"Diamond White" and the TV Major Crusade!
Team Red Dragon’s Ian "Diamond” White is aiming to capitalize on a superb 12 months and complete a set of major qualifications seldom seen in professional darts.
After a PDC major debut in the 2011 UK Open Ian endured a spell of second season syndrome! This was arrested and reversed following the decision to work closely with Mark "Mile High” Hylton and the Let’s Play Knockout Darts team. As his results improved dramatically Ian closed in on more major events. 2011 Grad Slam and 2011/12 World Championships were added to the list.
The 2012 season has sparkled so far with our Diamond reaches floor finals and later stages almost at will, as ever this has two rewards. The influx of prize money enables relaxation and relieves pressure, also qualifications for major events. However as each event varies and calendars and rules change it is very tough to achieve a complete set of these events whilst outside the automatic places (i.e Top 16 and 32).
The Diamond, then is involved in an Indiana Jones style crusade to complete the set of available Major TV events and reap the benefits in ranking £’s and television exposure:
The Premier TV Big 5 : World Professional Championships, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, UK Open and The Grand Slam of Darts.
The Other TV Majors : The Players Championship Finals, The European Championships.
These events are the only ones available to players regardless of overall ranking and based purely on form over 12 months or one off qualification events. Others such as The Premier League, The World Cup, Championship League of Darts are achieved over a 2 year period and have no effect on future rankings.
Ian started this year ranked around 50 in the world and had recently added the World Championships and the GSOD to his list, he has now added The UK Open for the 2nd time and will soon add The World Matchplay 2012. He is currently in place to add the European Championships and The World Grand Prix, in addition he is in the top section of qualifying places for The Players Champs and already well ahead of the minimum for the World Champs.
This is an outstanding effort and the fact that Ian has built his way over the 2 years he has been on the circuit, unlike some he did not have a large reputation or major financial backing, just hard graft. So over the next weeks and months keep your eye on "Diamond White” and watch him pick off these milestones one by one and see if he can complete the set.
The experience and confidence that will be gained also mean that Ian should be watched very carefully at the major events, he is definitely becoming a very dangerous draw for any player, just ask Barney, and 2012 could be a breakthrough year.
Let’s see if our very own Indiana Jones can fulfill his crusade!