It was double delight for Wessel Nijman as he went back to back in PDC Development Tour events 16 and 17 in Milton Keynes. The victories took the young Dutch star to nine PDC Development Tour wins in his career and four so far in 2024.

PDC Development Tour 16

Wessel Nijman won his third PDC Development Tour of the year by defeating Tavis Dudeney in the final. His only last leg decider of the entire event came in the final and the Dutchman gave himself the best possible chance by kicking off with back-to-back 180s, before sealing the win in 14 darts!

On his way to the title he put in some strong performances and got some big victories. In his first 4 matches of the day he breezed through only dropping one leg against Calvin Nicolai in the last 64, defeating Mason Whitlock, Malik Istvan and Xanti Van den Bergh 4-0 in rounds 1,2 and 4.

His last 16 and Quarter-final matches were more or less carbon copy of each other in terms of averages as he ended with averages of over 105 in both. In his last 16 match he got past Jack Howarth 4-2 before easing past Nathan Rafferty 5-2 in the Quarter-final. In his Semi-final he came won four straight legs from trailing 2-1 against Beau Greaves to book his place in the final averaging 91.

He found himself 3-0 and 4-3 down in the final but managed to get over the line to add another title to his name.


Beau Greaves followed up her victory in Blackpool with a strong
performance on day 1 of the Development Tour weekend.

PDC Development Tour 17

Wessel Nijman made life a little bit easier for himself in the second event of the day by avoiding any last leg deciding matches. Two players had the opportunity to get revenge on Nijman but it was very much a case of repeat.

Similar to event 16 he started strongly only dropping a leg in his first 3 matches. In the first round Nijman got past his compatriot Jeffrey Keen 4-1. Then came back to back bagels as Nijman once again got the better of Nathan Rafferty in round two before dispatching of Welshman Riley Rees-Tucker in the last 64.

Tyler Thorpe was his next opponent in the last 32 and Nijman found the big legs at the right time a 12 darter to start with a 13 darter to finish and an 11 darter in the middle as he won 4-2. Nijman then posted his highest average of the event in the last 16 when he posted a 101.6 averaged as he got passed Swede Viktor Tingstrom 4-1.

Even when the number of legs increased it didn’t seem to bother the young Dutch star as he faced another darter hoping for revenge from event 16 when he came up against Beau Greaves in the last 8. But it wasn’t to be for Greaves as it was a case of déjà vu as it was Nijman who came out on top. Nijman then produced his poorest performance of the event in the Semi-Final but still proved too strong for his opponent Matt Heffer winning by a 5-0 score line.

Then in the final he came against the German darter Niko Springer and won 5-3. Once again Nijman found himself behind early on as Springer raced into a 2-0 lead but Nijman clawed his way back to lead 3-2 and despite Springer bringing it back to 3-3 Nijman then found a 13 and 15 darter to win the match and secure his second title of the day.

Other notable performances

Elsewhere Beau Greaves followed up on her success at the PDC Women’s Matchplay on the Winter Gardens stage in Blackpool, losing out to eventual winner Wessel Nijman in both PDC Development Tour 16 and 17. In the first of the event of the day the Dutch star got the better of his English opponent 5-2 in the semi-final despite Beau averaging over 98 – seven points higher than her opponent before losing out to Nijman once again in Event 17 but this time in the quarter-final by the same score line as PDC Development Tour 16 5-2.

A day of big numbers for Nijman

In going back to back Nijman climbed to the top of the development tour table and did in style. Across the two events he won 16 matches on the bounce and hit 5 averages of over a ton.

The action continues in Milton Keynes on Saturday with events 18 and 19 scheduled to take place.

PDC Development Tour 16
Results

Quarter-Final
Jimmy Bristow 5|2 Thomas Banks
Tavis Dudeney 5|1 Keaton Williams
Wessel Nijman 5|2 Nathan Rafferty
Beau Greaves 5|3 Bram van Dijk

Semi-Final
Tavis Dudeney 5|2 Jimmy Bristow
Wessel Nijman 5|2 Beau Greaves

Final
Wessel Nijman 5|4 Tavis Dudeney

PDC Development Tour 17
Results

Quarter-Final
Wessel Nijman 5|2 Beau Greaves
Matt Heffer 5|4  Sascha Stuhlemmer
Niko Springer 5|2 Sebastian Bialecki
Keane Barry 5|3 Daniel Perry

Semi-Final
Wessel Nijman 5|0 Matt Heffer
Niko Springer 5|2 Keane Barry

Final
Wessel Nijman 5|3 Niko Springer