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Anderson eyes second Euro Tour title in Austria

3 minute read

The PDC European Tour continues this weekend with the Austrian Darts Open at the Steiermarkhalle in Premstätten.

Gary Anderson in action at the 2024 World Darts Championship
Gary Anderson in action at the 2024 World Darts Championship Picture: AAP Image

He won 8-6 in an exciting final against Ross Smith, but now the Scot will be hoping to only wait a week for his next tournament win.

Eighth seed, he is 9/1 for the Austrian title with the usual suspects leading the way with the bookies; World number one Luke Humphries is 4/1, Luke Littler 5/1, Michael van Gerwen 11/2 and Gerwyn Price 9/1.

Last week was the first European Tour final which didn't feature at least one of the Premier League players, a potential sign that its eight contestants may be shifting their attention to the weekly showpiece tournament as the competition heats up.

That means there could be value in looking elsewhere in the Austrian line-up.

Amongst the seeded group is sixth seed Jonny Clayton (80/1), who has won the tournament twice and is the defending champion.

But the Welshman has shown few flashes of form recently and struggled to find any consistency; at the Leicester Players Championship for example, he dropped from an average of over 101 in his opener against Simon Whitlock to 85 in his loss to Andrew Gilding in the last 16.

If he can re-find his winning formula on familiar territory he will be tough to beat, but there are other options from the unseeded players who may have more of a chance of going all the way in Premstätten.

Chris Dobey (33/1) is one to watch. He averaged 96, 111, 94 and 104 on his way to the International Darts Open semi-final, where he collapsed to eventual winner Martin Schindler, averaging 85.

He lost out narrowly to Clayton in the last 32 last week at the European Grand Prix, but again he averaged well with a 97 and a 96 in his two matches to remain an attractive outside pick for the title in Austria.


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