Germany’s Dominik Gruellich claimed the opening PDC Development Tour title of the weekend and, in doing so, put himself right back among the pack entering the final lap in the race for a World Championship spot.
The 23-year-old might need to conjure up a few more acts of magic tomorrow, but at least he’s given himself the chance to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Gruellich began in solid form, rattling in a majestic 105.60 average in his opening match to defeat Ronan McDonagh.
In the quarter-finals, the Mission arrowsmith registered a crucial victory over another young contender battling near the top of the pile, Charlie Manby.After seeing off surprise semi-finalist Ralfs Laumanis of Latvia – a win that even drew praise on social media from the nation’s leading light, Madars Razma – Gruellich then edged the formidable Beau Greaves in a thrilling last-leg decider to collect his second Development Tour title of the season.
Naturally, the young German would have bitten your hand off for a double, but he followed it up with a decent run to the last 16 later that afternoon, eventually halted by Jamie McKinnon.That result leads us nicely into the second event of the day, where Cameron Crabtree bagged his fifth title of the year, increasing his lead at the top of the standings exponentially.
As far as the riches the Development Tour offers when you’re riding high, Shazam’s work was done long before arriving in Wigan.The Croydon chucker is already a shoo-in for Ally Pally and in no danger of losing his Tour Card.
Furthermore, unless he decides to completely skip Sunday and his buddy Owen Bates somehow wins the final two events of the season, he’ll be lining up at November’s Grand Slam.So, he can be forgiven for already having one eye on Monday’s World Youth Championship qualifiers.
But whilst there, he might as well win another title or two – and pocket a handy few quid. And that’s exactly what he did. It was a long day for the youngsters swimming in the deep end of the opening session, but by the time Crabtree beat Sweden’s Viktor Tingström 5–2 in the final, it was almost time for the Grand Prix semi-finals to start – which, conveniently, gave us enough time to get this report written.
It wasn’t Crabtree in top gear – far from it. Aside from his ton-plus average in match one, again against poor Ronan McDonagh (who seemed to spend the entire day being spanked by the eventual winners), his performances hovered in the mid-to-high 80s. But that was enough, as Crabtree eased past a herd of hopefuls.
The only real test came in the semi-final, where Dylan Dowling pushed him all the way to a decider and even missed a dart at bull for the win.
So, there we have it – two down, two to go as the curtain begins to fall on the 2025 PDC Development Tour. There’s still plenty left to play for.
—–Ends—–
