Schedule Friday night World Darts Championship 2024 including Stowe Buntz, Simon Whitlock and defending champion Michael Smith

The big day is here. The start of the 2024 World Darts Championship has finally arrived. In the coming weeks, we can enjoy the best the darts world has to offer. Traditionally, the defending champion will be in action on opening night.

Michael Smith has achieved this status. The Englishman managed to win 7-4 in sets from Michael van Gerwen on January 3, 2023 after a spectacular final. This historic final featured the best leg of all time. After Van Gerwen missed the double 12 for a nine darter, Smith managed to throw a nine darter of his own in some incredible scenes. Footage of this leg then went around the world. The clip of this leg was already viewed more than 25 million times on X, the former Twitter, alone.

The current world number one still has to wait and see who will be his opponent at the end of opening night. Smith will face off with the winner of the duel between Kevin Doets and Stowe Buntz, the opening match of this World Darts Championship. Both men will make their debut at Alexandra Palace. Doets qualified for this tournament through the Pro Tour. However, there is another interest at play for the Dutchman. Doets is in danger of losing his Tour Card after this season and must win this match to strengthen his chances.

A few months ago, the average darts fan had not heard of Buntz, who managed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts and the World Darts Championship via the American circuit. At the Grand Slam of Darts however, Buntz showed his capabilities, reaching the quarter-finals after wins over Peter Wright, Stephen Bunting and Andrew Gilding. But can the American do it on the biggest stage in the world?

In the second match of the evening, Cameron Menzies and Rusty Jake Rodriguez face each other. For Menzies, it will be his second appearance at the Alexandra Palace. The same goes for his opponent Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, who qualified for this tournament at the last minute via the Tour Card qualifying tournament. The Scot and the Austrian met four times before on the PDC circuit. Menzies won the first three confrontations, but the last encounter in November 2023 was won 6-5 by Rodriguez.

Darts icon Simon Whitlock will also appear on stage at Alexandra Palace on Friday night. For 'The Wizard' it is already the 21st time he will take a shot at the world title. He came close in 2008 (Lakeside) and 2010 (PDC World Darts Championship), when he lost in the final. At Lakeside against Mark Webster (7-5), while at Alexandra Palace he was defeated by Phil Taylor (7-3).

In recent years, however, Whitlock rarely gets far at the Worlds. In the last nine editions, the Australian only made it past the second round twice. He's against Paolo Nebrida. The Filipino dart player is one of the Asian qualifiers at the World Darts Championship.

Kevin Doets v Stowe Buntz (R1)

Cameron Menzies v Rusty-Jake Rodriguez (R1)

Simon Whitlock v Paolo Nebrida (R1)

Michael Smith v Doets/Buntz (R2)