Schedule Saturday at Nordic Darts Masters: Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Gerwyn Price lead final day in Copenhagen

The PDC top players traveled to Copenhagen this week, hosting the Nordic Darts Masters this weekend. It is the third World Series tournament of the season, following previous events in Bahrain and the Netherlands. There were no surprises on the opening day and so on Saturday the eight PDC players will compete for the overall victory.

The World Series season got underway in mid-January with the Bahrain Darts Masters, where Stephen Bunting won the title at the expense of Gerwyn Price. At the Dutch Darts Masters in Rosmalen, Bunting reached the final again, but then he had to leave the title to Rob Cross.

Michael van Gerwen is missing from Copenhagen this weekend. 'Mighty Mike' was originally invited to the Nordic Darts Masters but had to withdraw after his marriage broke down recently. Van Gerwen does not want to return to darts until the divorce is properly settled.
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Kicking off the evening in Copenhagen will be Stephen Bunting and Jonny Clayton. Bunting started the year excellently with a semifinal at the World Darts Championship and a win at the Bahrain Darts Masters. Since then, however, things have slowed down for "The Bullet," who ended up in the Premier League Darts in a disappointing eighth and final place. For a place in the semifinals of the Nordic Darts Masters, Bunting must get past Clayton. The 50-year-old Welshman is on an excellent run this year and has already won a Players Championship. In addition, he was good for a final place at the Winmau World Masters. Yesterday he was too strong for Darius Labanauskas in the opening round with the smallest difference. Hard to predict who will win this clash.

Next up is Luke Littler and Nathan Aspinall. Littler failed to extend his Premier League Darts title reign last week. He will therefore be eager to take some sort of revenge this weekend. That won't be easy, however, as he faces an Aspinall in great form. The Asp' won the European Darts Open last week, his second Euro Tour title this year, and comes to Copenhagen full of confidence. Can he win a tournament for the second week in a row or will Littler be too strong?

The third quarterfinal is between Rob Cross and Chris Dobey. Cross is blowing hot and cold this year. He won the Dutch Darts Masters earlier this year, but didn't do much in the past Premier League Darts. For a place in the semifinals, 'Voltage' will take on Dobey, who like Cross failed to qualify for the playoffs of Premier League Darts. This could well be a particularly balanced match, where the smallest details will decide win or lose.

Finally, Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries are scheduled to play another cracker between two former world champions. Price was the only one to post a 100+ average in the opening round and will need to repeat that performance to give Humphries a hard time. After all, 'Cool Hand Luke' is brimming with confidence after winning the Premier League Darts last week.

These quarter-finals will be followed by the semifinals and finals.

First round: Best of 11 legs

Quarterfinals: Best of 11 legs

Semifinals: Best of 13 legs

Final: Best of 15 legs

The Nordic Darts Masters will be broadcast on ITV and PDC TV. The eight winners of the first round will return to the Forum Copenhagen stage. Saturday night, the quarterfinals, semifinals and final will be played consecutively.

The prize pool for this event includes £60,000. This amount is the same at all regular World Series tournaments. All participants are guaranteed 1250 pounds of prize money.

This amount increases further upon winning matches. The losing finalist collects a check for 10,000 pounds, while the winner of the Nordic Darts Masters gets to take home the top prize of 20,000 pounds. By the way, the money does not count toward the PDC Order of Merit.

However, points can be picked up for the World Series Order of Merit. All participants in a World Series tournament are guaranteed one point for the World Series Order of Merit. This number increases to three points upon reaching the quarterfinals, and then to five points for a semifinal place. The losing finalist receives eight points and the winner receives 12 points.

Stephen Bunting v Jonny Clayton

Luke Littler v Nathan Aspinall

Rob Cross v Chris Dobey

Gerwyn Price v Luke Humphries  

Bunting/Clayton v Littler/Aspinall

Cross/Dobey v Price/Humphries

Bunting/Clayton/Littler/Aspinall v Cross/Dobey/Price/Humphries