Playing qualification tournaments is humiliating for Van Barneveld: "Of course I feel that way, like I'm back to square one"

Raymond van Barneveld made his comeback in the PDC a year and a half ago. Time for a review.

Van Barneveld did not have a successful week in Barnsley, he failed to qualify for the Euro Tours in Gibraltar and Belgium and he also missed out on qualification for the World Series of Darts Finals. On top of that, he lost in the early stages of the last Players Championship tournaments. "There is nothing more frustrating than crashing out in the first round. Because then the long wait for tomorrow begins. I went to my hotel and listened to music and played some games. There is nothing to do here", says Van Barneveld to AD.nl.

The multiple world champion has to play qualification tournaments nowadays to try and qualify for the majors. The question arises whether Van Barneveld doesn't find that humiliating. "Of course I feel that way. I think I am the oldest player here at 55 years old. And it often feels like I'm back to square one. But there is nothing else to do. Everything has to do with each other. There are different rankings on which you have to score well. And then you have to participate in everything if you are not automatically qualified."

"Last year I won a Pro Tour tournament," Van Barneveld continued. "That yielded £10,000. But that prize money only counts for one year in the Pro Tour rankings. You have to start all over again. So now I'm down again and I have to scrape together prizes of 750 or 1250 pounds if I win one or two games."

Still, Van Barneveld has not given up hope of competing for prizes again. "I still have that genius in me. But it has to come out more often than it has lately to really make strides."