Gary Anderson only withdrawal for Czech Darts Open in Prague with near complete contingent of big names expected

Gary Anderson will not be around when the PDC top players are in action this weekend from Sept. 5 to 7 at the Czech Darts Open in Prague. 'The Flying Scotsman' is the only absent player from the world's top-16 rankings.

Anderson won't play at the Czech Darts Open and has not played a tournament since his defeat to Stephen Bunting in the second round of the World Matchplay in July. Since then, he missed four Players Championship tournaments and the Flanders Darts Trophy. In addition, the Scot also did not travel to the World Series tournaments in Down Under albeit it is unclear whether he was invited.

Anderson has appeared only sporadically on the Euro Tour in recent years. From 2017 through 2022, the two-time world champion did not even play a single Euro Tour tournament. He showed his face twice in 2023 and 2024, while Anderson registered for more Euro Tours this year. He played five of the 10 now finished and won the European Darts Grand Prix in Sindelfingen. In addition, Anderson was also in the final of the Baltic Sea Darts Open.

Anderson's spot at the Czech Darts Open will be filled by Madars Razma, who was the highest seeded player to lose in the final round at the qualifying tournament for Tour Card holders. Because Anderson was one of the seeds, the seeded players below him move up one spot. As a result, Martin Schindler is now also seeded at the upcoming tournament and enters from the second round.

This means that subject to any late withdrawals, a full contingent of big names can be expected in Prague including Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price who didn't play last week. Price has had a hand injury which kept him out suddenly of events last week but he nearly played in Antwerp despite this. So in reality it is not unexpected especially in the run up to next week's World Series of Darts Finals that the big names are involved.

Albeit without entries yet, this likely will stifle any line-ups for the ProTour with the big names likely to skip those with Amsterdam albeit unranked on the horizon.