Van Trijp reflects after dream debut win over Beaton at PDC World Darts Championship: "I want to prove myself"

Making a winning start to his PDC World Darts Championship career, 25-year-old Dutchman, Danny van Trijp whitewashed his much more experienced opponent Steve Beaton who was making his 32nd consecutive appearance at the Worlds.

"I didn't expect it," van Trijp said, admitting that this was an even better debut than he himself thought possible. "In the first two sets, I think Steve missed important doubles and that made it easy for me to go into a 2-0 lead against him."

Being his first time on darts' biggest stage it's only natural that van Trijp felt some pressure. In the third set in particular, he began to feel the heat. "I felt very warm, it got very warm on stage," he says. "Steve was playing better but I thought 'okay Danny you are 2-0 up don't worry.'"

With a tour card for 2023 guaranteed, van Trijp is excited to test himself against the world's best week in and week out. "I did it a couple of times this year," he says. "I want to prove myself." In round 2, van Trijp will be up against Jonny Clayton with the matchup falling the day before the Dutchman's birthday. Can he give himself the sweetest of early birthday presents? "I hope so." he says.