So the post-Phil Taylor of the PDC begins after the darting legend bowed out following the recent World Championships. He couldn’t quite go out in glory though as he lost in the final. So now the action moves onto the Arena MK in Milton Keynes at the end of January as the 2018 Masters steps up to the oche. This will be the sixth staging of the evening by the PDC and heading back to the tournament as the reigning champion is Michael Van Gerwen.
The tournament starts on January 26th and finishes on the 28th. This is a non-ranking tournament with a £200,000 prize pot, of which, £60,000 goes to the winner.
Reigning Champion
Michael van Gerwen won the title last year after holding off Gary Anderson 11-7 in the Final. That was his third Masters title on the bounce so it is little surprise that he will be going to Milton Keynes as the favourite this year as well. Mighty Mike is the 8/11 outright favourite at Unibet* (betting odds taken from January 22nd at 6:33 p.m.), who are the sponsors of the PDC event.
Qualification
There isn’t a qualification for the tournament per-se. The Master’s, much like the snooker masters, is only open to the top sixteen players on the PDC Order of Merit following the current season’s World Championship. Because Phil Taylor was ranked 4th but has stepped away from the game, then it moved Belgium’s Kim Huybrechts up into sixteenth place to earn an entry to the tournament.
Masters Darts 2018 Odds
Michael van Gerwen 8/11, Rob Cross 4/1, Gary Anderson 13/2, Peter Wright 8/1, Daryl Gurney 28/1, Raymond van Barneveld 33/1, Mensur Suljovic 40/1, Michael Smith 40/1, Dave Chisnall 66/1, bar 100/1
The Draw
The draw is based on seeding, so the number one seed plays the sixteen seed, second seed plays the fifteenth seed and so on.
Michael van Gerwen v Kim Huybrechts
Simon Whitlock v James Wade
Daryl Gurney v Gerwyn Price
Gary Anderson v Benito van de Pas
Peter Wright v Alan Norris
Dave Chisnall v Raymond van Barneveld
Mensur Suljovic v Michael Smith
Rob Cross v Ian White
Masters 2018 Seedings
Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright
Rob Cross
Gary Anderson
Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovi?
Dave Chisnall
Simon Whitlock
James Wade
Raymond van Barneveld
Michael Smith
Gerwyn Price
Benito van de Pas
Ian White
Alan Norris
Kim Huybrechts
Main Contenders
Looking at the draw there is going to be a huge battle in the top half because we could be set for a semi-final showdown between last year’s finalists, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson. That is the heavyweight showdown if it happens and if it does, then the winner of that game will be expected to go through all the way and land the title. Of the rest of the players in the top half of the draw, James Wade is the only one who has been to the final of the Masters before, beating Mervyn King in the 2014 edition. He doesn’t look a threat though.
Anderson reached the quarter finals of the recent World Championship, where he was stopped by Phil Taylor while Van Gerwen was surprisingly halted in the tournament in the semi-finals when Rob Cross took him down in a deciding set. Rob Cross went on to beat Phil Taylor in the final of the World Championships which has naturally raised his stock a fair way to the point of him going in as the 4/1 second favourite at Unibet to win the event, which will be his debut.
He is down in the bottom half of the draw and should be looking at the draw ahead of him with some excitement. He could have a tricky battle against Mensur Suljovic in the quarter finals and the highest ranked player he could meet at the semi-final stage would be Peter Wright who struggled at the World Championships after a health problem. The draw should put Cross into contention here really.
Peter Wright was struggling with his health before the World Championship, will he have benefitted from the extra rest and will he be 100%. That’s a bit of an uncertainty about him, therefore. Dave Chisnall and Raymond van Barneveld have been the final of the Masters before but can’t really be backed with much confidence.
2018 Masters Darts Predictions
Just because of the draw really it should be either Anderson or Van Gerwen who go all the way to the title. You would expect one of them to make it through the top half of the draw really. From the bottom, Rob Cross looks the best option to get the closest to making it to the final given hesitations about the others. Still, this has been Van Gerwen’s event, so stick with the Dutchman.
