DE DECKER RISKS BACKLASH WITH BOLD DIG AT DUTCH MASTERS
24/01/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
By Aaron Nijjar
MIKE DE DECKER has risked angering the PDC by refusing to compete in this weekend’s Dutch Masters
‘The Real Deal’ had a brilliant 2024 where he won his first Major and Players Championship title.
Over the past 12 months, De Decker has showcased his scoring power, hitting the sixth-most 180s on tour with 518.
However, despite his impressive achievements, De Decker made history for an unfortunate reason—becoming the first player in the 20-year history of the Premier League to miss the cut after winning the World Grand Prix.
This exclusion left the Belgian star frustrated, and now the talented 29-year-old has declined the chance to participate in the Dutch Masters, part of the prestigious World Series tour.
De Decker did not hold back, revealing his lack of enthusiasm for the event.
He said on the Darts Draait Door podcast: “The World Series is not a tournament I was looking forward to anyway, and certainly not the one in the Netherlands.
“If you get invited, then you want to go to Bahrain or Australia. At least those are nice countries.
“Of all the places where those tournaments are, you don’t want to be invited to Den Bosch.”
The darts ace did not feature in last week’s Bahrain Masters, which was won by Stephen Bunting, given his position in the PDC rankings.
Michael van Gerwen kicks off his defense of the Dutch Masters today in an all-Dutch tie with Dirk van Duijvenbode.
In other notable matches, Luke Littler will face UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh – a winner of this event in 2022. World number 1 Luke Humphries takes on 2024 European Championship finalist Jermaine Wattimena.
Images by Taylor Lanning.
