Who Could Spring a Surprise at the Back End of the Year?

TV major season is almost upon us. The World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam kicks off in two weeks’ time and less than a month later we get to enjoy the World Grand Prix as the darting floodgates open. The usual suspects will appear, as expected, to take their fair share of the limelight. Alongside them, more unexpected names will hit our TV screens. Some could take their chance to shine and become better known outside of hardcore darts fans than they currently are; others may simply be reacquainting themselves with the general public. It remains to be seen who qualifies for the televised stages of all the remaining events but here’s a rundown of those we consider to be punching well above their weight as we enter the business end of the calendar.

In collaboration with Darts Orakel we have created a list that is based on players with the biggest differences between their current Order of Merit (OOM) ranking and their Darts Orakel Form Ranking (FDI), with one exception: Gary Anderson. 'The Flying Scotsman' is 17 places above his official OOM position on form, placing him 7th in FDI. We can’t exactly label Ando as a dark horse, given his pedigree, so we left him out. Nobody would be surprised to see the two-time World Champ wreak havoc on those stages from September onwards.

Of all players on this list ‘The Machine Gun’ has the most PDC TV exposure. Five years ago, he reached the semifinal of the World Cup with the Netherlands and the Last 16 of both the World Series of Darts Finals and European Championship. In 2020 he featured in every TV ranking event before suffering something of a slide that saw him fall out of the World’s top 32 (he now sits at #44). Wattimena’s recovery in 2024 has been solid. A couple of quarterfinals on the Euro Tour earlier in the year set the tone (he lost to Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen) and at the most recent Players Championships, despite only making a Last 32 he averaged a ton-plus in two out of four matches. Of all Tour Card holders, he’s added the most points to his annual average compared to 2023 – a difference of almost +3. He won’t be at the WSOD Finals however you could see the Dutchman feature at some stage before the year is out, showing some of the spark that saw him become the Dutch Number 2.

De Decker is less of a dark horse having won a Players Championship event this month. The TV glare hasn’t been kind to him in the past though, his most famous appearance being a 0-5 pasting at the hands of Fallon Sherrock at the Grand Slam in 2021. De Decker has been improving ever since. Another who won’t be at the WSOD in Amsterdam, he’s rated as the 22nd best player in the World on form according to our index. His ascent has been in no small part due to some prolific maximum hitting – if you didn’t know already, he’s only behind Ross Smith, Gary Anderson and Dirk van Duijvenbode for 180s per leg played in 2024, and by a slender margin at that. Now he has that breakthrough tournament win, who knows?

Menzies is the first Scotsman other than Gary Anderson and Peter Wright to appear in the top 4 of our form rankings. He has more ton-plus averages than Michael van Gerwen in ranking tournaments in 2024, and at a better percentage per match played. In his best season by a country mile (even if it ended now) he’s had victories over: Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey, James Wade, Michael Smith, Peter Wright, Raymond van Barneveld, Damon Heta, Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price, Luke Littler and Luke Humphries. Big names keep falling at the hands of Cammy and he’ll fear no-one. Expect some fireworks; he is red-hot right now.

This a name that may not have been on your lips. The 26-year-old from Bristol hasn’t bettered his semifinal appearance in a Pro Tour event that he achieved last year when he lost out to Ross Smith. That was before he had a Tour Card. Since earning his place among the elite, Taylor’s consistency has been impressive without yielding the results it might have warranted. He’s been to the Last 16 four times in Players Championships, on one occasion losing to Jonny Clayton despite posting an average of 111, and on another losing to Dave Chisnall with a 102. His returns, whilst unspectacular, haven’t gone unnoticed by the wily FDI algorithm and he sits 30th on form, compared to an OOM position of 82 nd . He’s in the top 32 for averages this year (93.78), above Clayton. He’s averaged over 95 in 45% of his matches too, placing him 17th on the Tour on that particular metric. Taylor’s signature stat though: the 2-dart finish. On all 2-dart combinations he has the best success rate of any Tour Card holder, taking out 57% of them over the entire season so far. Clinical.

Nijman reached the lofty heights of #4 in FDI earlier this year before dropping to 8th. The young Dutchman has swept all before him on the Development Tour, has won 78% of the matches he’s played in 2024 including that Tour, and 64% of the legs. Nijman is 21st on the Tour for rolling seasonal average and has had 45 ton-plus averages in 204 games across both Pro and Development Tours. He made a Players Championship final which he lost narrowly to Littler, whom he beat earlier in the year on stage at a European Tour event. He’s also defeated Damon Heta, Michael Smith, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Gary Anderson. Nijman is in the top 5 in the World in 2024 for checkout percentages and the top 16 for average with first 9 darts per leg. He’s going to be a real handful for anybody who comes up against him.