John Henderson came within darts of returning to the PDC Tour a year after losing his Tour Card through the Challenge Tour, but instead the young rising talent, Owen Bates found his way into Tour Card contention and World Championship spot.
As a result, Henderson will have to put heartbreak to the side and focus on Q-School. But he is positive and full of confidence that he will return to the tour through that route which will delight his army of fans.
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"I always said the lowest in my career was when I lost to Andrew Gilding, no disrespect to Andrew. That was gut-wrenching, I was going for my Tour Card, the Ally Pally would've been a nice bonus but the Tour Card was massive for me. To lose it, fair play to Owen (Bates) but it was hard to take. I've got over it, I'm playing a lot more," said Henderson to Online Darts.
"So Q-School bring it on. Everybody has got the game in them to have one good day and I always seem to bump into that person. My game is in a good place and I've got exhibitions to get match practice against the world's best. So hopefully I can go into January full of confidence."
He also discussed the potential of Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries duking it out for the World title but believes there will be more spoilers in the mix.
"In my eyes, they are the best two players in the world. Michael he's been there and done it and Luke is doing it. It's fantastic for the fans. I think that would be everybody's final. It would be some semi-final. I've always been a big MVG fan. But what Luke is doing is now is just scary. He's on a massive high. It's wide open, there are so many players playing good now. Gary Anderson's playing well, and Gezzy Price is playing well. Even Peter (Wright).
This includes Gary Anderson who he says is the most positive he has seen in years and will have his say.
"It's the most positive I've seen Gary in a lot of years. He is just doing what he is doing and he's doing it well. He is probably playing better now than when he was two-time World Champion. He is hungry for this, he'll have a massive say in this World Championship."