Gordon Mathers claimed his spot in the new crop of PDC Tour
Card holders last week reaching a final at
Q-School before going onto win
through the Order of Merit.
Mathers is set for his debut on the PDC ProTour this
afternoon on the
Super Series in Bolton and caught up with
DartsNews.com to
reflect on Q-School.
“It still hasn’t sort of sunk in yet but obviously when I’m
stood in the room on Thursday afternoon with 127 other professional dart
players I’m thinking it might sort of sink in then,” said Mathers to
DartsNews.com.
“The first stage they broke it up into, it had to be done.
"It was more nerve wracking than the main stage to be honest.
“In general, it was tough. Obviously due to Covid, you weren’t
allowed to interact with everybody. As soon as you lost, you were chased out of
the room by security.”
Nervous wait
Due to being forced out of the main arena when the action
concluded, Mathers said that he had to stand in the rain as he awaited his fate
in Milton Keynes.
“In the morning, I thought I needed one more point just to
be guaranteed.
"So then after I got beaten, I’d already checked out so I was
stood out in the rain for most of the next 2-3 hours just awaiting results.
“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really watching the results on DartConnect.
I was relying on other people sending through messages saying there’s another
danger out. It felt like an eternity.”
Staying with Whitlock and support from Heta
‘GG’ can count on multiple facets of support while over in
the UK staying with ‘The Wizard’ Simon Whitlock since coming over in November.
“I can’t think of anywhere better that I could have been.
Simon had a good last six months on the whole tour and in the majors.
“He prepared me like never before, he’s pushed me that hard that
if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be prepared enough for Q-School. I don’t think
I would have been in the position of being a Tour Card holder.”
But as well as Whitlock, a familiar face in Damon Heta who previously
spoke about following his stats on DartConnect during Q-School awaits on Thursday
when his journey begins.
“We sort of travelled together the last two or three years obviously
before he came over and got a Tour Card last January,” he added.
“So to have Damon and his wife when you get to tournaments to
have that extra familiar face is going to be good as well.”
On how flight cancellation led to Q-School dream.
Mathers spoke in his
interview with the Weekly Dartscast
post Q-School about booking a flight home which was then cancelled which led to
him playing in Milton Keynes.
As a result, despite claiming his Tour Card as he admitted
it was very much ‘mixed emotions’ in winning through.
“It’s mixed emotions. I wanted to get home, I’m a family man.
Got a wife and four kids back home, I wouldn’t have had any regrets.
“James (Bailey) and I, our flight was booked for the 1st
of February. We were on the flight and it got cancelled two days before it was
due to go.”
But also, in that interview, he spoke about being so close
to purchasing a business class seat home which he revealed more about.
“With the flight, I had the bank details in, and I was ready
to submit and it timed out. I don’t believe in fate but was it fate I don’t
know.”
Over for long haul
In terms of his start to PDC life, he revealed that he has
committed till at least April when the calendar currently goes up to and that
he will see from there based on a myriad of factors.
“I’ve committed. The wife and I have committed to at least
the first lot of (Super) Series that have been announced so at this stage, I’m
committed until April.
“Obviously we just don’t know what’s going to happen with
Covid with the schedule for the rest of the year, so I’ll wait and see and reassess
after April.”
World Series
As a proud Aussie, a big part of the darting calendar is the
World Series but Mathers himself doubts it will be on once again this year
after the Oceanic leg was postponed last time out.
“There’s nothing better than playing in front of your family
and friends up on the big stage. If that did come about, I would be more than
happy to get back there.
“But I don’t believe it will happen, it might be another 18
months off yet.”