Doets ambitious after claiming Tour Card at Q-School: "I want to show that I can beat the top players"

At PDC Q-School, five Dutchmen secured a Tour Card for the next two years. One of them in 23-year-old Dutch ace Kevin Doets, who currently resides in Sweden.

Doets normally had to play in the first phase of Q-School. “But three days before the start I heard that the PDC had changed the regulations. The top-8 of the Development Tour, to which I belonged, went straight through to the final phase. In that final phase I had a bad first day, I was very nauseous and even had to throw up, perhaps because of the stress," he said to Darts Actueel.

"Fortunately it went much better afterwards. On the second day I lost to Brian Raman in the semi-finals and that gave me the confidence that it would work. On the third day I reached the semi-finals again, this time I lost to Mario Vandenbogaerde, but via the Q-School ranking I was sure of a Tour Card. It feels great that I have succeeded, I will do everything to fully go for it on the Pro Tour."

The 23-year-old Dutchman was also regularly active on the Pro Tour last season. “I now know just about everyone, I feel relaxed and I know what to expect. Last year I also noticed that I can certainly handle this level, so it gives me a lot of confidence to do well this year."

Doets has set himself some goals. “First of all, I want to reach the top 64 of the world rankings as soon as possible. In addition, I hope to qualify for as many Euro Tours as possible and I also want to show that I can beat the top players and perform well under pressure. But the most important thing is of course just having fun in what I do."

Now that he has a Tour Card, Doets is not immediately considering a move to England. “I always have a direct flight to London from Sweden. In addition, I have a very good employer who is very understanding that I regularly have to go abroad. Many of my colleagues even play darts and follow my career closely.”