Michael van Gerwen suffered a sensitive defeat in the first round of the
World Grand Prix on Tuesday night. The six-time double-in double-out winner lost 2-0 in sets to
Daryl Gurney.
Leading up to the World Grand Prix, Van Gerwen had to skip six tournaments due to illness. In Leicester, it appeared that Van Gerwen was not well again either. A heavily sweating 'Mighty Mike' could not make a fight against a strong playing Gurney and lost both sets 3-0.
Statistics from Weekly Dartscast show that it is the first time in 13 years that Van Gerwen failed to win a leg in a match at a ranking major.
The last time Van Gerwen did not win a leg at a ranking major was at the Players Championship Finals in 2011. Then the Dutchman lost 6-0 to Gary Anderson. To put this period in perspective; Van Gerwen then had yet to win his first of 47 PDC majors, while Anderson was also not yet a world champion at the time.
The defeat of Van Gerwen, and earlier Raymond van Barneveld, Gian van Veen and Danny Noppert, also caused another low point. For the first time since the year 2000, there are no Dutchmen in the last sixteen at the World Grand Prix. That year Roland Scholten was the only participant and at the time Scholten lost to Richie Burnett in the first round.