Well the PDC is certainly doing some travel of late indeed and will continue to do so by the looks of the calendar!
When I first started to track the players they were at Purfleet for the 2007 World Title, not long after that the player were announced to field the Holsten Premier League.
What a travelling road show and bundle of talent there.
All the players travelling the UK to packed houses to “dart it out” against each other for the all important points. There were highs and lows (like the travelling rollercoaster ride they are now taking).
These men are not just on the television tossing tungsten in one venue, they are true journeymen who want to showcase their talents and the PDC to the World.
The latest stop at the time of writing this uniBlog is Las Vegas which is not exactly down the road from Blackpool for the Las Vegas Desert Classic, they are missiling metal against each other at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Just as I was writing this up Stuart Pyke posted about the “Power Failure in Las Vegas” and yes its true the “power” got a flash... yes a flash in the name of Mark Dudbridge, thus endeth the Power... for a little while until the Matchplay!
Now for some PDC players next stop on their World Wide travels! John Part, Wayne Mardle, Ritchie Burnett & Andy Jenkins will be jetting their way down to the furtherest of darting nations.. AUSTRALIA! Yes you heard right good old Australia, a measly 10,000 miles away from comfy England.
The players will be competing in the William Cross Pro-Am which is into its second year and is held from the 9-12th of August with all funds raised going to the Wollongong Lord Mayors Charity, “The Light and Hope Campaign”, The ‘Lord Mayor’s Light and Hope Schizophrenia Appeal Committee’ was established in 2003 and since then, Wollongong has been a leader in raising awareness about issues surrounding mental health.
This year the total prize money has been upped to $44,220AUD and with that on mind the boys from the PDC in “Team Mardle” will looking to go home with a pretty penny. This is perhaps where there may be a spanner in the works for the boys from the PDC as this year Simon “The Wizard” Whitlock will be playing, yes that’s right the Wizard will be there with his 3 21gram magic wands of tungsten to weave his wizardry and cast a darting spell over all in his path! Simon has been playing some awesome darts of late and has won all tournaments he has fielded in and the last being the Australian Masters Singles in Canberra.
So the question on my mind is where abouts will the PDC traveling players go to next? The World Match play or for those less fortunate the practice board? I for one know that The Wizard is going all out to travel those 10,000 miles to the UK to be part of the field for the 2008 PDC World Championships. He only needs 2-3 more wins at the most to secure one on the wildcard entries supplied by the PDC. If his current form is anything to go on and the draw is kind, he may well travel further than the 3rd round exit he had in 2002 at Purfleet.
So all the best to ALL the players and boy I wish I had a dollar for every frequent flyer point all the players have tallied up between them for the year of 2007!
Yours in Darts
Wazza180