The 2023 PDC World Championship is getting started, and we have a lot of Dutch players in it! 12 to be exact, and some of them could go on a run or perhaps even all the way.
After the first few days, we have seen some of the lower-ranked Netherlands men with the big guns due to appear soon
Having just won the Players Championship Finals, Michael van Gerwen is in great form in a year where he also won the Matchplay, Premier League and Grand Prix! MVG starts his road to a potentially 4th World Title against either Lewis Williams or Niels Zonneveld.
Zonneveld needed to beat Williams to save his tour card, but MVG should be a bit too strong for Williams. After that MVG has an out-of-form Mensur Suljovic as the other seed in his part of the draw, so it could be a very comfortable start at the Worlds for Van Gerwen, who in my opinion is the favourite to win it.
An outsider for the title is Danny Noppert, the UK Open champion has been consistently good all year. He starts against either Ritchie Edhouse or David Cameron which should be doable for Noppert. He’s never reached the quarterfinals at Ally Pally but I fancy him to do that this year and potentially go even further.
One who has a bad draw is Dirk van Duijvenbode, who faces the dangerous Karel Sedlácek and potentially plays MVG in the last 16 already! Aubergenius is in form but probably won’t go far with that draw. Vincent van der Voort also has a tough first round, probably against Cameron Menzies. At the same time, Barney starts his search for a 6th world title against Meikle – who is looking more and more accomplished – and then potentially Gerwyn Price in the L32, but he’s never lost to the World No.1 him on tv so maybe another upset!
Martijn Kleermaker has a good draw, starting against Han and then Dobey which should be a 50/50 game. Geert Nentjes missed a chance to go further playing Leonard Gates.
Danny Jansen could face Ratajski in round 2 which will be difficult, while Jermaine Wattimena plays Nathan Rafferty on the opening night and then Michael Smith. Jimmy Hendriks makes his debut against Jamie Hughes while Danny van Trijp plays Steve Beaton!
So tough draws for some. But still, a lot of Dutchmen in form who could go very far or even win this year!
—–ENDS—–
Words: Wim Blokpoel
Images: PDC
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