The dilemma continues as to which darts tournaments should be considered as ‘majors.’
The PDC has a full calendar of events, with many of them covered on Sky Sports and ITV4 in the UK.
We all know the World Championship, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, UK Open and Grand Slam are all major television events.
But where does the Premier League fall in among those? It is after all an invitation event which is played each week for three months and also broadcast live on Sky Sports for the duration.
In my opinion the Premier League cannot be classed as a ‘major’ darts tournament. How can it be when there are only 10 players competing in it?
There are no ranking points at stake. There is something seriously wrong if a glorified exhibition-style event is included in that category.
The same can be said of the recently introduced World Series events, which last year included its own Finals tournament for the first time to culminate the series.
Again this is a big no no as regards to them being ‘major’ events on the PDC calendar.
They are all invitational events and very often include players from the country in which that particular event is taking place in.
And in some of those cases they include players which even the most knowledgeable darts fan may never have heard of.
So, would you class the end of year Players Championship Finals at Minehead as a major?
It does include the top 32 in the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit, and from this year onwards has been changed to the top 64.
All 128 players on the tour have the opportunity compete in the various Pro Tour events to qualify for the finals, and so I would personally include it as a ‘major.’
We must realise though that just because a tournament has television coverage, it does not automatically make it a major event on the calendar.
I think the hierarchy in the PDC have to address this issue. Too many times we are seeing player stats shown up on our television screens ahead of a game, which shows the number of ‘majors’ they have won. And the total figure is most of the time incorrect.
Golf only has four majors and I think the players are doing pretty well within the PDC to be throwing for six majors a year.
There is no need to be adding to this number with these invitational events like the Premier League and the World Series, or tournaments like the World Cup. It is unfair on players who are not invited to certain events, and I’m sure most players will agree with me that there are six ‘majors’ in the PDC.
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