“It would be great to top it off with a title this weekend” – Gian van Veen aims to crown strong World Series year in Australia

Gian van Veen heads to the Australian Darts Masters in Wollongong full of confidence. The Dutchman is making his World Series debut this year and hopes to sign off his first campaign in style. After several strong displays, Van Veen feels just one thing is missing: a title.

The Australian Darts Masters starts on Friday. Jonny Clayton is one to watch after lifting the New Zealand Darts Masters last weekend. The Welshman beat Van Veen, James Wade, and Gerwyn Price in Auckland on his way to the title.

For Van Veen, that run ended in the quarter-finals. Still, the Dutchman took plenty of positives from his performance. Clayton was simply ruthless on the outer ring at the key moments.

“I’m feeling good, I’m feeling relaxed,” Van Veen said ahead of the next World Series stop. “We had a lovely couple of days in Sydney beforehand, so I’m looking forward to getting back on the board again."

Van Veen saw up close last week how little room Clayton gave his opponents. On the doubles, ‘The Ferret’ was near unstoppable. “Jonny was six out of seven on his doubles last weekend so it was one of those, but I feel confident and hopefully it’s another decent weekend for myself.”

The Dutch number one can already reflect on a successful first year on the World Series. One of his standout results came back in January at the Bahrain Darts Masters. Van Veen reached the final there and finished runner-up.

Wollongong now offers a fresh chance to add a first World Series crown to his résumé. For Van Veen, that would be the perfect way to close out his debut season on the PDC’s international exhibition circuit.

“I’ve had a good year so far on the World Series and it would be great to top it off with a title this weekend.”