There are now hundreds (maybe thousands) of darts players that you can consider to be world class. Having said that, you need to be inside the top 32 if you want to be the best of the best.
Even then, there’s layers to this game…
The elite win major titles.
If you want to be considered an elite darts player, you need to be winning majors!
There are some seriously talented players who seem to be on the cusp of breaking into this top tier so we’re going to look ahead and predict six players that we think could win their first major in the next few years.
Just for reference before we get started, there are ranked and non-ranked majors which are included below for reference:
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6) Gian van Veen
22 year old Dutch darter Gian van Veen is the latest prospect to come out of the Netherlands, a hotbed of talent in the last decade.
He will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of greats like Raymond van Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen and his professional career has been progressing on a good trajectory these last few years.
Van Veen was a former development tour star and as the 2023 Winmau World Youth Championship runner-up, turned pro with some hype surrounding him.
In just a few years on the Pro Tour, Van Veen has steadily moved up the rankings and currently sits at 30th in the PDC Order of Merit just a few places behind seasoned pros like Daryl Gurney, Brendan Dolan and RVB.
In 2023 he made it to the semi-finals of the European Championship finals, his best run in a PDC major tournament where he would lose narrowly to James Wade.
The best indication of his potential on the big stage came as recently as September of this year on the European Tour where he made it to the finals of the Hungarian Darts Trophy, losing narrowly in the final to MVG (8-7).
There are more experienced players on this list but if “The Giant” continues to progress like he has been doing, winning a major title would not be surprising.
5) Ryan Searle
Heavy Metal is a fan favourite and very solid tour player.
At the time of writing this, Searle is 3rd in the Pro Tour Order of Merit and 8th in the European Tour but his tour form hasn’t translated to major tournaments so far in his professional career.
Searle’s best opportunity to date came in 2021 when he finished runner-up in the Players Championship Finals losing narrowly to Peter Wright 11-10.
It’s quite apt for this list that he lost to Peter Wright because at 36 years old, we think Searle could be a player that peaks at a later age much like Wright did.
He needs to kick on mentally though in our opinion.
He is making it to finals on floor events (winning some as well) but we see occurrences where the mental part of his game (shaking/dropping his head) doesn’t match his throwing ability.
If he can build on the momentum of his Tour form and has a few deep major tournament runs in the next few years we think he could position himself to really push for a big tournament win.
4) Martin Schindler
Much like Searle, Martin Schindler is a very, very solid player on the tour but his performances there are yet to be carried over to any major tournaments.
In 2024, Schindler’s won two European Tour titles (International Darts Open & Swiss Darts Trophy), sits top of the European Tour Order of Merit and 5th on the Pro Tour Order of merit at the time of writing this.
His Swiss Darts Trophy win actually came against Searle in the final as he fought back from 4-0 and 7-4 down to eventually win 8-7.
That mental resilience in particular is impressive and Schindler admits he’s worked hard to get to his current position.
Just a decade ago he was a steward at PDC events so to see him now winning them is some journey and he said following his win in Basel that he is eyeing the big TV events.
With his confidence and quiet resilience, we wouldn’t be too shocked to see him put in a big performance in a major tournament and take a win.
He reminds us of Dimitri Van den Bergh winning the World Matchplay in 2020.
3) Damon Heta
The Heat has overtaken long time nation favourite Simon Whitlock to become the modern face of darts for Australia.
He’s risen rapidly through the professional ranks over the years (currently 9th) and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Heta has won a World Series title, been runner-up twice (including recently at the 2024 New Zealand Darts Masters), won the World Cup of Darts with his national partner Simon Whitlock and made it to the semi-finals of the UK Open earlier this year.
That’s a solid resume for just his 5th year on the Pro Tour so Heta is showing the warning signs that he has what it takes to win.
Whitlock himself has a stacked career but if Heta carries on this trajectory he can definitely replicate the kind of career his compatriot has achieved and that includes adding a major title to his name.
2) Dave Chisnall
The main reason why we are including Chisnall on this list is because Stephen Bunting proved earlier this year (by winning The Masters) that it’s not too late for some of these ‘nearly men’ to clinch their first major.
See also – 5 best darts players to never win a major [ranked]
Chizzy is still inside the top 10 on the Order of Merit and at the time of writing this (10/09/2024) he’s just won his eighth career European Tour title at the Flanders Darts Trophy moving up to sixth place in the Order of Merit.
He’s an unbelievable darting talent who has been a consistently top tier player for two generations of darts now but his biggest issue is that he’s a nearly man on the biggest stage.
He’s had 6 x runner-up finishes in PDC major and 2 x runner-up finishes in World Series finals.
He’s got countless titles playing the circuits (25 non-televised titles) but he’s just not been able to get over the line for the biggest tournaments.
Due to his consistency over the years though and the fact that he’s still an elite player and threat, we do think he could come good but at 44 years of age, his time is running out…
1) Josh Rock
Before Luke Littler burst onto the scene in late 2023, Josh Rock was considered by many to be the next darts prodigy.
Barry Hearn stated in an interview a few years ago, before Rock was even 20, that he would be a top eight player.
Again, this was before Littler distorted our view of young talent but there’s no denying that Rock is kicking on and starting to fulfill his potential.
In his second season on the tour he reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts and final of the Austrian Darts Open which was a solid showing.
This year, he’s won the Dutch Darts Masters and a Players Championship event so he’s now firmly competing with the best players.
Rock is currently 16th on the Order of Merit, the halfway point to Hearn’s prediction and cracking the top 16 is huge for pro players as it guarantees entry to major tournaments.
If Rock can keep on his current trajectory it’s hard not to see him being the most likely of any player to win their first major title in the near future.
What did you think of this list? Have we missed someone out that is more likely to win one, let us know in the comments below 👇
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