2023 Cazoo Masters Darts Ante-Post Preview – JP
2023 Cazoo Masters Darts Ante-Post Preview
The 2023 Cazoo Masters Darts tournament will be the eleventh renewal of the non-ranking season opener. For the last two years the field has been made up of the top 24 players on the order of merit (O.O.M.) with the top 8 seeded and entering at the second round stage. The remaining 16 players play on Friday in best of 11 leg matches.
The fact that this is a non-ranking event means that is not held in great esteem by some players. Some take it more seriously than others but the fact that there is an increased prize fund of £275000, a first prize of £65000 and perhaps a place in the Premier League, means that it is not to be sniffed at.
New Recent Winners
There have been four different winners in the last four years, Joe Cullen (last year), Jonny Clayton, Peter Wright and Michael van Gerwen. MVG has won it five times (2015-2019), Cullen, Clayton, Wright, Wade and Taylor once each.
This year the 2023 Cazoo Masters Darts is not the first Televised action of the season as we have had two World Series events earlier in the month. That means some of the players have had some competitive play already and they may be a little better prepared.
2023 Cazoo Masters Darts – The Players
1. Michael Smith
The new world number 1 and World Champion. Smith played in both World Series events, winning in Bahrain and reaching the semi-final in Denmark. He has won nine of his last ten matches and won three of his last six TV tournaments entered. His Masters’ record is played 13 and won 6, with a best finish of runner up in 2020. Not the best of tournament records, but he remains the form player and must be fancied once again.
2. Peter Wright
Snakebite warmed up for this by winning the World Series event in Denmark last weekend, beating MVG, Smith and Price. He has won seven of his last ten matches, but his form has not been totally convincing. His Masters’ record is played 20, won 12 and he won the title in 2020.
3. Michael van Gerwen
MVG farmed this event for five years, picking up the title every year from 2015 to 2019. Ranking or not, he saw the value in winning it as a good warm up for the Premier League. Van Gerwen did not play in the Bahrain Masters but flew into Denmark last weekend, straight from holiday, only to lose to Peter Wright in the quarter final. He clearly wasn’t totally switched on and his mind was still on the beach.
MVG has won eight of his last ten matches and has been scoring very well in the main. Given the fact that he has always tried to win this title, taking it more seriously than many, he has to be on the shortlist. His Masters’ record is played 26 and won 22. It is worth pointing out that he has lost three of his last four matches here, two against Jonny Clayton, who he could meet in the semi-final.
4. Gerwyn Price
Runner up in Bahrain and Denmark in the two World Series events. He played some good stuff in both and looked in good nick. He has won seven of his last ten matches and while he is getting back to something like his best form, he just not quite there. His Masters’ record is played 10 and won 5, with a best finish of a semi-final in 2021.
5. Luke Humphries
Cool Hand didn’t get on well in the two Worlds Series events, losing both his quarter finals. He has won six of his last ten matches and is struggling for the required consistency, especially on the doubles, to go deep. This will be just his second Masters’ appearance and he lost at the quarter final stage in 2022, going down 9-10 to MVG.
6. Rob Cross
Voltage is one of the players who doesn’t take this event seriously. He called it a silly tournament last week, despite there being a chance that he could earn a place in the Premier League if he won it. He says he doesn’t care about the Premier League and that the PDC is not interested in having him in it.
Clearly, he is still smarting after being dropped from the PL despite being a major winner. Cross has won six of his last ten matches and he seems to be a bit frustrated, playing well but just not getting over the line as often as he should. His Masters’ record is poor, winning just two of his seven matches.
7. Jonny Clayton
If it is a non-ranking event, The Ferret has to be on the shortlist. He lost twice to Gerwyn Price in the two World series events and has won six of his last ten matches. He played some good stuff at times but he is still lacking in the consistency which made him such a successful player in 2021. This event was the launchpad for that great season, he beat Merv King in the final and he reached the semi-final last year. He has won eight of his eleven matches here and he takes it seriously.
8. Danny Noppert
The first of the players not to have taken part in the two World Series events earlier this month. Danny’s last match was his 2-4 loss to Alan Soutar at the World Championship. That is a month without any competitive play, so a bit of rust may have crept in. Noppert had won seven of his last ten matches. This will be his Masters’ debut, which underlines the progress he made last year. He was eligible to play last year, but he took some time off to prepare for the arrival of his first child.
9. Nathan Aspinall
Runner up in the World Grand Prix and Grand Slam in the latter part of 2022, The Asp had a good year despite starting it with a career threatening injury. He missed out last year’s Masters due to that injury. He has played in two previous Masters, winning three of his five matches and reaching the semi-final in 2020. Aspinall won six of his last ten matches before the winter break.
10. James Wade
The 2014 winner and 2019 runner up, Wade has played 23 matches here and won 14. He won seven of his last ten matches before the winter break, winning the final Players Championship of 2022, but he went out early at the Players Championship finals and World Championships.
11. Dimitri van den Bergh
Dimitri was poor at the Bahrain Masters, averaging below 90 in both matches. However, he averaged over 101 in both his matches in Denmark a week later. Clearly, he blew the rust off last week and he is now playing better after going back to something like his old darts. He reached the semi-finals of the World Championships but lost that semi 0-6 to MVG. Van den Bergh has only played in two masters and won just one match. Something of a dark horse this weekend?
12. Joe Cullen
The defending champion will be trying to become the only player other than Van Gerwen to defend a Masters title. He finished 2022 in decent form, winning seven of his last ten, but he kept on meeting Michael Smith and losing (three times in eleven matches). He has played in four previous Masters and won seven of his ten matches.
13. Dirk van Duijvenbode
Dirk had a frustrating end to 2022. He was runner up in the World Series finals, runner up in PC26, a semi-finalist in the European Championship, quarter finalist in the Players Championship finals and lost out at the last 16 stage in the World Championship. He is a bit of a nearly man. That said, his win rate last year was 68%, a career high, so he is still improving. He made his Masters debut last year but lost his opening match to Simon Whitlock.
14. Jose de Sousa
The Special One had a poor 2022 and his win rate fell to 59%, from around 70% in 2021 and 2020. His doubling leaves a lot to be desired at times, often enough to make having good runs unlikely. His 180 hitting still makes him dangerous but he isn’t taking as much advantage of that as he should. He lost five of his last ten matches.
15. Ryan Searle
Heavy Metal’s steady rise plateaued in 2022, his win rate dropping to 58% from 70% in 2021. Even when he played well, he was still losing matches and his confidence took a hit. His scoring was improving late last season, but there were far too many sub 90 averages in there as well. It is hard to tell if he will score a ton plus or a sub 90. He has lost five of his last ten matches and much like De Sousa, his doubling can be a problem.
16. Damon Heta
Winner of four titles in 2022, The Heat has moved up to 16 on the O.O.M. He holds the second highest 3 dart average for the last 12 months and surely this is the season when the TV titles start to land.
Heta picked up a Euro Tour title and a Players Championship in October but he didn’t carry that form into the big money events at the end of the year, going out in the first round of the European Championships and Players Championship finals, failing to get out of the group stage of the Grand Slam and winning just the one match at the World Championship. He has lost five of his last ten matches and this will be his Masters debut.
17. Ross Smith
The other Smith to win a ranking major in 2022. That win at the European Championships (beating Michael Smith in the final) won him a ‘Surprise of the Year’ award, but it wasn’t a total surprise. Smith has always had a great A game but lacked the consistency to go with it. He added that to his game in the latter half of 2022, that and hitting a shed load of 18’s.
His form at the end of 2022 was OK, but there was some double trouble which ended his participation at the Grand Slam, Players Championship finals and World Championship. He has lost five of his last ten matches, four of which saw checkout rates of less than 30%. If he can improve his doubles, he is a threat.
18. Dave Chisnall
Chizzy is a two time runner up in the Masters and it is an event that he takes seriously. It may not be a ranking event, but Chisnall would love to finally get his mitts on a TV title. After Michael Smith got his TV title monkey off his back, it is Dave Chisnall who wears the ‘best player to never win a TV title’ shirt.
Chisnall was runner up last year losing 9-11 to Joe Cullen. He had played a great tournament up to that point, but he just didn’t fire in the final, averaging 90.2. He had a good 2022 season, getting his win rate up to a career high of 71.5%.
Chizzy won on the Euro Tour and picked up a Players Championship title. He has lost five of his last ten matches but hit six ton plus averages. He has been a bit inconsistent on the outer ring at times, but there isn’t too much wrong with his game.
19. Gabriel Clemens
Clemens was a surprise semi-finalist at the World Championships and will have been thrilled to end the season on a high. It had not been a good year up to that point and his annual win rate had dropped to 55%. It transpired that he had been suffering with a wrist injury which had been causing him pain. He has got over that and he showed what he can do, pain free, at Ally Pally. He is back on the radar.
20. Krzysztof Ratajski
2022 was a year without any titles for the Polish Eagle. He did OK on the floor, but he didn’t make much impact on stage once again. He has lost scoring power, dropping two points on his seasonal average. Ratajski has lost five of his last ten matches, only won one match from three here and he is hard to fancy.
21. Chris Dobey
Dobey ended 2022 with a win rate of 63.5%, a career best. He reached the quarter final of the Grand Prix, semi-final of the European Championships and the quarter final of the World Championships, but in eight years with a tour card, he has only two Players Championship titles in 2021 to his credit. When he is good, he is very good, but there are just too many flat performances, and that is stopping the titles from being landed.
22. Gary Anderson
A three time beaten semi-finalist and one time runner up, Anderson has always taken this event reasonably seriously, which is a bit of a surprise. It could be that his natural talent allows him to have a month off but still be able to just pick up his darts and be competitive, much like Dave Chisnall.
It must be said that title wins are in his rear view mirror these days, his last being in 2020. 2018 was his last really big season. His win rate in 2022 was just over 50%. Anderson has fallen at the first fence here for the last two years and he was thrashed 1-10 by Joe Cullen twelve months ago.
23. Callan Rydz
It was a bit of a quiet 2022 for Rydz. He was a Players Championship runner up in May and had a few decent runs in Europe, but his best result was to reach the quarter finals of the Players Championship finals in November. It must be said that he didn’t actually play well that weekend and his 3-10 defeat by Clayton was just a reality check. He has won six of his last ten matches but half his last ten saw sub 90 averages.
24. Stephen Bunting
Reaching the World Championship quarter finals was a good way to end last season. He played well to beat Luke Humphries and Dave Chisnall and gave Michael Smith a run for his money in the quarter finals. The Bullet has played in four previous Masters, but only won one match. He has been away on holiday in the build up to this and he may be one of the players to be a bit undercooked.
cazoo masters ante-post tips
The Masters has been the traditional season opener, but this year we have had two World Series events which have given a run out for eight of the players in the field. Michael Smith and Peter Wright won the titles and Gerwyn Price was runner up in both. They should be that bit more prepared for a tournament where not everyone will be match fit.
The last two Masters have seen the field extended to 24 players, and both were won by a player starting at the first round stage. The eight seeded players only have to win four matches, the others five, so it is easier for the eight seeds. All of the eight seeds played in at least one of the two World Series events and should be a little better prepared as a result.
Bully Boy The Man To Beat
Michael Smith is the man to beat at the 2023 Cazoo Masters Darts. His form is the best, winning three of his last six TV tournaments, was runner up in one and semi-finalist another. His confidence is sky high and nobody is enjoying himself more than Smith.
Michael Smith is the World number 1 and World Champion, but second favourite to win this title. He has finally realised his potential and getting that first major title has opened the flood gates. Smith won’t win everything and burn out is a risk, especially during the Premier League, but right now, he is riding the big wave. He should have won this title in 2020 when he blew a lead and missed three match darts, to lose 10-11 to Peter Wright. Smith will want to right that wrong.
2 points Michael Smith to win The 2023 Cazoo Masters Darts @ 5.50 with Ladbrokes, Coral
There are plenty of threats to Smith, most of them having been involved in the two World Series events earlier this month. Gerwyn Price looked in good nick in the World Series events but now he is back in front of a UK audience and the abuse he gets will be a negative.
MVG was very rusty in the one World Series event he played in. He should be sharper for this and he has a very good tournament record. He isn’t in as good form as Smith however and at 3.75 his odds are a bit short.
Peter Wright won in Denmark, but he still doesn’t look at his best and while odds of 10.00 are not bad, I prefer others. Jonny Clayton has a great tournament record, played some good stuff in the World Series events but he isn’t at the same level as he was in 2021. Again, odds of 15.00 are not bad but he is likely to find one better at some point.
Dimitri Worth a Flutter
At much bigger odds, Dimitri van den Bergh makes some appeal. He was poor in Bahrain, lucky to beat a local qualifier before losing to Michael Smith, averaging just 86.8. He was much better in Denmark, hitting two ton plus averages but losing 7-10 to Price in a good match.
It is easy to forget that that he reached the semi-final of the World Championship and after a season where he changed darts suppliers, he has finally settled on some darts with which he is starting to play his best again.
He isn’t a seeded player but has had the advantage of the two warm up events. Van den Bergh faces Anderson in the first round and a disgruntled Cross in the second, should he beat Anderson. It gets harder after that, but there are worse draws.
