Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price & Chris Dobey impress with whitewash wins at Dutch Darts Championship as Josh Rock also powers through

Chris Dobey, Gerwyn Price, Josh Rock and Michael van Gerwen have all secured their progression to round 3 at the 2024 Dutch Darts Championships this Saturday evening with wins over Moreno Blom, Mickey Mansell, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Kevin Doets respectively.

For Dobey, the prospect of European Tour debutant Blom was a rather tricky one pre-match. Playing in front of a Dutch crowd, Blom starred on Friday night averaging over 100 to defeat Ryan Joyce and book his place in round 2. As it turned out however, things were more than comfortable for the former Masters winner as Dobey eased to a 6-0 whitewash averaging 95.94, with Blom struggling to hit the heights he had the previous night, averaging a lowly 77.57.

Price was similarly impressive and comfortable in his tie against the experienced Mickey Mansell. Averaging over 101, the Welshman looked by the far better player and was always in command throughout. Like Dobey, Price didn't even drop a leg en route to victory as the Iceman eased into round 3 and secured his Sunday return with a 6-0 win.

Next up, Rock was incredibly impressive in victory Dirk van Duijvenbode. Having finally secured his first Euro Tour win of the season last night, van Duijvenbode will have hoped to keep the good times rolling. Sadly for the Dutchman however, Rock was in top form, averaging over 104 and hitting five 180s with 6 out of his 9 darts double being successful as the Northern Irish number one raced to a 6-3 victory.

Concluding the first half of the Saturday night session was Michael van Gerwen vs fellow Dutchman, Kevin Doets. With the three-time world champion having something of a point to prove, after a disappointing night at the Premier League Darts playoffs last Thursday at the O2 Arena in London, where he lost out in the semi-finals to eventual runner-up Luke Humphries, van Gerwen for a fast start here. Thanks in part to some sloppy doubling by Doets, 'MVG' took the opening leg in 18 darts. Breaking the Doets throw in leg 2, van Gerwen was asserting his authority early.

Continuing to put the pressure on with legs of 15 and 18, van Gerwen then threatened a nine-darter in leg five only to drop low on dart 7. Despite some subsequent double trouble, van Gerwen would eventually mop up to move 5-0 clear. A few moments later, after some more doubling disappointment from Doets, victory for van Gerwen was secured.

Distribution of prize money

At the Dutch Euro Tour tournament, a total of £175,000 in prize money will be divided among the 48 participants. They will receive at least £1250 in starting money. The top-16 seeded players who enter the Dutch Darts Championship from the second round will receive 2,500 pounds anyway.

They do - like the 16 Order of Merit qualifiers starting in the first round - have to win their first match in order for the prize money to count toward the world rankings and the other rankings. The winner of the Dutch Darts Championship 2024 will ultimately go home with the top prize of 30,000 pounds.