Players can crumble under the pressure of the big stage in darts but William Borland claims that the tournament needed to earn professional status in darts is the hardest one he’s ever played in.
Borland rose to darting prominence a few years ago when he hit one of the best nine-dart finishes in PDC history in the first round of the 2022 World Championships.
This was a deciding leg to progress to the second round of the competition, making him the first player in history to win a televised match with a nine-dart finish.
This is a highlight career moment and while Borland is a lower ranked player, he’s still experienced some of the biggest stages in darts.
These include:
- World Darts Championships
- UK Open
- European Championship
- Players Championship Finals.
There’s one tournament however that he claims was the ‘hardest’ to play in…
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Willie Borland Says Q-School is the ‘HARDEST’ tournament He’s Ever Played In
Speaking on a live call with MDA Events, Borland revealed that Q-School, the competition players enter to earn a PDC Tour Card and play darts professionally, was the hardest tournament he’s played in.
He said:
“Q-School is probably the hardest tournament I’ve ever played because there’s 400+ guys all playing wanting 20 cards [Tour card].
“I had a couple of games during the week where I had high 90 averages but I just kept missing doubles and it can get to you because if you don’t make any points during the first couple of days, you try that bit extra because you want the card so bad.
“It’s definitely the hardest tournament that I’ve ever played in and I’m glad that I was lucky enough to come through it and get on the tour.
Borland has twice had to come through Q-School so is well positioned to speak on the difficulty of earning a tour card.
He won his first tour card in 2020 after coming through Q-School.
This allowed him to then make his World Championship debut for the 2022 World Championship where he gained darting recognition, but he would lose his card later that year after failing to maintain a high enough ranking position on the PDC Order of Merit.
He would then win back his tour card back this year, once again going through Q-School.
So far, Borland has had first and second round exits in all the Players Championships he’s entered and had a first round exit in the UK Open which leaves him ranked 127 in the Order of Merit.
He’ll therefore need to improve his results over the next year or risks losing his tour card for the second time 😬
Q-School entries are open for 2025 and all details for entering can be found here for anyone interested.
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