Preview New South Wales Darts Masters 2023: Who will take the World Series title in Australia?

Traditionally, the PDC visits Australia in the summer month of August for the World Series. Unlike previous visits, however, only one World Series tournament will be played instead of the usual two tournaments.

For Australian darts fans, this year's top darters can be seen in the city of Wollongong, where the New South Wales Darts Masters will be played on August 12 and 13. In the past World Series tournaments have been held in the Australian cities of Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Townsville.

Wollongong was also visited in 2022. Then Jonny Clayton ran away with the overall victory by beating James Wade 8-1 in the final. Clayton is missing this year due to sad family circumstances and thus cannot defend his title.

The event will take place at the WIN Entertainment Centre in the Australian city of Wollongong. This gaming venue is an indoor arena used for multiple purposes. 

In the past, the Fed Cup tennis tournament was played here and major boxing matches have also taken place here. Also, this venue is home to the Illawarra Hawks, which plays in Australia's national basketball league.

The field of participants at the New South Wales Darts Masters consists of sixteen players. The eight PDC players will compete against the eight best players from the Oceanic countries.

Leading the lineup is world champion and world number one Michael Smith. Also competing are Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross, Danny Noppert, Nathan Aspinall and Dimitri van den Bergh.

The Oceanic representation includes Simon Whitlock, Mal Cuming, Darren Penhall, Dave Marland, Brenton Lloyd, John Hurring, Joe Comito and Harley Kemp. In the draw for the New South Wales Darts Masters, they will be paired with one of eight PDC players.

The World Series tournament will be broadcast live on PDC tv. With ITV 4 showing delayed coverage of the event on Friday and Saturday.

The prize pool for this event contains a total of £60,000. However, the prize money won does not count toward the PDC Order of Merit or other money rankings.

All participants are guaranteed £1,250 in prize money. This amount could eventually rise to a sum of £20,000 in prize money for the winner.

World Series tournaments are international events of the PDC which are organized to promote the sport beyond its (Western) European borders.

Earlier this year, tournaments also took place in Bahrain, Denmark, the United States, Poland and New Zealand. The event in Australia is the last regular World Series tournament of 2023. In September, the World Series of Darts Finals will be played in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam. Past World Series tournaments have also been scheduled in Dubai, Singapore, Japan, Scotland, China, Germany and Austria.