Where would Glenn Durrant rank after two years in the PDC?

[a massive zebra]

With two free years id be amazed if he isn't top 16.

I wouldn't mate. He may get lucky with a few draws here and there but he won't get local piss up boy in the first round

I don't think he needs lucky draws, more than capable.
The first few months will tell, a few bad runs and his confidence might go altogether.

Yeah he doesn't need lucky draws, more than capable of beating all of them except MVG and Anderson. But if his lack of balls come into play he could lose some early round matches against lesser players because there are no easy draws in the PDC.

You only had to see him against gilding to see how vulnerable he is mentally.
It's going to go one of 2 ways and probably at the extremes. Little middle ground

I agree.

He has the potential for top 5. Gurney is 5th in the PDC and he hasn't played significantly better than Durrant over the last couple of years. But if Durrant starts badly he may lose confidence and he could potentially remain outside the top 16 after two years.

[Zeyes]

Voted same as I've thought for the last couple of years, top 25. Talent for the top 16 is there, but I don't think he'll fully realize it within the first two years. Might get into the top 16 later on for a bit.

[Rogg]

The whole 'better than player x' thing never really works for me. It's all too easy to imagine Durrant in full flow and Gurney sulking about the place and putting both together to form a meaningless impression.

Here's some of what Gurney has on the OoM currently:

SF: 2017 UK Open
SF: 2017 Matchplay
W: 2017 Grand Prix
SF: 2017 Euros
QF: 2017 Grand Slam
QF: 2017 PC Finals
SF: 2018 Grand Prix
W: 2018 PC Finals

That is some serious business. If Durrant gets near Gurney's record above across 2019 and 2020 he'll have done exceptionally well (Dave). He'll be a major winner and a Premier League player sitting somewhere in the Top 8 and he'll probably have passed Gurney along the way. Asking a lot, imo.

[Rogg]

Voted same as I've thought for the last couple of years, top 25. Talent for the top 16 is there, but I don't think he'll fully realize it within the first two years. Might get into the top 16 later on for a bit.

I agree with this. Voted top 25 with an upwards glance.

[The Thorn]

I think asking where he'll be after 3 years is thhe fairer question. There is the possibility he can't qualify for the Matchplay and Grand Prix in his first year. Also he will need at least a full year to be seeded on the Euro Tour (of course that only applies if he's good enough to be a seed at all)

On ability I would put him just in the top 10 probably. His bottle is untested really, usually doesn't do to well when put under pressure. Will need to adapt to the PDC and I'm unsure how he'll handle the crowds and the week in week out play, constantly under pressure.

I'm going with anywhere between 16th and 20th.

[Randall]

I wouldn't mate. He may get lucky with a few draws here and there but he won't get local piss up boy in the first round

I don't think he needs lucky draws, more than capable.
The first few months will tell, a few bad runs and his confidence might go altogether.

Yeah he doesn't need lucky draws, more than capable of beating all of them except MVG and Anderson. But if his lack of balls come into play he could lose some early round matches against lesser players because there are no easy draws in the PDC.

You only had to see him against gilding to see how vulnerable he is mentally.
It's going to go one of 2 ways and probably at the extremes. Little middle ground

I agree.

He has the potential for top 5. Gurney is 5th in the PDC and he hasn't played significantly better than Durrant over the last couple of years. But if Durrant starts badly he may lose confidence and he could potentially remain outside the top 16 after two years.

Your selling gurney a little short.
If durrant wins two majors in two years I'll be surprised.

[Wolflanternbumbag]

Best player to come over from the BDO in a while though.. I think he's a bit better than Bunting was when he joined. A lot of people in the PDC rate him and want him playing in the PDC.

[a massive zebra]

The whole 'better than player x' thing never really works for me. It's all too easy to imagine Durrant in full flow and Gurney sulking about the place and putting both together to form a meaningless impression.

Here's some of what Gurney has on the OoM currently:

SF: 2017 UK Open
SF: 2017 Matchplay
W: 2017 Grand Prix
SF: 2017 Euros
QF: 2017 Grand Slam
QF: 2017 PC Finals
SF: 2018 Grand Prix
W: 2018 PC Finals

That is some serious business. If Durrant gets near Gurney's record above across 2019 and 2020 he'll have done exceptionally well (Dave). He'll be a major winner and a Premier League player sitting somewhere in the Top 8 and he'll probably have passed Gurney along the way. Asking a lot, imo.

Gurney has been successful and played well but his overall standard of play has not been higher than Durrant. According to dartsdatabase, these are the average averages of the top players in all matches over the last two years:

Michael van Gerwen 102.41
Gary Anderson 99.62
Phil Taylor 98.26
Glen Durrant 98.16
Rob Cross 97.89
Peter Wright 97.07
Michael Smith 96.68
Mensur Suljovic 96.64
Dave Chisnall 95.89
Raymond van Barneveld 95.57
Daryl Gurney 95.22

So Durrant compares favourably with literally everyone currently playing except the two best in the world, and he is comfortably ahead of Gurney.

[Randall]

Best player to come over from the BDO in a while though.. I think he's a bit better than Bunting was when he joined. A lot of people in the PDC rate him and want him playing in the PDC.

How he copes with it coming back is the unknown.
Nobody in the bdo is chucking 15 dart legs at him constantly.

[Wolflanternbumbag]

Best player to come over from the BDO in a while though.. I think he's a bit better than Bunting was when he joined. A lot of people in the PDC rate him and want him playing in the PDC.

How he copes with it coming back is the unknown.
Nobody in the bdo is chucking 15 dart legs at him constantly.

Yeah we'll have to wait and see how it pans out..

[a massive zebra]

I don't think he needs lucky draws, more than capable.
The first few months will tell, a few bad runs and his confidence might go altogether.

Yeah he doesn't need lucky draws, more than capable of beating all of them except MVG and Anderson. But if his lack of balls come into play he could lose some early round matches against lesser players because there are no easy draws in the PDC.

You only had to see him against gilding to see how vulnerable he is mentally.
It's going to go one of 2 ways and probably at the extremes. Little middle ground

I agree.

He has the potential for top 5. Gurney is 5th in the PDC and he hasn't played significantly better than Durrant over the last couple of years. But if Durrant starts badly he may lose confidence and he could potentially remain outside the top 16 after two years.

Your selling gurney a little short.
If durrant wins two majors in two years I'll be surprised.

I'm not saying he will win as many majors as Gurney. I'm just saying the standard he has played to over the last two years is as good or better, as proven by the averages.

[The Thorn]

Gurney still pulled off those two major victories. All right he didn't have the hardest draw in the Grand Prix but he did what he needed to do. That's what separates him from guys outside the top 10, the likes of White, Chisnall or Lewis arguably didn't play much worse darts than Gurney over the past few years but they either underperform on TV frequently, or just not capable of putting those big runs together. I don't see Durrant beating MVG in a big final honestly even if that was far off MVG's usual play.

We could say Suljovic played badly in the last few months. Still this year he got to the Matchplay final and Grand Slam semis, not bad for a sub-par season. Someone like Whitlock who is also in the top 10, plays worse darts than Durrant as well but he is consistent enough, and takes his chances when others don't. That's how he got to major finals in the last 2 years.

These qualities in someone like Gurney or Whitlock are what separate the real top players from the contenders. On this level, there is far more to darts than just chucking arrows at the board. These are the qualities you need to have to suceed at the elite level, and we just can't be sure Durrant has those right now

[a massive zebra]

Best player to come over from the BDO in a while though.. I think he's a bit better than Bunting was when he joined. A lot of people in the PDC rate him and want him playing in the PDC.

Most probably the best player to come over since Gary Anderson in 2009, although during his time in the BDO, Gary didn't actually play as consistently well as Durrant. The last player to actually outperform Durrant in the BDO itself was probably Barney, although Adams was close for a few years around 2010.

[Wolflanternbumbag]

Best player to come over from the BDO in a while though.. I think he's a bit better than Bunting was when he joined. A lot of people in the PDC rate him and want him playing in the PDC.

Most probably the best player to come over since Gary Anderson in 2009, although during his time in the BDO, Gary didn't actually play as consistently well as Durrant. The last player to actually outperform Durrant in the BDO itself was probably Barney, although Adams was close for a few years around 2010.

Plus he never won lakeside, let alone 3 times.. But you could see the potential and talent was there.

[PT13]

Hard to say. We know that Durrant can play good darts in the high 90s or even 100s on TV, but in the PDC he will be facing tougher competition and tougher times, and struggling in Pro Tour events on the floor can leave you feeling like a piece of meat at times. How would he deal with that? I'm not convinced that he is better than what Bunting was in 2014, and Bunting had a good first year in the PDC, but the tougher competition and harder times did wear him down somewhat, even if he has stayed a consistent top 32 player.

If he does well and settles into the different culture, I think Durrant can get into the top 16, maybe even top 10, but staying there will be even tougher still than getting there in the first place.

I was watching an old match of Peter Wright's from the 2013 Players Championship the other day. I think Wright had just got into the top 16 and Stuart Pyke was talking about his chances to go higher, possibly get into the top 10. Chris Mason was a bit dismissive of it. Neither would have thought that Wright would get to number 2 at his peak, so who knows?

[Rogg]

The whole 'better than player x' thing never really works for me. It's all too easy to imagine Durrant in full flow and Gurney sulking about the place and putting both together to form a meaningless impression.

Here's some of what Gurney has on the OoM currently:

SF: 2017 UK Open
SF: 2017 Matchplay
W: 2017 Grand Prix
SF: 2017 Euros
QF: 2017 Grand Slam
QF: 2017 PC Finals
SF: 2018 Grand Prix
W: 2018 PC Finals

That is some serious business. If Durrant gets near Gurney's record above across 2019 and 2020 he'll have done exceptionally well #Dave#. He'll be a major winner and a Premier League player sitting somewhere in the Top 8 and he'll probably have passed Gurney along the way. Asking a lot, imo.

Gurney has been successful and played well but his overall standard of play has not been higher than Durrant. According to dartsdatabase, these are the average averages of the top players in all matches over the last two years:

Michael van Gerwen 102.41
Gary Anderson 99.62
Phil Taylor 98.26
Glen Durrant 98.16
Rob Cross 97.89
Peter Wright 97.07
Michael Smith 96.68
Mensur Suljovic 96.64
Dave Chisnall 95.89
Raymond van Barneveld 95.57
Daryl Gurney 95.22

So Durrant compares favourably with literally everyone currently playing except the two best in the world, and he is comfortably ahead of Gurney.

Glen needs to get a few dozen sets of double-in down him, that'll sort out his average out.

The averages are an indication but there's more. When Gurney started down MVG in the PC Finals final... I think Thorn's post has covered the things I was thinking about really. Gurney's qualities as a darts player made him cope and meant he could beat him in a big final and the same goes for his many wins over the likes of Anderson and Wright.

His averages may or may not have reflected how hard he can play the game, I don't know. Does Durrant have the bottle and grit that you need under the boot of the world's best at the sharp end of world class events? We'll find out if he wins a tour card. He'll do well but I'd stay cautious until we get a good look at him.

[PT13]

Best player to come over from the BDO in a while though.. I think he's a bit better than Bunting was when he joined. A lot of people in the PDC rate him and want him playing in the PDC.

Most probably the best player to come over since Gary Anderson in 2009, although during his time in the BDO, Gary didn't actually play as consistently well as Durrant. The last player to actually outperform Durrant in the BDO itself was probably Barney, although Adams was close for a few years around 2010.

Some of those matches that Anderson played though, like the 2007 IDL matches against Wade, Lewis and Webster, and 2007 WDT final against Taylor. Wow. The Wade match was probably the best of them with both playing at a very high level, and Anderson absolutely annihilated Lewis 9-1 in sets (best of 3 legs per set), while the Taylor final at the WDT more people know about where Anderson won 7-3 in sets (best of 5 legs per set) while both averaged over 100. Taylor got some revenge by beating Anderson in the 2007 Grand Slam semi, but Anderson went into 2008 Lakeside as the red hot favourite, and got beaten in the first round by Fabian Roosenbrand! It was baffling.

[Gunga Din]

i dont think he's great under pressure when he's throwing against someone half decent. a lot of the players he beats regularly in BDO would struggle to average 80 over a long format. when he's gone to play in the PDC i think his bottle has gone. He'll might get into top 16 at a push, but i dont see him regularly challenging at the latter stages of big tournaments. that said though, he'll probably still make more money on the PDC circuit than he will playing in the BDO

[SolidSCB]

To be honest I've always found him to be a flat-track bully. When he starts getting a bit back he hasn't handled it brilliantly.

I don't think he's any better a player than Bunting was when he moved. Yeah, there's a few points in the averages in favour of Durrant but on a whole you'd put them pretty even. I know there's the tired joke about Bunting 'being one of the best 3 in the world' or whatever, but that period of him joining the PDC, up until after the PL the year after he was genuinely at least in the top 10 players in the world form wise. It was only after he fucked with his darts during the PL and started getting slipperings on the back of it that he started to look shot. Glen would be doing extremely well to be emulating that sort of performance tbh.

[Potter's Lake]

Durrant's pushing 50 and has no experience of a tour of that magnitude, he'll be skipping tournaments or bombing in them.