Holy shit guys, Max Hopp just won a ranking title! What the hell?
Can't state just how much this is going to mean for German darts. First, it's going to give Hopp, who was already on an upswing anyway, all the confidence in the world, and he's only 21. When Southgate had his penalty saved he wasn't even born. The scene there is already great, now that they know that they've got players that can definitely compete at the top level, it's going to explode. For Hopp in general, this qualifies him for everything through to the end of the season (technically not the Grand Slam, but it'd take a very weird set of circumstances for a European Tour win to not get him in), which will see his ranking skyrocket throughout the rest of the year.
It's mostly the way he did it. Two twelve darters in deciding legs, both finishing on the bull for a 121, in what in each case is clearly the biggest match he's had in his life... I think the whole concept of clutchness is garbage, but if it does exist, Max showed it tonight.
In even more unbelievable results, I correctly picked Michael van Gerwen to lose and can now retire happy. Go me.
New FRH rankings:
1 Michael van Gerwen
2 Rob Cross
3 Peter Wright
4 Phil Taylor
5 Gary Anderson
6 Daryl Gurney
7 Mensur Suljovic
8 Michael Smith
9 Simon Whitlock
10 Dave Chisnall
11 Gerwyn Price
12 Ian White
13 James Wade (UP 1)
14 Raymond van Barneveld (DOWN 1)
15 Darren Webster
16 Alan Norris
17 Kim Huybrechts
18 Joe Cullen
19 Jelle Klaasen
20 Adrian Lewis
Huge amount of chalk so not a great deal of movement, and what wasn't chalk was further down, Hopp is now up to 43, just one place behind Corey Cadby, who's excited to see that potential rivalry for the next few decades? Benito and Mervyn have applied some pressure to Lewis but haven't overhauled him, Tabern is now in the top 90 while Daniel Larsson climbs to #143.
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