I would love to follow Darts if theres a kiwi to look out for.
I follow almost everything where there is a kiwi competing. Ryan Fox has been frustrating this season on the PGA tour. Thank goodness for Lydia.
Do we have any kiwis good enough to win Darts tournaments or even make money from them?
I used to follow snooker before and when Dene O'Kane was prominent.
I used to love watching Pot Black in the old days. Steve Davis, Ray Reardon (dead ringer for Dracula lol) , Steven Hendry and the rest. Watched less and less after ronnie o'sullivans heyday in the early 2000s . I probably couldnt tell you a snooker players name now.
But yeah, i digress lol. Is there a darts player i should look out for from NZ?
We have our first ever kiwi in the pro ranks this year, Haupai Puha. There are 128 Professional tour cards in the PDC, and last year about 25-30 of them become available. Across 2 Q-Schools 800 people had a crack at getting them over 7 days, and he got through the first 3 days of stage 1, and in stage 2 where they give the cards out, he secured his on the order of merit after 3 days. Is a very tough tour, that card gets you entry into 30 pro tour events over the course of the year, and into the qualifiers for the 13 Euro tour events they run where 32 automatically qualify and the rest are left to battle out for 10 spots, and the work you do in those can qualify you to all the major events. Rankings based on prize money, and you have 2 years to work your way into the top 64, anyone outside of the top 64 that has had their card for 2 years or longer has to relinquish it and try their luck at Q school again. He has missed a few due to visa issues, but after 23 tournaments has made the top 32 a couple of times, and qualified for a couple of the Euro tours where bigger money can be earned. His game has come a long way so far, but it’s bloody tough and he has left his wife and kids back here to chase it which isn’t easy. They come out to Australia and NZ each year in August and locals get to have a crack at 8 of the top dogs. He was involved in that this year and drew an ex world champion currently ranked 4th in both of them, and lost both encounters 6-5
Ben Robb is another kiwi that is hugely talented but hasn’t had the luck at Q School so far, he is currently ranked 1 in the world amateur rankings. There is a half Māori fella that plays out of Australia, Damon Heta, who has cracked the top 10