TV ranking darts finally return to the big screen after 3 months away with the unique fun of Dublin's World Grand Prix. All legs in this tournament must begin and end on a double, so expect at least one player this week to forget this crucial piece of information to the hilarity of everyone involved.
The bottom half of the draw takes place tonight, including Robert Thornton's start of the defence of the title he surprisingly won last year against the in-decline Stephen Bunting, current World Champion Gary Anderson versus eternal TV jobber Jamie Caven and former champion in Ireland James Wade faces the preparing for retirement Terry Jenkins.
Two big names whose only TV tournament this month will be the World Grand Prix due to being fucking lazy/useless bastards on the European Tour also compete as Adrian Lewis aims to come back from his abysmal 8 leg losing streak at the Champions League of Darts to Gando against Dutch nonce Jelle Klaasen while Raymond van Barneveld recalls memories of his disastrous implosion against Mervyn King here 2 years ago when he gave up in the last set of the match and had to issue an apology because of how awful it was to watch.
Coverage from the Citywest Hotel begins at 19:00 UK time on Sky Sports 3.
>Tonight's matches (best of 3 sets; first to 3 legs in a set) Kyle "Conehead" Anderson v Cristo "Tenereefy" Reyes Ian "Three Litres of Diamond" White v Kim "Husband of Dana" Huybrechts James "The Meds Are Back In Town" Wade v Terry "Oh bullocks" Jenkins Gerwyn "Gurning" Price v Benito van de Pas "the Dutchie on the left hand side" Snackpot v Jelle "Yewtree" Klaasen Robert "Sunday Thorny Sunday" Thornton v BUNT MAN Gary "Big Game Counter" Anderson v Jamie "Jabba-oche" Caven Mervyn "The Ex-Governor" King v Barney
With the Grand Prix starting tonight, as is custom the PDC had two Players Championships in Dublin over the past two days.
For Friday's PC, it was business as usual as one-time BDO Worlds appearance maker Michael van Gerwen battered 2012's Lakeside champion Christian Kist 6-1 and won his 20th event of 2016, already surpassing last year's ridiculous haul.
On Saturday, though, the Autism Express was halted as an Aussie Roadtrain smashed into him with 2008 BDO runner-up Simon Whitlock eliminating the Green Machine at the quarter-final stage before winning his first title in 2 years against Belgian no-time Lakeside representative Ronny Huybrechts, who also has his brother's bottlejob genes by missing two match darts in the decider.
You may have noticed a number of references to amateur darts in the above sentences, and this is for an important reason. Last week, BDO loyalist Martin Adams revealed he's been battling prostate cancer since March - the same horrific disease that also took his opponent in the legendary 2007 Lakeside final Phill Nixon three years ago. Get well soon, Wolfie: bbc.co.uk/sport/darts/37517763
On an associated note, Hungry Like The Wolf will be back at Wolverhampton next month as the three-time World Champion has confirmed his attendance at the Grand Slam. Joining him from the other side this year are BDO #1 Glen Durrant, current World Champion Scott Waites, runner-up Jeff Smith, World Trophy winner Darryl Fitton, 2015 World Champion Scott Mitchell, emerging Dutchman Denny Noppert and dim Black Country man Jamie Hughes. The BDO's qualifying process was changed this year to include the 4 best non-qualified from the Order of Merit so they don't send a fucking nobody like Mark Oosterhuis to it again and embarrass everyone in the process.
Finally, time for /180/ again. Cheering for White, Benito, Snackpot and Barney tonight. Rest of the games I'm undecided, just want to see decent matches there.
Dominic Collins
And we're on now.
Cooper Bailey
A year since Speedy Van Eurojobber eliminated Pheel?
Chase Howard
And a year on, he's failed to qualify thanks to being shite on the floor.
He lost to Dennis Smith at the weekend for fuck's sake.
Lincoln Campbell
>Reyes on stage >Irishmen chanting "OLE OLE OLE OLE"
Henry Evans
WOOHOOHOOHOO
Luke Carter
>camerawork already sloppy
Dis gunbe good.
Grayson Garcia
Textbook checkout.
If Cristo gets into the final eight here he should be guaranteed a top 32 spot by the time the Worlds roll around.
Parker Bailey
Would be a phenomenal run but hasn't had the drawback yet of defending money.
>comms not mentioning Cristo at the 2016 Worlds Gee, I wonder why.
Brayden Collins
>literally nobody knowing there was a break
Eli Hernandez
The fuck was that?
Isaac Foster
lel
Daniel Young
Dartfags, this is not a sport I want you to know That nobody is going to miss you now The minute you leave to So please just go Just go Just go away Please just go Just go I'm begging you to stay... there
Nathan Young
Claudio Pizarro, pls.
Lincoln Flores
I haven't watched since the World Matchplay. Not much has changed I assume?
Anyway, great to see /180/ and darts back. Without this thread I'd never remember to watch when the big events are on.
Angel Nelson
>Not much has changed I assume? Not really.
There was a new event last week (Champions League of Darts) that Taylor won.
Luke Martinez
If every match takes this long we're gonna take it past 1 o'clock over here.
Lincoln Sanders
dat 85 bull to break!
Michael Taylor
THE CRUELEST
Lucas Nelson
kek, thanks. Gotta love Nicholson. So sad he started jobbing beyond believe. He should get more TV time. This always gives some solid banter.
Christian Ramirez
The bald guy choking the match away.
Isaiah Gutierrez
Anderson rescued that after missing those match darts in the penultimate leg.
Robert Myers
thank christ that's ended
Dylan Wright
Merv/Barney has 45-minuter written all over it.
Angel Thomas
First sighting of "player in green shirt only because it's Ireland" with Kimmy.
William Powell
>he dapped
Wtf I hate Ian now. Still hate dana's husband more though.
Go Ian!
Jaxson Gonzalez
>Dana's husband
It's ogre
Adam Jenkins
>kimmy already jobbing like a daft cunt
Matthew White
>leg 2 >80% of your darts are 0 >dana's husband
Asher Brown
Can't get enough of seeing Kimmy lose on TV.
Also: This verification code...
Ryder Walker
Have I just witnessed 17 darts without a treble, ended by Kimmys T18?
Zachary Thomas
If this standard keeps up, it'll be 2am on the continent before this finishes.
Jackson Ward
>White wins the set It's the ugly games you have to win. When you're on a roll, everything feels easy, but you also have to win when you're playing shit. Those players not able to do that (Smith for example) will never get anywhere on stage.
Thank dog it's a holiday in Germany tomorrow.
Noah Lee
Waffleboy moet zn waffel is houden.
Landon Martinez
MY FUCKING GOD I somehow completely forgot that it's starting today. I thought it's starting on Monday.
Carson Allen
Yup I thought the same
Aiden Perry
You haven't missed much.
Reyes lost to Aussie Anderson after taking the first set and Kim tied this one up after being abysmal in the first set.
Standard has been poor as is usual for this event. Really needs extending by a day or something because eight matches a night for the first round is just way too long.
Camden Robinson
>Ian Shite Fucked this one away.
>2 scored wew
Kevin Anderson
O.G.R.E. G R E
>2 score
Gabriel Bell
>2 Bravo
Thanks. Ah, I thought I had missed much more when I saw the thread.
Ryan Martin
>meme doubling to win the match >has Thorn/Bunt next Christ, he's going to win another game in Dublin.
Eli Hughes
>Rage Against The Machine wew throwback
Luke Richardson
It continually amazes me that someone still has the image that I made over 3 years ago
Dominic Brown
The one guy on /180/ who still likes Kimbo reporting in.
Elijah Sanchez
I made the "TAYLOR WINS LOL" pic of Uncle Baz that still gets posted around here when Sid Waddell was still alive.
William Adams
Well, I like waffles. Does that also count?
Luis Stewart
>wade frantically searching for diazepam in his pocket
Zachary Powell
>bristow back on comms oh god why
Chase Thompson
When exactly did /180/ start? I joined for the 2013 BDO World Champs.
Tyler Parker
>I didnt know 180 was on
Just lock me in the caravan man
William Diaz
2012. Exploded with MVG's perfect 17 at the 2013 Worlds.
Brandon King
>he's only 53! Is this a Taylor match?
Xavier Torres
Darts threads were always an irregular thing but the start of /180/ is usually seen as being MVG's perfect 17.
Nathan Brown
>this jenkins performance Get in a motorhome with the Pie Man and offer exhibitions in the South West.
Alternatively, he could join the BDO.
Angel Wright
...and then produces his best darts of the match so far.
>me
Hunter Scott
So many /180/ threads that day. Shame Cadfael got chased off because the gifs were golden
Adrian Sanders
>newton What happened to the guy? It seems he just dissapeared from the radar?
Liam Gonzalez
He is shilling for Pepperami now
Parker Stewart
Who Theroux - Savile here?
James Wright
>newton What happened to the guy? It seems he just dissapeared from the radar?
Parker Phillips
Kek.
Ignore my internet is acting up
John Anderson
Ranked 42nd in the world and defending £17k for the Player's Championship finals 2014, so he could be out of the top 50 by the time the Worlds are here.
John Robinson
Got arrested for nicking Blackpool Zoo entry tickets.
On course to miss the Worlds for the first time since his PDC debut in 2005.
Robert Sanders
Back to the bar it is
David Smith
>Tom Selleck masks ayy
>those dreadful times where he was in the PL
Landon Sullivan
>Leaning man from Fleetwood embarrasses himself on-stage in front of thousands of drunks
Sounds like a Sunday Sport headline
Blake Allen
>get eliminated first season and be shit >have indifferent 2013 >invited back anyway Thinking about it after remembering who missed out, I think I now know why he returned after so long of not knowing: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Premier_League_Darts#Players
>PDC ranked #8 >third highest non-ranked player excluding Wade It's because of his OoM ranking that he was invited back. Thorn would have been the one who missed out had Wade been included.
James Lopez
Cmon guys, I've got 8.5 hours of sleep left before I have to work tomorrow, not just 3 setters please.
Liam Ramirez
>le borderline personality disorder man
Robert Kelly
Jenkins playing his best darts in a long time.
Aiden Sanchez
>that fuckawful camera work
Isaac Ross
The Aging Dull did it. The absolute Madman.
David Bailey
>med man Comprehensively outplayed. So many times he failed to start when Jenks was in first dart.
Benito being naughty in the streamed Players Champs on Friday by claiming T19+12+D13 = 81.
Didn't pay off as Painter won the match.
Thomas Allen
>we all thought Andrew Gilding was on the road to the world top 10 at one point
Angel Ward
>Noncefinger will never play as well as he did in the 2015 UK Open semi-final against Autism Literally the peak of his career. He'll never get close to that level again.
Asher Murphy
>T3 >1
Fuck off you stumpy racist prick
Nathaniel Harris
>the city of welsh darts ahahahahahahahahaha
Fucking destroyed.
Alexander Williams
Reminder that Mensur will always start on Mensur
Jose Morales
STOP THE MEME-ING STOP DAPPING
Noah Morgan
>Price
Jack Morgan
Probably should have cut down on the roids
Austin Howard
If it kills the meme then I am cool with it
Xavier Bailey
inb4 taylor dabs
Jackson Cox
Welsh darts' finest son getting his tour card back in February, then the place is saved.
John Perez
>mfw he dabs to the beat of the icelandic meme chant
Jaxon Nguyen
They should be allowed to shoot him when he does
Alexander Jackson
>Fatpot
Carson Rivera
>Adrian Lewis >Cake By The Ocean
And the river, and the lake, and the road, and the train station....
Chase Edwards
>that filename top kek
Welsh darts is in a bad place at the moment.
Their top 3 players: >wobblester >angry manlet rugby player >jamie "already finished at 25" lewis
WE NEED THE RETURN OF THE PRINCE
Jordan Young
>21st century walk-on song
Kevin Cox
>snackpot v paedo suarez [speedy inconsistency intensifies]
Owen Flores
DAT SNACKPOT 116
Caleb Green
THAT ONE FIVE FUCKING SEVEN
Henry Cruz
Jelles throw looks ugly as fuck. Almost like shot put.
HOLY SHIT DAT 157
Julian Powell
NOW THIS IS WHAT I CAME FOR
Christopher Howard
Aidey we finish serving kebabs at 10.
Say no more senpai
Cooper Roberts
The end of that leg was noice
Jacob Bell
Shit, just read the bit about Wolfie. Hope he gets well.
Jaxon Gonzalez
Fug
Jonathan Scott
>it's that one game in a tournament where lewis plays well
Aiden Lopez
Shit, totally missed this, despite being in the OP. My best wishes, Wolfie.
Gabriel Bennett
>10pm >still got 3 games to go
Jason Morris
Be thankful Pipe failed to qualify this year.
Jace Barnes
Looks like ding
Julian Reyes
I wont make it through Wife Beater vs The Former future GOAT
Grayson Jones
SNACKPOT GOT MENSUR'D
Angel Thompson
>Fatpot
Jace Richardson
Jelle all over the 14s.
Noah Richardson
Arr rook same
Jack Edwards
He got fined for that before you know.
David Mitchell
DAT CLUTCH 105
Levi Collins
No this is Ding
Owen Campbell
Bit racist tbqh
Ian Reed
Its only racist if its a cartoon frog
Josiah Campbell
And this is Marco Fu.
Shit, wrong Hong Kong man.
Blake Davis
Based aidey
Owen Phillips
IT'S TIME
WHO /BUNT MAN/ HERE
Isaiah Harris
Adrian almost fucking up lel
FUTURE GOAT
Christian Parker
Against Thorny? Any time!
Isaiah Hill
>le teddy bear man
Daniel Morris
>half a year on >mardle still going on about MUH ILL RABBIE Fucking shut up about that, Christ.
Jayden Lee
Dozing off not gonna make it
Tyler Reyes
Bunt's gone.
;_;
Cooper Powell
Same
>Error: Duplicate file exists. here. Thanks :^)
Gavin Morgan
>losing the leg when your opponent didn't score until his 3rd visit to the board >Bunt Man r.i.p. in piss
Leo Sanchez
Pdc was a mistake
Cameron Howard
DAT 105
>genuine [x] darter Fucking hell not that shite again.
>322 POINTS AHEAD >LOSE THE LEG AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
>its an everyone went home so they had to wheel out rod harrington for commentry episode
Alexander Hall
>76 left >single 1 >19 >fail to finish >gando takes out 112
I will celebrate the day Jamie Caven disappears from TV darts. Completely useless on the big stage.
Jason Anderson
Dat Gando 124!
Chase Gutierrez
Well, that was a massacre.
Brody King
>Mervyn already acting like he's tired oh boy here we go
Samuel Jackson
>D9 >pulled straight into 14
>merv
Jose Garcia
DAT BARNEY 130 ON THE BULL!
Michael Morris
The spotting has been embarrassingly bad tonight >Sky production quality
Landon Gomez
DAT BARNEY 164!
Landon Sanders
And that 80 checkout closes a good first night of the World Grand Prix that saw two seeds dominate the first leg and then completely collapse.
Two-time champ James Wade was dumped out by an inspired fightback from Terry Jenkins which saw the Bull hit his starting double consistently with the first throw while the Machine malfunctioned at the beginning of nearly every leg. This combined with an excellent 73% checkout rate saw the veteran go through at Wadey's expense.
Then, the big upset. Robert Thornton's 2016 has gone from bad to worse as he has thrown away his second major title at the first hurdle. With Stephen Bunting having given up the first set despite starting six darts ahead of his opponent, it was another stunning comeback as the 2014 BDO champion dominated the second set before the ultimate disaster for The Thorn: 322 points ahead at 2-1 down in the deciding set should have been a formality but the Scotsman failed to check out after nine attempts and gifted Bunt the win; a win that has been sorely overdue.
Other impressive performances tonight included Gando humiliating Derbyshire jobber Jamie Caven with a sensational 97 double start average, Snackpot sending Paedo Suarez back to the Netherlands in a fast and furious encounter and Barney destroying the ghost of his 2014 embarrassment by hitting 130 and 164 on the bull to remove annoying testicle head Mervyn King. Benito van de Pas, Kim Huybrechts and Kyle Anderson also made it through to the second round.
We return at 7:00pm UK time later on today for the second half of the first round with these matchups:
>Dave Chisnall v Robbie Green >Mick McGowan v James Wilson >Mensur Suljovic v Daryl Gurney >Michael Smith v Alan Norris >Joe Cullen v Simon Whitlock >Phil Taylor v Steve West >Michael van Gerwen v Steve Beaton >Peter Wright v Brendan Dolan
