He was once Dutch darts’ next big thing – now Benito van de Pas is throwing again after years away

Benito van de Pas has been seen throwing darts again in 2026. Not on a stage and not under TV lights, but back at a board in familiar surroundings, quietly playing competitive legs and training seriously once more. For a player who seemed to vanish after losing his PDC Tour Card in 2020, even being seen throwing again is enough to make people stop and look.

It matters even more because his decline was not just about losing matches. It was about losing his throw. And now, the first reports coming back are that he looks like himself again.

At his peak, Van de Pas was not just another Dutch prospect. He was widely seen as the next big name of his generation. He broke into the world top 16, made repeated last 16 runs at the World Darts Championship, reached European Tour finals and won multiple Players Championship titles. Tall, relaxed and rhythmic, his throw was his signature. It looked easy.

Then it stopped looking easy. By the end of his Pro Tour career, the change was obvious. His action looked rushed and uncomfortable, the rhythm gone. Once a player starts fighting their throw, confidence usually collapses with it. Results followed the same path. When his Tour Card expired at the end of 2020, there was no big farewell. He simply faded from the top level, and for years, he became a name from the past.

That is why a simple sighting in 2026 has landed so heavily. Van de Pas has been seen throwing again at his old pub, the same place where he once played competitive darts before turning professional. People who watched him there said his action looked the same as in his best years, smooth and natural, and that he played a close match against Jimmy van Schie, losing narrowly 3 2.

More importantly, this was not just a one-off night. According to PremiumDartsData on X, Van de Pas has started practising seriously again, training around three hours a day. He now has a board at home after his girlfriend bought him one over the holidays, and he has said he wants to play more. That turns this from a nostalgic moment into something that looks planned.

For Van de Pas, the key detail is not the scoreline or the venue. It is that people are saying he looks like himself again when he throws.

The timing could hardly be more interesting. Dutch darts is thriving again. Gian van Veen reached the final of the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship. Danny Noppert arguably enjoyed the strongest season of his career in 2025. Wessel Nijman broke through properly with multiple Pro Tour titles in 2025. Jimmy van Schie lifted the Lakeside title in 2025.

The Netherlands is no longer leaning on one or two names. It has depth again.

If Van de Pas really is rebuilding quietly, he would be doing so in a completely different landscape to the one he left. Not as the next great hope, but as a former elite player trying to find his way back into a booming scene.

There is still no entry list, no Q-School confirmation and no comeback announcement. All that exists right now is a man throwing darts again, training again and looking like himself again.

But for someone who once stood among the best in the world, disappeared, and was almost written out of the modern story of Dutch darts, that alone is enough to make people pay attention. He was once Dutch darts’ next big thing. Now, quietly, he is back at the board.