Dark horses here are Chris Mason and Warriner-Little.
Alan has kept away from the limelight despite having some stunning new darts
developed for him, and he’ll be one to watch as Alan is a fierce competitor.
Chris Mason has received huge attention
for his comeback effort, as his name in darts is nearly as well known as Phil
Taylors. Chris is without doubt one of the most talented dart players to have
ever played the game, but he will the right focus and drive to gain an early
success on day one or two.
A Tale of Two Cities?
Ever since the rush of the
Birmingham/West Midland boys, in 2010, the strength of certain area’s in darts
has been apparent. This year will see two area’s in particular making what
could almost be called a team effort.
The group from Oxford way sees quite a
few lads who have played a lot together, and supported each other make their
attempt at the summit; Martin Perring, Ian Moss, Chris Aubrey, Richard North
& Johnny Haines (Dennis Smith’s occasional touring partner) are amongst a
very dangerous group of quality dart players.
Meanwhile in the world Capital of darts –
Stoke on Trent – another group of dart players seeks to write the next chapter
of darting success for the region that does not seem to quit.
Mark Frost will lead a group of quality
players from Stokes next generation, Andy Pearce and Daz Whittingham have
had their moments on the Tour already but it could be the lesser known players
such as Gareth Pass, Jamie Landon, Fred Smith or Chris Dale who cause some to
sit up and take note.
If one or more of them start to succeed
you can be sure the rest will not want to be left out!
They will all desperately want to join
the A list of Phil Taylor, Ade Lewis, Andy Hamilton, Ian White & now the
PDC’s biggest name Ted Hankey all
with 2012 tour cards!
The Young Ones
After the huge success of the fearless
youngsters at last year’s event (Our very own Sean Griffiths), and throughout
the season, it is no surprise to see plenty of under 21 entries again this
year.
Jamie Lewis comes in hotly favoured as a
big name for the future as he has secured International experience and Top
County Darts at every age level, and if he plays like he knows he can he’ll get
his card.
Jamie Landon & Chris Aubrey have been
mentioned already but others include Jamie Atkins, Josh Jones, James Thompson,
the appropriately named James Young.
Red Dragon’s Ash Kayat,
established youth & tour players Adam Hunt & Co Stompe Jnr
are all appearing, making Ryan Herrington look a veteran already at the age of
21!
Based on the success of the young players
this year none should be overlooked, Ash has won singles and doubles titles
this year, Co has won Youth Tour events and James Thompson has even partnered
Mark Hylton to a
doubles triumph!
However, youth alone is not enough to
secure a card for the young stars, it will take more wins and very consistent
play fearlessness alone will not do it, and we suspect a dose of reality may
kick in with the younger ones having to serve more apprenticeship time on the
Youth Tour.
2nd Chances
After 2 years of playing with the Tour
Card system hanging over them quite a few seasoned players will be back to make
a fresh start, firstly at qualifying and then at a career in professional
darts.
It may not be all doom and gloom as a
fresh start with a new perspective and new targets can often be a big
motivation for some who have served the PDC and darts with distinction for
quite some time.
These include: Nik Fullwell,
Darren Webster, Dave Honey, Andy Relf, Steve Grubb, Kevin Dowling, Mick McGowen,
Wayne Atwood & Dave Ladley.
The BDO Boys
It is heavily rumoured that in addition,
to those who accept the Tour Cards offered to Lakeside top four, many other
names are looking at plying their trade in the PDC.
Dean Winstanley has proved a class act so far and his
workmanlike attitude and clear focus will see him as a firm favourite to be
playing on the PDC next rear.
Scott Waites name has not yet appeared on the list
and the 2010 Grand Slam Winner would bring some big smiles from the PDC office
in Brentwood.
The peoples Champion Darryl Fitton, may
still enter, and it should be remembered that Darryl still holds one of the
highest averages ever seen on TV and recently some of that magic form seems to
be returning.
The West brothers include a major Semi
Final and World Masters Title and seem to be working to a plan, and other BDO
players yet decide that it’s now or never entering in the last minute.
Overall the BDO lads will have to work
hard this year, as the overall standard is very high and there are more of them
crossing over together, and our guess is that not all of them will make it
straight through like Chizzy, Hendo and
Pecker last year.
The Dark Horse?
Every year a relatively unknown player
has come through and made a relatively big impact within the PDC, again this
year people will be looking at all the big names such as Hankey & Winstanley, who
will come through under the radar and take it by the scruff of the neck in
2012?
To us this should be known as The `Hylton/Richardson’
Award and be made available to anyone who outstrips expectations of the masses
in their 1st year.
This year it will be the hardest yet to
pick prior to Q School buts let’s have a go;
Gareth Pass & Johnny Haines,
both quality players who many will know from Open events and previous skirting
of PDC darts. Neither is exactly a total newcomer, but they are quality player
who are not easily over awed by anyone and who have come a long way in terms of
experience in tough darts area’s Oxford & Stoke.
All in all Q School 2012 is an event that
should really be televised, with huge stars, high pressure and enormous
personal pride at stake combined with the huge range of new and young talent
makes for a four day darting bonanza.
Entry to the PDC ProTour Qualifying School is still available through the PDPA, costing £200 and
available at www.pdpa.co.uk Entries close at 12pm on Wednesday January 18 2012.
Full Entry List as off 17th Jan 8.00am
Q-School Entries to Date
1-Andrew Cornwall
2-Ashley Holgate
3-Wilfried Hoberg
4-Peter Manley
5-Anthony Evans
6-David Sanders
7-Paul Schofield
8-Philip Wathen
9-David Nelson
10-Alan Warriner-Little
11-Peter Evison
12-Ian Moss
13-Gary Eastwood
14-Darrel Claydon
15-Rocco Maes
16-James Young
17-Brandon Walsh
18-Andy Turnbull
19-Rees Hall
20-Alex Clyburn
21-Richie Howson
22-David Kelly
23-Martin Perring
24-Matthew Dicken
25-Andy Jenkins
26-Chris Aubrey
27-Jamie Landon
28-Aden Kirk
29-Rhys Dudley
30-Paul Sawyer
31-Darren Williams
32-Daniel Bunker
33-Gareth Pass
34-Darren Whittingham
35-Richard North
36-John Walton
37-John Jenkinson
38-Aodhagan O’Neill
39-John Scott
40-Tony Tasker
41-Andy Firth
42-Michael Gorst
43-Kentaro Suzuki
44-Jimmy O’Regan
45-Keegan Brown
46-James Thompson
47-Dave Ladley
48-Matthew Tedstone
49-Lee Butler
50-Gary Butcher
51-Jon Bott
52-Jim Walker
53-Gareth Cousins
54-Richard Plowman
55-James Pastfield
56-Wayne Atwood
57-Carlos Rodriguez
58-Ross Smith
59-Steven Pearson
60-Mick McGowan
61-Shaun Narain
62-Stuart Woodmore
63-Andrew Gilding
64-Joe Thompson
65-Stephen Jauch
66-Shaun Vernall
67-Stephen Hardy
68-Steve Haggerty
69-Adrian Bolitho
70-Jack Hill
71-Kevin Dowling
72-Peter Hughes
73-Michael Veitch
74-Joseph Hunt
75-Jason Simpkins
76-Mark Lawrence
77-Ron Atwill
78-Chris Mason
79-Andy Relf
80-Luke Broadbent
81-Lee Saville
82-Stephen Grubb
83-John Turnbull
84-Stuart White
85-Lewis Venes
86-Tony Wood
87-Mark Banham
88-Andrew Palmer
89-Adrian Gray
90-Sam Hill
91-Jon Archer
92-Matthew Edgar
93-Mark Frost
94-Stephen Clews
95-Johnny Haines
96-Andrew Hibbert
97-Stefanie Luck
98-Brian Kirk
99-James Guilfoyle
100-Paul Davison
101-Joe Murnan
102-Richard Slater
103-Lee White
104-Anthony Littleton
105-Peter Harris
106-Matt Clark
107-Andy Hutchings
108-Daniel Day
109-Mareno Michels
110-Damien Sherwood
111-Nathan Richards
112-Dave Honey
113-Marko Kantele
114-Andy Pearce
115-Matthew Waddoups
116-Jim McKevitt
117-Paddy Meaney
118-Martyn Turner
119-Neville Roberts
120-Martin Whatmough
121-Mark Ashby
122-Kenny MacNeil
123-Geoff Kime
124-Scott Coleman
125-Jamie Atkins
126-Michael Barnard
127-Enrico Fraccara
128-Chris Dale
129-Josh Jones
130-David Charnock
131-Nick Fullwell
132-Pat Pace
133-Sean White
134-Andrew Hodges
135-Martino Tagliapietra
136-Darren Webster
137-Dirk vanDuijvenbode
138-Matt Padgett
139-Adam Hunt
140-Steve West
141-Paul Marsh
142-Terry Rose
143-Michael Peel
144-Co Stompe Junior
145-Wayne Morgan
146-Connie Finnan
147-Mark Stephenson
148-James Stoneley
149-Richie Walsh
150-Keith Rooney
151-Reece Robinson (Tour Card given as
next in line on Youth Tour table, so Q School entry void)
152-Kurt Van de Rijck
153-Toon Greebe
154-Jerry Hendriks
155-Tony West
156-Mark Robinson
157-Gino Vos
158-Dean Winstanley
159-Ian Lever
160-Paul Hodkin
161-Richard Hosey
162-Liam Kelly
163-Joey Palfreyman
164-Gary Mawson
165-Aaron
Turner
166-Chris Skeats
167-Danny Moore
168-Spencer Murphy
169-Dylan Duo
170-Yoshan Roxy lyer
171-Steve Mcinally
172-Chris Clements
173-Jamie Lewis
174-David Bloome
175-Danny Dyer
176-Dave Smith
177-Jeff Smith
178-Bernd Roith
