Day two of the 2019 BoyleSports World Grand Prix features two of Merseyside’s tungsten titans Dave Chisnall and Stephen Bunting.
Broadcast live on Sky Sports, the Grand Prix is only one of the four darting majors where players have to double in to begin scoring. Competitors are playing for their share of the £450,000 prize pool, including over £100,000 of that going to the winner.
After a slip up in the first set, defending champion and world number one, Michael Van Gerwen solidified victory over Jamie Hughes with a 3-1 in the third set.
St Helens superstar Michael Smith went down to the wire with Aussie, Simon Whitlock. Smith hit too huge ton plus checkouts to keep him in the tournament, including a momentum shifting 155 in the final set. The Bully Boy will now face world number ten Ian White in the second round, in a best of five sets match.
Dave Chisnall comes into the Grand Prix in red-hot form after completing the perfect leg of arrows in Gibraltar for a nine-dart finish. Chizzy raised the roof in the second leg of his quarterfinal Gibraltar Darts trophy match against fellow Englishman, James Wade.
Chinsall, who now resides in Morecambe, was born in St Helens and the 39 year old will have a tough task of turning over the Iceman, Gerwyn Price tonight. Price is the sixth seed for the tournament and currently is fourth of the Checkout percentage charts with 42.25%, naturally making him one of the favourites for the tournament with the bookmakers.
Stephen Bunting has shown signs of a resurgence over the last year, after talk of him quitting the sport 18 months ago. Twice a quarter finalist this season, at the Masters and World Match Play, Bunting has shown signs of that special something that saw him Crowned BDO world champion in 2014.
Bunting will be the first game broadcast on the Sky Sports programme tonight against Jonny Clayton. Clayton is ranked slightly higher in the PDC order of merit at 13 but has yet to win a televised title. The Welshman’s erratic form makes tonight’s encounter a tough one to predict, the drama unfolds on Sky Sports Action at 7pm.
(image – Sven Mandel – Creative Commons Licence)
