The Pro Tour returns for the first time since February as events five and six begin on Saturday with many hunting down the ranking money to enable qualifications into other PDC tournaments.
Danny Noppert will be playing his first competitive darts since his UK Open victory earlier on this month and will be wanting to continue his winning run in Barnsley. The “Freeze” moved up to 12th in the PDC rankings after beating Michael Smith 11-10 in a close final and will come into Barnsley with a winning mentality that he has never had since joining the PDC back in 2018.
Daryl Gurney reached the semi finals of the German Darts Championship last weekend in Hildesheim and will hope for a similar run in the Pro Tour. “Superchin” has had a good start to 2022 with consistent finishes on the Pro Tour and the Euro Tour but will want a strong run to the final or even a win to really put a marker down on the rest of the field.
The Northern Irishman knows what is required to win within the PDC after winning the World Grand Prix back in 2017, as well as reaching the semi finals of the World Matchplay on two separate occasions. (2017, 2019).
Gary Anderson won night six of the Premier League in Nottingham and returns to competitive action on Saturday with the Scotsman yet to really find his form in the Pro Tour.
The Scotsman will certainly approach Barnsley in a more confident manner after beating Jonny Clayton, Peter Wright, and Michael Smith to go within two points of the play off positions in the Premier League.
Luke Humphries has won on one occasion on the Pro Tour winning the first event of the year back in January. He will be in action in Barnsley as he tries to replicate the form, he showed from the first weekend with “Cool Hand” on many occasions proving that he has the quality to go far within these events.
Simon Whitlock did not feature in Germany last week but will return to action in Barnsley and will be wanting a good run as he tries to qualify for PDC events for the year with many competitions on the Euro Tour, as well as the World Matchplay in July up for grabs with enough ranking money needed for qualification.
Despite playing in Nottingham on Thursday, Gerwyn Price has withdrawn from the Pro Tour this weekend with the Welshman pulling out of the Premier League on night five as well as the German Darts Championship with a wrist injury.
Action gets underway live on PDC TV from midday as the first-round matches commence to find a winner from the 128-man field.
—–ENDS—–
By Harry Masterson
Images: PDC
