I'm of a similar opinion. I watched most of the Matchplay as its my favourite tournament, but can't be bothered with any others. I do like Whitlock though, and hope he can bring more consistency to his game.

Damn..found out haha

He'll be at the worlds at back better than ever...maybe

Not a chance la, not a chance!

I'd say he has been pretty consistent recently TBH. Last 16 of the Grand Slam last year losing to the eventual runner-up, finalist in the World Championships, 2nd in the Premier League table, 5th round of the UK Open when he met Taylor, now the last 4 of the Matchplay. So since the World Championships he's been knocked out of 3 of the 4 major tournaments by Taylor. That's about as good a record as you can realistically get now, probably the most consistent man except Taylor himself. He was also suffering with flu during the Matchplay, apparently.

Interesting the comment about grass roots and players developing through the BDO.

Do the PDC have anything behind the televised and floor events that replicates the county setup through which players emerge in the BDO?

Andy Gilder wrote:Interesting the comment about grass roots and players developing through the BDO. Do the PDC have anything behind the televised and floor events that replicates the county setup through which players emerge in the BDO? Not that I'm aware of, I don't think they have any sort of grass roots set up to bring their own set of players through. I guess that's why Hearn tried to buy BDO so he simply takes over the grass roots level, which the BDO is. PDC do now have a new under 21 championship that will run, the final will be played at Ally Pally during the World Championships and the two finalists will be invited to play in the Grand Slam and also be given PDC Pro Tour Cards for 2011. At least the U21 WC shows a sign of of some youth development but it's not like the BDO. Info: http://www.pdc.tv/page/NewsdeskDetail/0 ... 01,00.html

Andy Gilder wrote:Interesting the comment about grass roots and players developing through the BDO. Do the PDC have anything behind the televised and floor events that replicates the county setup through which players emerge in the BDO? Not that I'm aware of, I don't think they have any sort of grass roots set up to bring their own set of players through. I guess that's why Hearn tried to buy BDO so he simply takes over the grass roots level, which the BDO is. PDC do now have a new under 21 championship that will run, the final will be played at Ally Pally during the World Championships and the two finalists will be invited to play in the Grand Slam and also be given PDC Pro Tour Cards for 2011. At least the U21 WC shows a sign of of some youth development but it's not like the BDO. Info: http://www.pdc.tv/page/NewsdeskDetail/0 ... 01,00.html

Well, from 5-0 up, it was squeeky bum time then - looked like King was going to snaffle it but Barrie managed to crawl over the line!

Opening night of the European Championships in Germany, some good games tonight. Not sure about Bravo's coverage but it's not too bad, anyway opening night's results:

Paul Nicholson 3-6 Andy Smith
Mark Walsh 6-3 Antonio Alcinas
Terry Jenkins 6-4 Andree Welge
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Dennis Priestley
Gary Anderson 2-6 Jamie Caven
Phil Taylor 6-2 Co Stompe
Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Vincent Van Der Voort
Mervyn King 3-6 Barrie Bates

King's gone out in round one in the last two tournaments, worst time of the year to start going out of form. Run of tournaments now where need to kick on otherwise start tumbling down the order of merit.

Thought it was shocking from what I saw, TBH. Commentary was pretty poor, the spotting missed plenty of darts (as well as missing plenty more by trying to show a close-up of the player for too long and changing shot too late), and the on-screen scoreboard hardly worked.

the power wins again. jenkins ran him close though.