2016's final PDC major of the darting season sees the culmination of a year of leisure centre fun with the Players Championship Finals from Butlins at Minehead. The format has changed this year with an expansion of the tournament field from 32 to 64 players, alongside the second stage being brought into action for the first time, so we as viewers don't have to witness the torture of Justin Pipe against a revived Andy Jenkins.
A notable absentee from this weekend is one Philip Douglas Taylor, guaranteeing 0% chance of TAYLORWINSLOL. This is the first time ever the Prowler has missed a major in which he was eligible to compete, having only attended three of the 20 ProTour events, never progressing past the last 16. It is the biggest indication yet that the Stoke sex pest will be retiring from the sport sooner rather than later. Here's hoping he has a complete implosion at next month's Worlds by losing to an international qualifier nobody has heard of and retires on the spot.
Another absentee is Aussie No. 2 and #23 seed Kyle Anderson who is unable to attend due to visa issues, so this has shaken up the field a bit. Instead of the third meeting inside a fortnight of ProTour Number 1 Michael van Gerwen and boring Brendan Dolan, it is former perennial TV quarter-finalist and pegging lover Andy Hamilton who will attempt to stop the Autism Express's impending 26th title of the year. Other hot first round match-ups include a stunning R2 bracket of Mensur Suljovic or Raymond van Barneveld playing either Adrian Lewis or Robert Thornton, a Scottish derby with Gary Anderson against John Henderson, and a repeat of the hilarious 2014 Masters final between James Wade and Mervyn King.
Coverage starts at 12:45pm GMT on ITV4 with the evening session from 7:00pm on the same channel.
Parker Davis
First
Nolan Powell
Is Paul Nicholson starting?
Jack Bennett
>No Phil
Any reason why?
Isaiah Foster
He's played about four floor tournaments all year and didn't pull up any trees in any of them.
I had a dream last night that Mark Webster made the final of this, so fill your boots at 100/1 with Skybet.
Anthony Lewis
>mfw Nicholson has to apply for a tour card next year
Nicholas Ortiz
Afternoon Session (12.45pm)
>Main Stage Joe Cullen v Steve Brown Ian White v Keegan Brown Chris Dobey v Mick McGowan Jelle Klaasen v Simon Stevenson Simon Whitlock v Matthew Edgar Cristo Reyes v Berry van Peer Christian Kist v Ricky Evans Dave Chisnall v Kevin Painter
>Stage Two James Wilson v Vincent Kamphuis Joe Murnan v Jermaine Wattimena Justin Pipe v Andy Jenkins Darren Webster v Jonny Clayton Josh Payne v Mark Walsh Vincent van der Voort v Andrew Gilding Jamie Caven v Jamie Lewis Robbie Green v Devon Petersen
Evening Session (7pm)
>Main Stage James Wade v Mervyn King Gerwyn Price v Dimitri Van den Bergh Mensur Suljovic v Raymond van Barneveld Benito van de Pas v Brendan Dolan Michael van Gerwen v Andy Hamilton Gary Anderson v John Henderson Peter Wright v Jason Wilson Adrian Lewis v Robert Thornton
>Stage Two Steve West v Jan Dekker Steve Beaton v Jeffrey de Graaf Mark Webster v Terry Jenkins Daryl Gurney v Ronnie Baxter Kim Huybrechts v Mickey Mansell Alan Norris v Michael Smith Ronny Huybrechts v Rowby-John Rodriguez Stephen Bunting v Ron Meulenkamp
We're on now.
Samuel Ward
>people still like Autismo van Tryhard
Joseph Williams
Welcome back home, lad.
Logan Smith
Why are you all not out grabbing some Black Friday bargains?
Jaxon Kelly
That's not a thing around here.
Camden Perez
Philth will be raiding his nearest Millets for caravan wear
Michael Williams
>Ian White v Keegan Brown next You now remember Keegan Brown.
Austin Hernandez
>Jammy Todger on course to lose to a Dutch nobody
Sebastian Martin
>Vincent van der Voort v Andrew Gilding
is there a way to watch stage 2?
James Nelson
This match is garbage.
Christopher Anderson
>Cock Eyed Joe was so bad against Wattimena he didn't even get a double attempt Jesus Christ.
Mason Harris
DAT 152
Gabriel Sanders
>this finishing White got lucky as fuck there
Aiden Davis
White is awful now.
Benjamin Hughes
>Dobey on the verge of being eliminated by Irish Gulper truly these are awful times
Caleb Stewart
>the magnet terrible
Noah Murphy
The state of Stevenson's flights.
Liam Young
>Paedo Suarez
Jack Jones
>Paedo Suarez
Austin Martinez
>the state of Paedo Suarez
Nathan Peterson
thought he would be banned from places like butlins.
Lincoln Jenkins
>Paedo Suarez
Magnets being activated to stop him getting to the PL and the papers going "hang on a minute..."?
Justin Russell
>losing to a guy called "The Mirror Man" Klaasen's either 130 average or sub 70 average: no middleground.
kek
Jayden Hall
Little bit of politics...
Kevin Lewis
Nice 115 in fairness
Mason Young
Shattered the Plymouth mirror maker with it.
Joshua Nguyen
Pub darts right at the end from former Stoke goalkeeper Steve Simonsen
Nolan Davis
>Justin Pipe interview "no"
Hunter Myers
>Justin Pipe groupies
Xavier Richardson
>stage 2 bar looks comfy as fuck
Brody Flores
>Edgar's shirt graphic The epitome of a floor jobber.
Hudson Turner
>bang in 104 out >can't hit D8 at all
Brandon White
Some match as well.
Vinny was 3-1 up, went 3-5 down and then won 6-5.
>potential MVG v Vinny oh boy
Asher Anderson
>this doubles shit show
Easton Flores
Cristo will have memories of last December rushing back to his head.
>completely obliterating opponent on the scoring >can't finish for shit
Nicholas Evans
>spic darts
Evan Gomez
>34 darts for 4 outs
Bentley Evans
This has been hilariously shit.
>30 missed darts at double from El Jobbo
Nolan Brooks
Future GOAT Josh Payne gotta be happy with this basically guaranteeing him a last-16 spot.
Leo Price
Young Rob Brydon is through.
Reyes could be at risk of dropping out of the top 32 now.
Blake Phillips
VVDV shooting!
Jordan Campbell
Vinny using the excuse of "the PDC only looks after a few players" to try and explain his lack of majors recently.
No Vinny, you've been shit. That's all.
Jack Nelson
>Josh "I Couldn't Beat Robert Thornton At Blackpool" Payne >good
Reyes out despite averaging 87 to Van Peer's 81. This trend of "can't finish legs" is getting worrying for him because it's happening so regularly in the big events.
Hunter Turner
John Rawling in a stats disaster there.
Connor Fisher
Cases Gallagher has had a bit of a makeover
Eli Hernandez
I've missed Shirley Painter from TV.
Noah Perry
>hitting the number straight off the board kek
John Harris
DAT TOPS TOPS 105!
Oliver Davis
How many matches still need to be played from the noon session?
Jayden Barnes
Just this one.
Delayed due to some really poor games this afternoon.
Logan Wright
>JIZZY JUST
Owen Ross
FUG
Noah Cooper
>>potential MVG v Vinny
What does it depend on? Or is it the next round pairing and only thing that has to happen is MvG winning against the Hammered One?
Robert Gomez
If MVG beats Hammer, then he plays Vinny.
Jonathan Diaz
And that D20 closes a very scrappy afternoon in which there really wasn't much to shout about, with everyone averaging around the 90 mark apart from a few.
The main stage's main surprise saw Chris Dobey's recent good form count for nothing as he went down 6-3 to re-emerging Irishman Mick McGowan. Ian White and Jelle Klaasen also had to survive in their matches, with Diamond involved in a quite awful fixture against Keegan Brown while Paedo Suarez banged in a 115 out to start a fightback against TV debutant Simon Stevenson and eventually got through. The match of the session saw Dave Chisnall involved in a typical Kevin Painter scrap where the Artist showed some of his best (including a neat 105 25-DD20) but not enough to eliminate Chizzy, who had to survive 3 missed darts for a deciding leg after a bull out 110 attempt had a bounceout.
We return in about 90 minutes. See you then.
Alexander Davis
He has... for now: >Jamie Lewis's win means Cristo Reyes will not be seeded at Ally Pally (unless Kyle Anderson is forced to withdraw before the draw).
Josiah Hughes
Your one hour reminder.
Michael Morgan
>get home >4 >ctrl + f >180 >??? >comfy time
Alexander Fisher
And we're back on now.
Xavier Miller
>taylor in the preview
Jace Peterson
>ITV doing a GUNNAR VISION montage
Cameron Perez
He's there in spirit.
Jace Hill
>All those empty seats >mfw PDC cucks say that Gerwenetty is a draw
Andrew Robinson
TRIPLE H IN A NO MEDS MATCH
Mason Parker
Mervyn King defeat excuse odds:
Tiredness new favourite at 2/1 Bad back still in there at 5/2 Sciatica falling back to 10/3 Falling off his motorbike rank outsider 100/1
Kevin Gomez
lel
Temperature (hot or cold in 1 bet for FREE) dark horse 12/1
Cooper Gray
>le 100 to 120 checkout man
Julian Stewart
>le 100-120 finish man
Noah Moore
>opponents always choke against you
"He's got a quality to pull a match over the line!"
Elijah Richardson
>a break back
Stop mocking King bully commentators
Anthony Moore
>le 100-121 finish man
Grayson Sanders
>le 100 to 121 checkout man Merv with a look of "oh fuck"
Ethan Davis
>le 100 to 121 checkout man
Henry Williams
100 to 130 is WADE RANGE
Aaron Walker
I love /180/ lads
Andrew Evans
>Wade
Juan Williams
>Wade missing D10
Bizzaro world.
Jose Morris
The normies only care about Philth.
Liam Diaz
>someone actually went out of his way to remove the World Cup from the PDC-Major table on MVG's Dutch wiki, now it looks like this
>tfw it was probably MVG
David Mitchell
>Mr coat in action on board 2
>not making him the main event
>mfw
Carter Russell
>2016: 3rd round >his victor's face when
Currently 5-3 up on Simply The. Appalling averages as you'd guess.
