“Flights back and forth from Canada... is all on me” - Jim Long faces brutal price of life as PDC Tour Card holder

For most PDC Tour Card holders, a tournament begins with a drive to Leicester, Wigan or Hildesheim. For Jim Long, that same journey almost always starts with an intercontinental flight from Canada.

The 58-year-old from Ontario is part of a small group of players trying to complete the full PDC ProTour without living in the United Kingdom or on the European mainland. It means thousands of kilometres of travel, constant time-zone changes and a calendar that can drain as much energy before a match as during one.

“Last year, jet lag was terrible from April until October, and the endless bookings are draining mentally,” Long told Bang On Target. “So it’s very hard to be mentally sharp all the time.”

The financial burden is just as real. Although Long has sponsorship support, the biggest costs still fall on him. “I have sponsorship money that pays for my trains and the odd flight in Europe or hotel, but the rest, flights back and forth from Canada, hotels and spending money, is all on me,” Long explained.

A permanent move to the United Kingdom would remove much of the travel problem, but Long says it has never been seriously considered. “No, there was no consideration to move,” he said.

Instead, he continues to live as a commuter between Canada and the PDC circuit. While many Tour Card holders can drive home after a ProTour block, Long’s schedule regularly involves long-haul flights, hotels, airport transfers and another adjustment period before he is back at the board.

The Challenge Tour, by comparison, would mean far less travel. That is one reason Long is not consumed by the pressure of retaining his Tour Card. “No, I’m not concerned with keeping my card, and if I go back to Q School, it will only be to play the Challenge Tour, where there’s less than half the travel,” he said.

Looking back on his first year and a half as a Tour Card holder, Long sees both frustration and progress. “Biggest disappointment is my consistency, and I’m most pleased with the fact that I started this year more at the level I would’ve hoped for,” he said.

Long has already shown he can compete at PDC level, but doing it repeatedly across a relentless schedule remains the challenge. This season, he also made his Euro Tour debut at the Slovak Darts Open in Bratislava, adding another layer to an already demanding travel calendar.

“The Euro events are so cool, seeing a different country and the fans that love the darts,” Long said. “But they are extra travel and compound the problem of living in North America.”

Long made his World Darts Championship debut at Alexandra Palace last winter, where he was knocked out in the first round by James Hurrell. The result was not what he wanted, but the Ally Pally crowd left a mark. “I was caught off guard by how into the darts the crowd was so early in the afternoon session,” Long recalled. “They were sooooo loud on every dart.”

He is also convinced North America has players with the quality to compete on the PDC Tour. The issue is finding the right circumstances to make the move work.

“There’s loads of great players in North America, and some have relocated without success,” he said. “I feel it has to be the perfect combination of age and freedom to be able to move over comfortably. The PDC schedule is way too busy to be a top 16 player without living in the UK, in my opinion. The talent is there for a lot of players, but who could do it, I couldn’t say because of the previously stated issues.”

Long also believes North American darts receives less attention than other routes into the professional game. “We certainly get less coverage than the Asian Tour or the German Super League,” he said. “I just feel it’s only the ProTour that, deservedly, gets the right amount of press.”

For the second half of the season, Long’s main goal is clear. “I would like to qualify for the Worlds from the ProTour,” he said. “Otherwise, I just want to prove to myself that I fit in on the tour while I have my card.”

That target comes with a very different route to most of his rivals. Long is not only trying to win matches, earn prize money and climb the rankings. He is trying to do it while crossing the Atlantic, paying for much of it himself, and dealing with the jet lag and bookings that come with life as one of the PDC Tour’s longest-distance commuters.

The next ProTour block will mean another trip from Ontario to Europe, another set of flights, and another chance for Long to prove that his place on the circuit is worth every mile.