No Mike De Decker at Dutch Darts Masters, but there's a good reason for that
PDC
The PDC on Monday confirmed the field of participants for the Dutch Darts Masters. This tournament that is part of the World Series of Darts will take place January 24 and 25 in the Maaspoort in Den Bosch.
The World Series of Darts is a series of seven invitational tournaments around the world. Following those seven tournaments, the World Series of Darts Finals takes place at Afas Live in Amsterdam, where the best players across all these tournaments battle it out for a total prize pool of 300,000 pounds.
In addition to Premier League Darts players (Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall), eight local players were also added to the field of competitors.
They are seven Dutchmen (Danny Noppert, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Gian van Veen, Raymond van Barneveld, Jermaine Wattimena, Kevin Doets and Richard Veenstra) and one Belgian (Dimitri Van den Bergh).
The Decker
No Mike De Decker in the field. Earlier, the Belgian was already passed over for the Premier League Darts and now that he will not play at the Dutch Darts Masters it rained criticism on social media. For example, someone wrote: "Stop using the entire field of the Premier League Darts for these tournaments." Someone else wrote: "Give other players a chance. We see enough of those eight players all these weeks. Where is De Decker? And Wessel Nijman?"
However, it later became clear why De Decker was not selected for the Dutch Darts Masters. The 29-year-old Belgian is on vacation and will not return until the evening the tournament begins in 's Hertogenbosch.
Last year's Dutch Darts Masters was won by Van Gerwen, who defeated Littler 8-6 in the final. This year, a check for £20,000 awaits the winner.
The 16-player field for the 2025 TOTO Dutch Darts Masters has been confirmed!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 13, 2025
Reigning champion Michael van Gerwen will headline a star-studded field on his return to home soil! 🇳🇱
📝 https://t.co/zm38dIRSly pic.twitter.com/nkDBV2lanL
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