“I didn’t realise I’d been picked” – Behind-the-scenes mix-up nearly costs Ross Smith New Zealand Darts Masters debut
PDC
Ross Smith needed an unexpected phone call from the PDC to discover that he had been selected for this weekend’s New Zealand Darts Masters. An email confirming his place had gone unnoticed following a recent change of management, leaving the world No. 16 unaware that a first appearance at a regular World Series event was waiting for him.
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Smith had already arranged a family holiday to Greece during August. Once the invitation reached him, the trip was brought forward and his long-awaited journey to New Zealand was rescued.
PDC forced to chase Smith over missed invitation
“My manager didn’t actually pick the email up, so I didn’t realise I’d been picked,” Smith told the New Zealand Herald.
Smith was standing in his kitchen when the PDC telephoned and asked him to respond to the invitation. Accepting was an immediate decision, particularly with New Zealand having occupied a place on his bucket list since his father visited the country in his younger years.
The call-up follows the most productive opening seven months of Smith’s PDC career. He has won three ranking titles in 2026, leaving only Wessel Nijman above him on the current ProTour Order of Merit.
His first trophy came with an 8-2 victory over Chris Dobey at Players Championship 5. Smith then ended his long wait for a European Tour title at May’s International Darts Open, defeating Michael van Gerwen in a deciding leg and whitewashing Cameron Menzies before beating Ryan Searle 8-3 in the final.
Another Players Championship title followed in June, while Smith also reached the European Darts Grand Prix final, the Slovak Darts Open semi-finals and the World Matchplay quarter-finals. Auckland will be his first appearance at one of the PDC’s invitational World Series tournaments, having previously qualified for the end-of-season World Series Finals.
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Lockdown matches create unexpected Auckland reunion
Smith could begin his New Zealand debut against an opponent he already knows from one of the most unusual periods of his career.
With the established darts calendar suspended during the Covid-19 lockdowns, he regularly entered online competitions based in Australia and New Zealand. The time difference meant getting up during the early hours to play opponents throwing on the other side of the world.
Those tournaments brought several meetings with leading New Zealand players Ben Robb and Haupai Puha. The matches were staged remotely from their respective homes, with cameras trained on each dartboard and separate devices used to follow the scoring and the opponent’s throw.
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Smith in action at the recent World Matchplay
“I remember playing Haupai quite a few times and Ben as well,” Smith said. “It was quite strange playing these guys on the other side of the world live. It was all through Covid when darts sort of stopped. We were lucky to continue, have some fun and play online.”
Despite facing both men repeatedly, Smith has never met either in person. He now hopes the New Zealand Darts Masters draw will pair him with Robb or Puha at the first opportunity. “They’re good lads and great players,” he added. “It’ll be good to meet up with them and have a game when I come over.”
Robb has won five DartPlayers New Zealand titles during 2026 and is closing in on another World Championship appearance. Puha has competed regularly on the PDC stage and faced Luke Humphries in Auckland at last year’s event.
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Smith and world No. 2 Gian van Veen are the only PDC representatives making their New Zealand Darts Masters debuts. Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting, James Wade, Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock and Damon Heta complete the invited group, with Luke Littler, Humphries and Michael van Gerwen all sitting out the Down Under double-header.
Each PDC player will face an Oceanic representative in Friday’s first round at Spark Arena. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final follow on Saturday, with Smith still capable of being drawn against either of the two former online rivals he stayed up through the night to face during lockdown.
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026
- Not even slightly interestedrick6730-10-2026
- And yet the PDC has decided to aggravate this problem by doubling the Players Championship Finals field from 2027. I can't imagine there will be fewer withdrawals next year with even less reason to turn up. I can only hope that a whole slew of Challenge Tour top-up players receive enough prize money in the absence of much of the elite, that some of the more complacent among them struggle to scrape into even a heavily diluted field! More semi-pro players will get to test their mettle, but the standard of competition will be much inferior. It could hardly be said that the Players Championship series will provide an opportunity for darts' second string to test their Tour Card credentials anymore, but at least it will underscore the achievements of those Challenge Tour players of current and previous years, who were able to prove themselves as more than capable of competing with, and beating, the elite of the sport on a consistent basis, and reaping the due rewards.Deduce635828-10-2026
- No point in being there? Champions want to win.Deduce635828-10-2026