INTERVIEW - Owen Roelofs on UK Open debut milestone: "Not many people have already played a major at the age of seventeen"

Owen Roelofs made his UK Open earlier this month taking part in his first PDC Major at the age of only 17.

Roelofs made his debut after qualifying through the Development Tour ranking last year and he met his compatriot Berry van Peer in the first round and lost the tie 6-3. He caught up with DartsNews.com following this.

"The beginning was pretty good, then I got more nervous. I kept scoring well, maybe I was the better, but you have to throw doubles ”, said the former runner-up at the JDC World Championship.

“I had been looking forward to it for a long time. Maybe I wanted to perform too much. Not many people have already played a major at the age of seventeen. I thought it was special, but the result was not very good. ”

“I have seen most of Dimitri's (van den Bergh's) matcehs. Jelle (Klaasen, ed.) followed and the matches on the main stage. For example Peter Wright (against Glen Durrant) and Nathan Aspinall against Michael van Gerwen was also a very good match. ”

“This year I'm going to play the Challenge Tour and finish the Development Tour. Maybe I will play at a few BDO tournaments that are close by, such as Belgium Open. ”

Owen is not the only dart talent within the Roelofs house. Brother Colin also played in the PDC in the past, but currently is not on the tour . “We don't train together very often, but we do occasionally. Then Colin usually still wins, because he is still very good. Who has the most talent? He's still the better of the two of us, ” Owen observes with a smile.

For example, 17-year-old Roelofs can still learn things from his older brother. “I have to learn to deal with wins and losses and especially on such a big stage. You really want to perform and then you put too much pressure on yourself. That's why you don't perform, so you have to deal with it and do better next time. ”