“I was absolutely cacking myself” – Rhys Griffin embraces dangerous free roll on long-awaited Euro Tour debut

After more than 40 unsuccessful qualifying attempts, Rhys Griffin will finally step onto the European Tour stage at the European Darts Open in Leverkusen today. The 29-year-old Welshman arrives after losing and immediately regaining his PDC Tour Card, with little external expectation and a first-round opportunity to announce himself in Germany.

“I’m excited. It’s been a long time coming, really, hasn’t it?” Griffin told the Weekly Dartscast. “I’m just really excited now. I’m not nervous because I’m not expected to do anything up there, so I’ve got a free roll, really.”

Griffin’s first experience of a major PDC stage came at the 2024 World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, where he lost 6-4 to Jeff Smith.

“It was different and it was a learning curve,” he explained. “I had to do a lot of interviews and filming beforehand, and I didn’t really get as much practice or preparation time as I would have liked. I took that into the World Championship and learned to get to the venue a bit earlier when you’re doing these things, just in case people ask you to do more than you thought you would have to.”

Later that year, Griffin came through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier to secure his World Championship debut at Alexandra Palace despite arriving without much form behind him. “It was weird, really. I hadn’t been playing very well since Amsterdam. I had struggled, but I woke up that day and just thought, ‘I fancy this.’ Some days you wake up, feel great and everything feels right. I was just enjoying myself throughout the day. I had a couple of tight wins as well, which I think helps when you’re under pressure and manage to get through them.”

A victory over Adam Hunt in the final qualifier booked Griffin’s place at Ally Pally, where Karel Sedlacek awaited in the opening round.

Griffin defeated Sedlacek 3-0 in sets on his World Championship debut, winning eight of the nine legs played. His composure on the stage came after a considerably less settled build-up.

“When I woke up, I was bricking it a bit because I knew what was coming later in the day,” he admitted. “As the day went on, though, I started to calm down. When we got to the venue, I was feeling all right until you see it from the taxi as they’re taking you there. You suddenly get hit with emotion and think, ‘God, this is happening.’”

His nerves were not helped by a mishap moments before his walk-on. “I got to the back where you stand before the walk-on and fell up the little ramp. That didn’t help! Honestly, I fell up the ramp. Somebody will have a video of it somewhere. I fell into the security guard and thought, ‘Oh God, here we go.’ Then your music hits and you think, ‘God, this is actually real.’ All the adrenaline hits, you get emotional and everything else.”

The tension faded once Griffin settled into the match. “Once I got up there, I was all right. After I won a leg, I was fine.”

A second-round defeat to Josh Rock ended Griffin’s debut World Championship campaign, but he entered 2025 with ranking money and a first televised PDC victory behind him.'

Griffin had produced some of his better performances in qualifiers during his first year on tour, but struggled to build sustained Players Championship runs. His second season also coincided with major changes away from darts. “I got married that year and had a lot going on, which probably didn’t help, but it was my own fault,” he said. “I didn’t deal with it in the way I should have.”

He also left his job in an attempt to give professional darts his full attention. “I quit work, thinking that being out of work would allow me to focus more on the darts. It did, but it didn’t help because then the financial side kicks in.”

Griffin later returned to work as he searched for greater stability on and away from the oche. “I learned my lessons. I’m back working now and feel a lot better. I did a lot of things wrong that year which I have learned from. I probably should have known what to do by then.”

His results improved towards the end of 2025. Griffin reached a Players Championship quarter-final and defeated Jonny Clayton during the run, although it was not enough to retain his Tour Card.

“I was really happy towards the end of the year. I started playing some decent stuff again,” he said. “I went back to work towards the end of the year and felt much more comfortable and stable, both financially and mentally. I started feeling a lot more confident and was playing well.”

Griffin returned to Q School in January and won his card outright on the opening day of the Final Stage. “I went into Q School with real belief and confidence. I had never put so much preparation in. Everything felt right. My health was good and mentally I felt fantastic.”

His confidence was clear before he even left home. “I said to my missus before I went down, ‘I’ll be home on Friday,’" he recalls. “She said, ‘What do you mean?’ I told her, ‘I’m packing one pair of trousers and one shirt. I’m getting this done and coming home.’”

Griffin subsequently admitted that he had packed more than one outfit, but his prediction proved accurate. His route back onto the professional circuit included victories over Shane McGuirk, Steve Lennon, Harry Ward, Derek Coulson and Scott Waites.

“I was behind in a few of those games. I was 5-2 down to Shane McGuirk, but I just didn’t think I could be beaten that day. There was something about me. I just thought, ‘I’m not losing today.’”

It was a far less anxious route than Griffin’s first Tour Card success, when he had endured a six-hour wait to discover whether his Order of Merit position would be enough.

“I’ve now gone through both sides of Q School. I’ve gone through the agony of having to wait six hours to find out whether I had made it, and I’ve also got it done on the first day. They’re both emotional experiences. It’s a horrible place to go. I hate going there. I seem to be getting better at it now, but I don’t want to have to go back again.”

Griffin’s long-awaited European Tour breakthrough came in a qualifier he had almost written off after an early defeat.

“I tend to play quite well in these qualifiers, but I’ve run into some horrible games where people have gone absolutely insane,” he recalled. “That was probably the worst I had played in the qualifiers for two-and-a-half years. The first one was horrific and I didn’t play much better in the second one either. At no point did I think I was going to win that day, and that was probably my biggest help.”

He recovered to defeat former world champion Peter Wright 6-5 before beating Andy Boulton 6-4. Jeffrey de Zwaan stood between Griffin and Leverkusen in the decisive match.

“‘How am I still in this?’ was what I was actually thinking! He should have absolutely battered me,” Griffin said. “With certain players, if you can score with them, you might get a chance. He’s one of the biggest scorers on tour when he’s playing well. He’s unbelievable and his 180 hitting is ridiculous. Luckily for me, he couldn’t hit a double that day and that worked to my benefit. Both of us were like nervous dogs. We couldn’t do anything.”

The opening 10 legs all went with throw before a chaotic decider in which both players missed chances to qualify. “I’ve never been so nervous. I can’t remember how many finals of these qualifiers I’ve lost in. It must be six or seven, but I don’t think I had ever had a match dart."

“I had never had the chance to get nervous in the qualifier before. That was the first time in probably 40 attempts, apart from maybe the first one I played in, that I’d had a match dart to qualify," he added. “Forty-two attempts later, I finally had one and I was absolutely cacking myself. I was a nervous wreck.”

Griffin eventually found double one to secure his European Tour debut. “Luckily, I snatched it in. I gave it some as well, I won’t lie. It was only double one, but I celebrated massively.”

Griffin’s return to the professional circuit has yet to produce the consistent results he wanted, although recent wins over established names have offered signs of improvement.

“I haven’t done as much as I wanted to this year, but I’m starting to play a lot better again now,” he said. “I’m beginning to feel more confident in my game, so hopefully I can achieve my goals by the end of the year.”

After fighting through Q School and 42 European Tour qualifying attempts, Griffin now gets the stage he spent years chasing. This time there is no six-hour wait, no DartConnect screen and no final qualifier standing between him and the Leverkusen crowd.