Dimitri van den Bergh vows to continue playing the same after UK Open criticism “I understand that the crowd was turning on me, but I was telling myself it’s fine I understand.”

Despite a thrilling ending in which Dimitri van den Bergh narrowly upset Luke Humphries 11-10 in Minehead to win the UK Open, a second major trophy has returned to Belgium.

Van den Bergh received a lot of criticism from the fans for his slow, methodical approach on the oche, with the Belgian taking his time between each throw and attempting to throw Humphries off, which worked.

“I understand that the crowd was turning on me, but I was telling myself it’s fine I understand. I was standing there and it was 10-8 and I knew oh one more leg and you’re going to be a major champion so I said to myself do what your sports psychologist teached you. Use what he said to you and keep your mind in a relaxed position,”

“This is pressure, but you’re in the final. This is a reward. This is not a punishment. Because of that, I chilled. We’ve also seen in the past when I’ve played World Cup of Darts and the whole crowd has gone boo and I went to the oche and first dart in. Everyone else is making a sound and the sound is consistent and that is easy for a darts player to accept, not overthink.”

Despite the criticism, Van den Brergh has vowed to continue playing the same way after speaking to his sports psychologist.

“I always say any game can change your life. Majors even more than ProTours and European Tours. My sports psychologist says if you can take some time even though the world is watching you, you’re showing that you can handle it.”