"I want to win the Lakeside Men’s title, get my Tour Card": 15-year-old prodigy Mitchell Lawrie sets his sights on WDF glory before PDC transition

Mitchell Lawrie recently won the Denmark Open which saw him seal his Lakeside return where he will hope to win the men's title after losing to Jimmy van Schie last year and he wants to do a two-pronged attack. The 15-year-old golf fanatic said that he wants to win Lakeside then join the big boys by attending PDC Q-School.

The 2010 born player known as Wee Sox will finally be eligible to play on the tour as of next year and he wants to join the likes of Littler, Humphries and Van Veen at the top table as well as his hero Gary Anderson. Albeit he has other goals first before he achieves that and that is putting right his loss at Frimley Green in November. "I’ve just been spending some time outside of darts and playing golf again. I was in Denmark at the weekend and qualified for Lakeside again, so now I can chill out a bit towards the end of the year," said Lawrie on the Love the Darts Podcast.

"The weekend was great. It’s probably one of the best-run WDF tournaments I’ve been to. The venue was great, and the food was probably the best thing about the whole weekend! Obviously, I got the golden ticket and qualified for Lakeside again, so yeah — job done."

But while the Tour Card does remain the ultimate aim, qualifying for Lakeside was the main goal and he wants to win it in both the senior and youth again before he eventually transitions towards the PDC system.

"I knew I was in a good position in the points system and probably would have qualified anyway, but I really wanted to win my first men’s Gold event. I’ve won Platinum Youths and Gold Youths before, so I wanted to secure my spot at Lakeside properly, which I’ve done now. I can relax a bit for the rest of the year.

"I want to win Lakeside again before I try to transition over to the PDC. I really want to win it. Obviously, I was 3-0 up in the final last year and then we went into the break. I was thinking, “If I win 3-2 in the next session, then I’ve won Lakeside.” But Jimmy came out and he’s a fantastic player. I think his experience showed.

Albeit a bit of a hammer blow to the WDF system is the fact that Lawrie can't play the World Masters in Las Vegas due to a pre-booked family holiday albeit he has now qualified for Lakeside anyway so he doesn't need to go

"I think it’s my number one priority right now. The World Masters would probably have been my main priority this year, but moving it to Las Vegas was a bit of a dagger to the heart, to be fair. I’d already booked a holiday with my mates and their parents a year in advance, and it ended up clashing.

"We looked at my position on the Road to Lakeside rankings and realised I didn’t really need to go, so I could take a bit of time to chill out instead. But Lakeside is definitely my number one priority heading towards the end of the year. Then after Lakeside it’ll probably be Q School again. I’ve always said that if I don’t get my Tour Card, it’s not the end of the world. I can always go back and try Las Vegas next year."

But for Lawrie, it is all about incremental gains over saying here's the concrete goal that is perhaps too lofty as he looks to first reach the Winmau World Masters then he wants to win Lakeside, gain a tour card and join the ProTour ranks.

"If I finish in the top four on the Advanced Tour, I’ll get an invite to the PDC World Masters, and I’m currently sitting first in that ranking, so that’s another thing on the hit list. I’d love to go there in January and do well. Getting on stage there would be my first professional tournament. Then I want to win the Lakeside Men’s title, retain my youth title, get my Tour Card and hopefully do well on the ProTour. We’ll just see where it takes me."

But while he has the goal to make darts his full-time living as he transitions towards becoming an adult, Lawrie admitted that he is also prepared to return to the WDF if he gets his card and it doesn't work out. Albeit that he isn't there to make the numbers up and also has a secret motivation to his darting mission, "Probably not having to go out grafting with my grandpa anymore — that would be the best thing!

"Making being a professional dart player my full-time job is obviously the dream. But I don’t want to go onto the PDC circuit just to make up the numbers. I want to go there and win things. If I’m not playing well and lose my Tour Card after two years, then maybe I’d refresh and go back to the WDF circuit for a bit. But I believe I’ll get my Tour Card and I believe I’ll keep it."

Obviously as expected Luke Littler was a topic of conversation and he reiterated a line of his that has been repeated that he is Mitchell Lawrie and not Luke Littler with their obvious stark rises being compared and he said he won't be like him but if he can achieve half as much he'll be happy.

"Yeah, obviously he’s done brilliant. He’s doing his own thing now. But I’ve always said I want to do things my own way as Mitchell Lawrie, not as Luke Littler.

"What he’s done is an absolute freak of nature. I’ve always said that if I can do half the things he’s already done by the time he’s 18, I’d be over the moon with myself. The first step is getting a Tour Card before anything else. We’ll see in January. If I get my Tour Card, then I’ll be looking to push on in the ProTours and stuff."