We have a new winner on the European Tour, and it's this guy who I posted about in May:
Next to win a European Tour event:
1) Gerwyn Price - It was close between Price and White for who to put as number 5 above and number 1 here, given neither has won on the European Tour, and maybe I should have put Price higher as he's at least reached a major final, but I'll go round this way on account of Price simply not playing at quite the level of White right now, so if someone does burst through out of nowhere and nick a premier title very soon, it'll probably be White, while long term I'd think Price may be the more likely. Still, Price has made one final this year and looks to be getting the Premier League behind him. Should have just picked Durrant at number 5 above as he's better than both White and Price and despite only getting one shot per season, while it would be a surprise, I don't think it would shock anyone.
Well, now both White and Price have won one, and while nobody should get any huge kudos for picking the obvious, they still need to actually go and do it, and they have. Whitlock made the final, which should close to lock up a top 8 finish in the European Tour rankings (which apparently is all seeded like the Players Championship Finals, unlike last year where it was just the top 8 as seeds - meaning that, as things stand, Clayton would have been unseeded despite winning an event), always useful to have. Noppert and West made the semis, Danny probably just happy to make Dublin, while West may think what could have been having missed a match dart against Price to make the final. Still, if you keep putting yourself in those positions, one day it'll click - how many times did Mensur make a quarter or a semi before finally binking one?
It's the run in to Dublin now. We've got that BBC exbo next weekend, because we all need more events with the top 8 playing against each other. Although, in terms of quality, it really isn't the top 8 - in terms of points per turn it should be van Gerwen, Anderson, Cross, Cadby, Suljovic, Smith, Wright and White - leaving Chisnall in if you think Cadby doesn't have the sample. Gurney would be down at 14, and Whitlock doesn't even threaten the top 30. Although, that said, Whitlock is still in the top 8 of active players on the FRH rankings, so there is that. White would get in through that method as well.
Speaking of the FRH rankings:
1 Michael van Gerwen
2 Rob Cross
3 Peter Wright
4 Gary Anderson
5 Daryl Gurney
6 Mensur Suljovic
7 Phil Taylor
8 Ian White (UP 1)
9 Simon Whitlock (UP 1)
10 Michael Smith (DOWN 2)
11 Gerwyn Price (UP 1)
12 Darren Webster (DOWN 1)
13 Dave Chisnall
14 James Wade
15 Jonny Clayton
16 Joe Cullen
17 Adrian Lewis
18 Mervyn King
19 Stephen Bunting
20 Kim Huybrechts
Price obviously moves a spot and is within 12k points of the top 10 - White had passed Smith before this event but Whitlock needed the final to get up a spot. West's semi final sees him close to within 1200 points of the top 20, John Henderson being sandwiched between him and Huybrechts. Barney is now down to number 25 and would have been out of it if Kyle had have won his game. Richardson and Schindler edge up to 45 and 46 respectively, Noppert is now well within the top 60, and Ryan Searle enters the top 64.
Meanwhile, there's a pretty good interview that ochepedia retweeted just now with Kirk Bevins here, if you like what you see here then I'd recommend having a read of it.
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