"If I wasn't playing Beau Greaves I wouldn't be getting mentioned" – Daryl Gurney "up for the challenge" despite nightmare World Darts Championship draw

Daryl Gurney insists he is fully prepared for the toughest opening round possible at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship, embracing the spotlight that will inevitably follow his opening round tie against Beau Greaves at the Alexandra Palace.

Gurney found out about the draw while travelling, his phone lighting up the moment Greaves’ name appeared. He knows exactly why the reaction was so immediate. “I did not really see it at the time because I was flying but my phone started lighting up. Nobody wants to play Beau. Beau is a great dart player like everybody else that is playing in the World Championships,” he told Online Darts.

Even Luke Humphries and Luke Littler had joked that Greaves was the one name nobody wanted in round one. Gurney agrees, but he refuses to view the matchup with dread.

“The way I look at it is to be the best you have got to beat the best. I am playing a great dart player and I plan to put on a good show and give it a real good go. It will be a hard game because she is good every time. The atmosphere will be electric on both sides.”

He also knows the narrative going in. Greaves will dominate the attention as she returns to the World Championship with a Tour Card already confirmed.

“If I was playing somebody else it would be the same treatment. Beau will be the big talk of the game. If I was playing somebody else I would not be mentioned. Only because I am playing Beau I am getting mentioned. I am playing the best female dart player on the planet. I see her as a great dart player not just as a female. I am up for the challenge and up for a great game.”

The former major champion laughed off the idea that he must channel the old Angry Daryl to come through it. “Angry Daryl is long gone now. It is all about focused Daryl and controlled angry focused Daryl is very good. That is probably how I will approach the game.”

Beyond the headline draw, Gurney arrives at Ally Pally feeling more settled than he has in months. His results have fluctuated this season, with highs, lows and “head scratching stuff” all appearing in the same run of tournaments. But he believes he has finally found the reason behind the inconsistency.

Before the Grand Slam he briefly swapped back to old darts and almost immediately regretted it, but that experiment prompted him to analyse his throw more closely. What he discovered was simple but transformative.

“I discovered something with my grip recently. I found something in my throwing technique which I corrected a bit and that helped me last weekend and through this weekend.”

Flat landings had been crippling his scoring power. “I would love my darts to set up like Ross Smiths or Aspinalls. When I am hitting a treble 20 and they are landing so flat I have got nothing to work with. I used to be such a prolific 180 hitter. I have unlocked something because they are standing up a wee bit more.”

The fix was almost embarrassingly straightforward. “It is not rocket science. I have just gripped them further back. When you see me at the World Championships the darts will be standing up more because I am grabbing them further back on the barrel.”

Gurney says he now feels genuinely confident again after two encouraging performances in recent stage events. “I have made two quarter finals in my last three tournaments even though the way I played at the Grand Slam was horrendous. I have found something at the Players Championship. They looked better on the board and I have built on that the last two nights. I am getting confidence out of it.”

He will take a short break before Ally Pally, then ramp up the preparation. “I am going to take tomorrow off and then after that I will be practising really hard. I am getting more and more confident about it.”

For a player who admits he had been struggling with homesickness and frustration earlier in the season, the change in mood is unmistakable.

“You are smiling again,” the interviewer noted. Gurney agreed. “Yeah. I know. I am actually building confidence because I have found something and it feels a wee bit better.”

Gurney may have been handed the draw nobody wanted but he is not arriving in London beaten already. In fact, this is the most optimistic he has sounded in months.