Jamie Lewis' recent run of form started at the Gibraltar Darts Trophy where he was the stand out performer of the weekend and made it to the semi-final stage, beating Michael Smith with a 96 average and 67% checkout rate, Andy 'The Pieman' Smith and Gerwyn Price along the way, only to be eliminated by World number 1 and eventual winner Michael van Gerwen in a 6-1 defeat. Lewis' form since that weekend has been on the up and he has accumulated £15,300 in prize money moving the Welshman up to 30th in the Pro Tour Order of Merit. The second Players Championship event in Coventry was one his most impressive tournaments to date beating some top-class players along the way, including Paul Nicholson, Adrian Lewis and Stephen Bunting, but he lost to the eventual winner Peter Wright in the quarter-final stage 6-5 in a match that could have went either way. Jamie Lewis is a player that's improving with every event he plays and another few good weekends could see him creep up the Order of Merit (where he currently lies in 33rd) where hopefully he can show us all on televised tournaments what he is capable of.
'The Gentle' Mensur Suljovic is another player that we don't see very often on television, but when the draw is announced for Pro Tour events, I'm sure all players don't want to see his name next to theirs. The big Austrian's unorthodox style can be very outputting but effective and you can rely on him to score a mid 90 average in most matches, not to mention that his double 14 hitting is superb and he can cause any player in the world problems in a short format match.
Suljovic's run in the German Darts Championship has been the best he has performed this year beating Cristo Reyes, Michael Smith, Kim Huybrechts and Robert Thornton on his way to the semi-finals where he lost 6-1 to the fantastic van Gerwen.
Since the turn of the year, Mensur has won £11,750 in prize money just from floor events and is 22nd in the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit a good achievement considering he doesn't attend every event.
Consistency is key to Suljovic's game, he may be slow and look like he doesn't know what hes doing but, as Wayne Mardle said, he will 'ton you' throughout the match. Don't be surprised if you see him winning an event sometime in the near future.
Benito van de Pas is tipped by many to be a future World Champion and he is already showing people what he can do at the oche. The Dutchman has claimed the scalps of most of the world's top players (including Michael van Gerwen) in the past and if he did it again it wouldn't be a surprise.
His recent form has been good, he reached a quarter-final in Barnsley beating Wayne Jones, Terry Jenkins, Robert Thornton and even managed to register a 9 darter in the process. In Coventry just a month before, Benito eliminated the likes of Jamie Bain and Keegan Brown to progress to the semi-final, only to come up against van Gerwen and lose 6-3.
Despite the fact van de Pas has never won a Pro Tour event, he is still number 19 in the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit having earned a cool £31,750 in the past year and he is slowly climbing up the rankings. He achieved his best run in a World Championships this year making it to the last 16 where he lost to Robert Thornton, although he did eliminated Dave Chisnall and Paul Nicholson, pocketing £18,000 for his work. This young up-and-coming star will want to better that run in the upcoming World Championships in December, but in the meantime, he will be looking to produce his best darts on the small stage and chase that top 16 spot.
John Henderson has had a stunning start to 2015. In April he had a great run in the German Darts Masters overcoming Cristo Reyes, Michael Smith, Andrew Guilding, Brendan Dolan and Adrian Lewis to make it to the final, only to be beaten by, you guessed it, Michael van Gerwen but it wasn't straightforward for the World number 1 as Henderson pushed him to a deciding leg but it wasn't enough to stop the runaway train that is MVG. The Highlander pocketed £10,000 for the weekend which is nearly half of what he earned during the entire 2014 calender year and he thanked "Easter Eggs" for his good form.
The good run didn't stop there, John then achieved a semi-final spot in the Players Championship in Coventry by eliminating a host of quality players including Wes Newton, Robert Thornton and Dave Chisnall, but eventual winner Keegan Brown stopped the Scotsman from achieving a 2nd final in as many months.
The rocking motion of Henderson is unique, but when he gets his sway in rhythm with his throwing arm he can be deadly, no player would like to face him on a good day, or after Easter Eggs apparently. He has taken his 2015 total earnings to £18,000 (excluding World Championship) which should set him up nicely for the rest of the year and we will see him in more televised tournaments and I think he can mount a serious challenge for some of the top prizes this year.
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