European Tour 2018

[ChrisW]

Terrific match. Well done Nicho. Back in the game.

[Canuck_bully]

Not sure about the Nicholson love in by commentary this weekend, getting a bit carried away aren't they?

Though those 2 bull finishes to tie it to 6-6 impressive stuff

[ChrisW]

Wasn't listening to the comms, but can imagine as they work together......

[ChrisW]

1/5 19/5 MVG Lewis being offered by the bookies.

[ChrisW]

25th European Tour title for MVG.

[ssjsa]

Courtesy of Burton.

Michael van Gerwen opens up nearly a four-event lead atop the European Tour Order of Merit after 7 of 13 events, as Adrian Lewis and Steve West all-but secure their spots and Paul Nicholson moves onto the cusp of securing qualification to the European Championship.

[ssjsa]

Evening Session (7.15pm local time, 6.15pm BST)
Quarter-Finals

Michael van Gerwen (97.39) 6 (11) 2 (86.12) Jonny Clayton
Steve West (89.74) 6 (11) 5 (99.87) Rob Cross
Gerwyn Price (92.72) 5 (11) 6 (87.95) Paul Nicholson
Adrian Lewis (95.11) 6 (11) 3 (92.48) Peter Wright

Semi-finals

Michael van Gerwen (105.20) 7 (13) 4 (92.14) Steve West
Paul Nicholson (98.82) 6 (13) 7 (98.29) Adrian Lewis

Final

Michael van Gerwen (108.13) 8 (15) 3 (96.69) Adrian Lewis

[DavidB]

MvG again

[ssjsa]

MvG again

Pretty difficult to stop when averaging over 105 in the semis and 108 in the final.

I guess we will need to wait for Scott Mitchell to switch, then MVG's dominance will be under threat.

[DavidB]

ssjsa admitting no one in the PDC can stop MvG, there

[ssjsa]

ssjsa admitting no one in the PDC can stop MvG, there

It's no secret David. When MVG is anywhere near his A game, he is in a different league to the rest.

Gary is the only one capable of competing, and on any given day can beat Michael, but Mighty Mike can sustain his high levels tournament in, tournament out.

[ssjsa]

Courtesy of Premium Dart Data

[26scored]

ssjsa admitting no one in the PDC can stop MvG, there

It's no secret David. When MVG is anywhere near his A game, he is in a different league to the rest.

Gary is the only one capable of competing, and on any given day can beat Michael, but Mighty Mike can sustain his high levels tournament in, tournament out.

I wouldn’t say Gary the only one Lewis can produce ridiculous averages at time and so can Wright they are just much rarer than MvG’s. More than anything I think we need Lewis back firing as he is the only one with talent close to MvG’s IMO. Be intresting to see how Cadby develops.

Wright has played MVG a zillion times and never beat him when MVG was actually close to his best game.
As for Lewis, he was able to produce ridiculous averages but done absolutely nothing in the past few years. I think Jan Dekker may have produced more averages about the 110 mark than Lewis has in the last year or so, and Dekker is quite a mediocre player in all honesty

[ssjsa]

ssjsa admitting no one in the PDC can stop MvG, there

It's no secret David. When MVG is anywhere near his A game, he is in a different league to the rest.

Gary is the only one capable of competing, and on any given day can beat Michael, but Mighty Mike can sustain his high levels tournament in, tournament out.

I wouldn’t say Gary the only one Lewis can produce ridiculous averages at time and so can Wright they are just much rarer than MvG’s. More than anything I think we need Lewis back firing as he is the only one with talent close to MvG’s IMO. Be intresting to see how Cadby develops.

Wright has played MVG a zillion times and never beat him when MVG was actually close to his best game.
As for Lewis, he was able to produce ridiculous averages but done absolutely nothing in the past few years. I think Jan Dekker may have produced more averages about the 110 mark than Lewis has in the last year or so, and Dekker is quite a mediocre player in all honesty

Has Gary ever beaten him whenas close to his best? Has anyone other than Taylor and maybe Barney in the 2016 worlds? And I mean over a long distance not a first to 6 floor match. Maybe cross at the worlds but MvG missed match darts

Phil, I used to like you.

2017 Dubai Masters with both averaging over 110 for starters and Gary winning 11-7.

Premier League Final 2015 with Gary winning 11-9, and probably the best result was when Ando beat Michael 6-3 in the 2015 World Championship Semi when MVG averaged 101.35 against Gary's 102.20.

[ChrisW]

I wouldn’t say Gary the only one Lewis can produce ridiculous averages at time and so can Wright they are just much rarer than MvG’s. More than anything I think we need Lewis back firing as he is the only one with talent close to MvG’s IMO. Be intresting to see how Cadby develops.

Wright has played MVG a zillion times and never beat him when MVG was actually close to his best game.
As for Lewis, he was able to produce ridiculous averages but done absolutely nothing in the past few years. I think Jan Dekker may have produced more averages about the 110 mark than Lewis has in the last year or so, and Dekker is quite a mediocre player in all honesty

Has Gary ever beaten him whenas close to his best? Has anyone other than Taylor and maybe Barney in the 2016 worlds? And I mean over a long distance not a first to 6 floor match. Maybe cross at the worlds but MvG missed match darts

Phil, I used to like you.

2017 Dubai Masters with both averaging over 110 for starters and Gary winning 11-7.

Premier League Final 2015 with Gary winning 11-9, and probably the best result was when Ando beat Michael 6-3 in the 2015 World Championship Semi when MVG averaged 101.35 against Gary's 102.20.

Yep forgot about the Dubai event fair play wouldn't say MvG was close to his best in the world semi but still a good win for Gary. Still Gary isn't consistent enough we need either Cross to become his main challenger for years to come or Lewis to get back to his best. In order to have an actual competitor with MvG in finals when he is playing awesome. Unless Cadby or someone else comes through who is able to compete with him. For me Barney is still the most likely player to beat him in majors TBH as MvG rarely plays his best against him and Barney is usually up for their games.

Toon Greebe is your man.

[ChrisW]

Has Gary ever beaten him whenas close to his best? Has anyone other than Taylor and maybe Barney in the 2016 worlds? And I mean over a long distance not a first to 6 floor match. Maybe cross at the worlds but MvG missed match darts

Phil, I used to like you.

2017 Dubai Masters with both averaging over 110 for starters and Gary winning 11-7.

Premier League Final 2015 with Gary winning 11-9, and probably the best result was when Ando beat Michael 6-3 in the 2015 World Championship Semi when MVG averaged 101.35 against Gary's 102.20.

Yep forgot about the Dubai event fair play wouldn't say MvG was close to his best in the world semi but still a good win for Gary. Still Gary isn't consistent enough we need either Cross to become his main challenger for years to come or Lewis to get back to his best. In order to have an actual competitor with MvG in finals when he is playing awesome. Unless Cadby or someone else comes through who is able to compete with him. For me Barney is still the most likely player to beat him in majors TBH as MvG rarely plays his best against him and Barney is usually up for their games.

Toon Greebe is your man.

Aye and Mark Hylton

Definitley not Gerwyn Price

[26scored]

Well not close to his best then, to be fair every top player can throw a 120 average so in theory they aren't close to their best until they are well above 110. But I would have mentioned the same examples, the 2015 PL final and 2017 Dubai. Also Gary won in a very long format in the 2015 Worlds quite convincingly, with MVG averaging over a ton.

Wright only managed to beat MVG in short format games. On the Euro Tour MVG played poor in the two finals he lost. He was quite average in the PL when Wright beat him twice this year, that was my point.

[ssjsa]

PAUL NICHOLSON is determined to continue his revival after enjoying a stunning run to the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Darts Trophy last weekend.

The rejuvenated former Players Champion won through to his first PDC ranking semi-final in five years thanks to impressive wins over Antony Lopez, Dave Chisnall, Joe Cullen and Gerwyn Price.

Nicholson revealed he came close to quitting the sport before securing his Tour Card in January 2017, but the former World Cup of Darts finalist now has his sights set on returning to televised major tournaments.

“I was ready to walk away, I felt like I was done,” said Nicholson, who has played in three European Tour events so far in 2018.

“My mentality is different now, I approach the game with a bit more of a relaxed attitude because it feels like I’ve got a second crack of the whip.

“At the start of the year I made my mind up that if I didn’t keep my Tour Card this year I would’ve stopped the playing side after a great ten years.

“But I think I am playing as good now as I ever have, certainly in practice, and my goal now is to make the European Championships and hopefully the World Championship.”

Nicholson was edged out 7-6 by two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis in Sunday’s semi-final, despite posting an impressive 98.82 average.

The former World Championship quarter-finalist has seen improved results in 2018, and Nicholson believes his best days lie ahead of him.

“Once you get all the brashness and nervousness out the way in your younger days and get more experience under your belt, then you can start to look forward,” added the 39-year-old.

“The fact that I hadn’t beaten a top ten player in four years made me laugh a bit – it was very symptomatic of what’s gone wrong over that time period.

“Gary Anderson and Peter Wright are inspirations to me - they are playing the best darts of their lives in their 40s and that is something I hope I can replicate.

“Beating the likes of Dave (Chisnall), Joe (Cullen) and Gerwyn (Price) is gratifying because people have said that I’m playing well but ultimately I’m the one that has to prove it.”

Nicholson, who will play in Wigan this weekend at Players Championship events 13&14 before competing in the Danish Darts Open, also revealed his hopes for the rest of the year.

“It’s definitely a case of setting short-term goals – at the start of the year it was just about keeping my Tour Card and staying on the right path,” said Nicholson.

“I’ve got a busy few weeks ahead with four Players Championship events and a European Tour weekend, so I’m going to be smart in how I spend my energy over the course of the month and then rest up on holiday.

“It’s really important that I use my previous experience to my advantage and I’ll make sure I don’t get carried away because I’ve been here before.

“I’ve been averaging around the 100 mark on the ProTour and if I can take that form into a European Tour event then I don’t see why I couldn’t make a final.”

Ever a popular figure in the world of darts, Nicholson enjoyed tremendous support both in Gibraltar and on social media at the weekend.

“I’ve never understood why people like me so much!" Nicholson laughed.

"But I'm very grateful for all the support I get and I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has supported me."

Nicholson will next be in action this weekend (June 16-17) as the PDC Players Championship continues from the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan, with coverage to be broadcast live on PDCTV-HD and through a series of bookmakers' websites worldwide. 

[ssjsa]

Qualifiers for ET 9

[ssjsa]

Steve Beaton first man through to ET 10.