The darts majors come thick and fast at this time of year and next up is the Grand Slam of Darts from the Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton.
Thirty-two players are split into eight groups competing in four days of round-robin action before the knockouts begin next Tuesday.
And based on the evidence of October’s majors, when Mike De Decker stunned everyone to land the Grand Prix and massive outsider Ritchie Edhouse came through the field to win the European Championship, anything could happen over the next week.
Grand Slam of Darts
- Luke Humphries to win Grand Prix @ 11/4
- Ritchie Edhouse to win Group D @ 11/4
- Wessel Nijman to win Group H @ 11/4
- Beau Greaves to beat Danny Noppert @ 6/4
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Cool Hand can cling on to Slam trophy
He’s the world number one, the world champion and a short-priced favourite to defend his Grand Slam of Darts title – and Luke Humphries is a very hard man to look past.
That may sound odd given the upsets we’ve just witnessed at the Grand Prix – where Humphries lost in the final to De Decker – and the European Championship, where Cool Hand was stunned by eventual runner-up Jermaine Wattimena in the last eight.
But Humphries is housed in what should be a relatively routine group, is in the wrong half of the draw to dangers like Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson, and as the most recent winner of the title certainly knows how to get the job done.
Look at Edhouse and Nijman for group-stage glory
The beauty of the Grand Slam is the group format which offers punters any number of options.
Remember this is a 32-player field with invited champions from all across the globe and if you haven’t won in 2024 you aren’t in it, hence the absence of the likes of three-time champion Gerwyn Price, his Welsh World Cup partner Jonny Clayton and Premier League star Nathan Aspinall.
Among the eye-catching group bets to look at has to be Ritchie Edhouse to see off Dave Chisnall, Ross Smith and Connor Scutt in Group D.
Edhouse comes fresh from breakthrough glory at the Euros, Chizzy has been hindered by a bad back while Smith is the definition of inconsistency, especially when it comes to doubles. Scutt has qualified as the Challenge Tour winner so has limited TV exposure.
Dutchman Nijman, the smoothest of chuckers, is the Development Tour winner and is fair value in a brute of a section alongside the real hot-and-cold trio of Stephen Bunting, Josh Rock and Gian van Veen.
Beau can arrow in on upset against Noppert
All 32 players are in action on day one in Wolverhampton and one of the most keenly anticipated matches will be between Beau Greaves and Danny Noppert.
Greaves, by a distance the best women’s player, made her debut last year and the Yorkshire star looked right at home.
She suffered a pair of 5-4 losses to Nathan Aspinall and Damon Heta either side of a 5-1 drubbing of Ricardo Pietrezcko to miss out on the knockout stages by the narrowest of margins.
Noppert will have the crowd and a hugely talented rising star against him and he will not relish the contest.
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