Cameron Menzies will take a narrow but valuable World Matchplay race cushion into the final Leicester double-header, with Dave Chisnall still chasing a late Blackpool rescue.
The latest DartsRankings World Matchplay race places Menzies on £81,750 on the ProTour list, just ahead of Damon Heta on £81,250. Chisnall sits on £76,000, leaving the St Helens thrower needing a meaningful run when Players Championship 23 and 24 are staged in Leicester on July 6-7.
Leicester now carries the pressure
The route is brutally simple. The World Matchplay field is made up of the top 16 from the main Order of Merit and the leading 16 non-qualified players from the ProTour Order of Merit, with the cut-off coming after the final pre-Blackpool floor events.
That puts Menzies in a strong but exposed position. A first-round defeat in Leicester would leave the door open; one deep run would force Chisnall, Heta and the chasing group to produce something far more substantial.
- Cameron Menzies: £81,750
- Damon Heta: £81,250
- Dave Chisnall: £76,000
- Kim Huybrechts: £75,250
Sky Sports lists the next two Players Championship events for July 6 and July 7 in Leicester, immediately before the July 18-26 World Matchplay window.
What the cushion means
For Chisnall, the tension is obvious. He is still close enough to flip the table, but the gap means a routine last-32 cheque probably will not do it. Menzies, meanwhile, has the kind of cushion that changes the psychology of a floor weekend: not safe, but no longer chasing from the outside.
NineDartNews has already tracked how the Chisnall World Matchplay race has narrowed across the final stretch.
That is why Leicester now looks less like a standard ProTour stop and more like a direct Blackpool eliminator.
