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The New Zealand Darts Masters sees the return of some big darts action this week. This is the fifth of six tournaments on the World Series of Darts circuit for this season, with only New South Wales to follow.
2023 New Zealand Darts Masters
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The tournament was inaugurated in 2019 and this year’s edition will be the third staging of the event. The event will serve as a qualifier for the World Series Finals, with the top eight ranked players from the series automatically qualifying for the Finals.
Heading into a title defence at the 2023 New Zealand Darts Masters is Gerwyn Price. The Welshman, likely to be a key figure in darts predictions this weekend, beat Dimitri Van den Bergh twelve months ago 8-4 in the Final. That was the first ever World Series regular-season title that Price had earned. Price returns to New Zealand as the top seed.
NZ Darts Masters 2023 Tournament Details
The NZ Darts Masters features a field of sixteen players. Price is one of eight elite PDC players participating in the draw. They are all kept apart in the First Round of action. Making up the rest of the draw are eight regional qualifiers from New Zealand and Australia. The event is hosted at the Globox Arena in Hamilton on August 4th – 5th.
Elite PDC Players at the NZ Darts Masters 2023
Gerwyn Price (1)
Michael Smith (2)
Dimitri Van den Bergh (3)
Peter Wright (4)
Rob Cross
Damon Heta
Nathan Aspinall
Danny Noppert
The top four seeded players are kept apart in separate quarters, which could potentially set up some big semi-final clashes. Top seed Geryn Price is at the top of the draw, taking on the Wizard, Simon Whitlock in his opener.
The First Round matches are best of 11 legs, with the Semi-finals being the best of 13 legs and the Final 15 legs.
First Round Draw
Rob Cross v Warren Parry
Damon Heta v Darren Herewini
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Haupai Puha
Peter Wright v Jonny Tata
Nathan Aspinall v Kayden Milne
Gerwyn Price v Simon Whitlock
Michael Smith v Darren Penhall
Danny Noppert v Ben Robb
Main Contenders
The outright favourite for the tournament in this World Series of Darts event is Gerwyn Price. Realistically, because half of the field is made up of regional qualifiers, these PDC World Series tournaments are usually one by one of the elite players in the draw.
Price has been to two World Series of Darts Finals this year, losing to Michael Smith in Bahrain and more recently Peter Wright at the Nordic Darts Masters. The Iceman is the top seed in the field and could take some stopping.
Peter Wright’s surprise title at the Nordic Masters this year came out of the blue, but Snakebite has generally been up and down drastically with his overall form this season. Micahel Smith is likely to be the biggest challenger to Price.
Smith is the second seed and therefore on the opposite side of the draw. But there is a tricker section that Smith could have to get through, with Dimitri Van den Bergh and recent 2023 World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall in the same half.
2023 Season World Series Of Darts Winners
Bahrain Masters – Michael Smith
Nordic Masters – Peter Wright
US Masters – Michael van Gerwen
Poland Masters – Michael van Gerwen
New Zealand Masters –
New South Wales Masters –
2023 NZ Darts Masters FAQ
Where can I watch the 2023 NZ Darts Masters? The tournament is live on ITV, and UK fans can also catch live streams through the PDC TV subscription service.
ITV coverage in the UK schedule:
1900 BST on Friday and from 1700 BST on Saturday.
When is the 2023 NZ Darts Masters? The tournament runs from August 4th to 5th
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