than QS to be honest

[DavidB]

How many of the 128 won't be at the first Pro Tour do we reckon....might be less seeing it's early and no.entry fee......therefore how many spots will go to the first challenge tour ranking ?...I'd like to see Menzies and Hughes get in......I feel they'd be better suited to the pro tour than QS to be honest

Remind how far down they’d need to go for Hughes and Menzies to get invited to Pro tour events?

They have both got invites to UK Open qualifiers correct?

[DavidB]

I think the blunt reality is that it is intensely competitive and there isnt that much between the top 100 or 150 or so players at QS. So then results are
totally unpredictable.
Look at BDO events like the Dutch Open. The best players come through that usually dont they? I think at QS people overestimated the abilities of the
top switchers and the ex top PDC players (like Newton) relative to the lesser known ones.

Well generally they do but those events are seeded so makes a difference.

[Ginge]

How many of the 128 won't be at the first Pro Tour do we reckon....might be less seeing it's early and no.entry fee......therefore how many spots will go to the first challenge tour ranking ?...I'd like to see Menzies and Hughes get in......I feel they'd be better suited to the pro tour than QS to be honest

Pro Tour spots go to best Challenge Tour performers, not the Q School list.