Brave new world of darts

Darts is one of those sports where the standard just keeps on rising. Even when it seems impossible for the sport’s elite to take it to another level, they find a way. The darts world of today is a very different beast to the one inhabited in the 1980s by Eric Bristow, Bobby George, Jockey Wilson, and co.

the sport as a whole was very different back then

Make no mistake, the sport’s forefathers were brilliant players but the sport as a whole was very different back then, with fewer tournaments and even fewer televized events. The prize money too was a mere fraction of the sums earned by today’s darting superstars.

For winning the 2024 World PDC Championship, Luke Humphries picked up a cool €580,000 ($620,362) compared to the €3,500 ($3,743) that Leighton Rees collected for winning the sport’s inaugural title in 1978. ?

Even bigger strides have been taken in the women’s game – although not necessarily in prize money – where the crossover is well underway and where Fallon Sherrock is now an Alexandra Palace regular at the PDC World Championships.

Move over Fallon

Yet Sherrock is no longer regarded as the champion of the women’s game. That baton has been passed to Beau Greaves – a 20-year-old from Doncaster, England, who is the two-time winner and current holder of the BDO/WDF world title.

Last weekend, Greaves achieved what many in the sport thought to be impossible, which was to go through a whole pro tournament without losing a single leg.

Her staggering achievement came in the seventh event of the 2024 PDC Women’s Series in Wigan, Lancashire. On her way to the final, Greaves beat Laura van den Berg, Samantha Lewis, Chelsea Campbell, and Lisa Ashton in the best-of-seven early rounds, before beating Wendy Reinstadtler and Robyn Byrne in the best-of-nine quarter and semi-finals.

she simply demolished the so-called Queen of the Palace

It set up a final against Sherrock, and while most expected it to be Greaves’ biggest test of the tournament, she simply demolished the so-called Queen of the Palace with another immaculate 5-0 performance. ???

Average of 100.20

Well worth noting is that against Sherrock she averaged 98.88 and against Ashton in the round-of-16, an even higher 100.20. When compared to the tournament average of last Thursday’s Premier League Darts in Rotterdam of 94.87, the scale of Greave’s achievement becomes even clearer. It was the first time a World Series event had been won by not conceding a leg; Sherrock going closest when winning the 11th event in 2021.

As a side note, Greaves also won five consecutive legs the previous night to win round six of the same series, and so, in fact, won 36 straight legs. In addition, during event seven she clocked up 1,000 winning legs.

As sporting achievements go, what Greaves did at the weekend was special, and, arguably, usurps a nine-darter. This is backed up by the odds.

Despite Greaves being the red hot favorite to win each of her seven matches, even against Sherrock, the odds of her making it all the way through to the final and winning it was over +500. Spin that to each match being won without conceding a leg and we’re talking +1700 and higher.

a player who is completely dominating the sport

All of which may sound a little ungenerous on the part of the bookies, but we’re talking here of a player who is completely dominating the sport and who is outplaying, by some considerable margin, the world’s best.

Greaves to dominate in June?

The next four events in the PDC Women’s Series also take place in Wigan, over the weekend of the June 15 and 16. For those who fancy making a quick buck or two, look no further than Greaves going for a clean sweep of all four events and, maybe, winning another tournament without conceding a leg. For winning all four, the bookies are offering +2000.

currently pitched at +30000 with Betway to win the ?2025 PDC World Darts Championship

Another one to consider is that she is currently pitched at +30000 with Betway to win the ?2025 PDC World Darts Championship. It’s worth bearing in mind though that she declined an invite to the 2024 tournament in favor of defending her women’s? BDO/WDF crown. Watch this space on that one.

But what is clear is Beau Greaves is having a similar impact on the women’s world of darts to that of Luke Littler on the men’s.

What price for a Greaves/Littler clash at Ally Pally on opening night on December 15? Now that would be worth watching!