Yet again, the upcoming MODUS Super Series line-up refuses to disappoint, blending youthful exuberance with seasoned experience.
Not only do we have a pair of vastly experienced Scottish stalwarts in two-time PDC major champion Robert Thornton and north-of-the-border legend Jim McEwan, but there’s also a Wizard in the field. Better still, we have the son of a very famous one too. No, before anyone asks, it isn’t someone who escaped from Hogwarts with a set of tungsten arrows tucked inside his cloak.
Anyway, enough of the nonsense. Let’s crack on and take a look at a few of the names in action this week.
NATHAN POTTER
Not only does this lad share a surname with J.K. Rowling’s most famous creation, he bears more than a passing resemblance to him as well. Once the Harry Potter books took over the world, christening Nathan with the nickname The Wizard was less a stroke of genius and more an administrative formality.
Whether he genuinely needs the glasses or they’re simply part of the branding exercise, I honestly couldn’t tell you. What I do struggle to understand, however, is why he insists on wandering around Wigan looking like he’s just been expelled from Hogwarts, complete with cape and wand. It raises questions. Mainly from concerned members of the public.
And before anyone assumes that being called Potter automatically makes him handy with a cue, think again. It turns out he’s decidedly average at snooker, having already been comfortably dispatched by both his manager, Martin, and fellow young English prospect Charlie Manby. In fairness, attempting long pots while half-blinded by round spectacles, repeatedly standing on your own cloak and facing Champagne Charlie – who, let’s be honest, is one of those infuriating people whose annoyingly good at absolutely everything – was never exactly a recipe for success.
Thankfully for Nathan, snooker isn’t how he pays the bills. Put a set of darts in his hand and it’s an entirely different story. The talented Norfolk thrower has rapidly established himself as one of England’s brightest young prospects and earlier this year captured a Challenge Tour title. Annoyingly for me, there’s absolutely nothing sarcastic to say about that. It’s just a very impressive achievement.
MASON WHITLOCK
From The Wizard to the offspring of the original one himself. Australian darts legend Simon Whitlock’s son, Mason. Quite literally one of his finest finishes.
Growing up in Australia, young Mason spent much of his childhood on a kangaroo farm where, in true stereotypical Aussie fashion, he apparently filled the quieter moments shearing sheep. Whether he wrestled crocodiles before breakfast and rode to school on the back of a kangaroo remains unconfirmed, but I’m not ruling anything out.
Like countless youngsters, he eventually decided to copy his dad. Unlike most youngsters, however, his first set of darts was apparently fashioned from an old Ford Escort estate. Whether there are still bits of the suspension missing somewhere is anybody’s guess, but whatever the project was, it worked. The apple certainly didn’t fall far from the tree.
Nowadays Mason lives alongside his father in Hampshire, which means his practice partner isn’t Dave from down the pub who averages 43 after six pints. It’s Simon Whitlock. That’s either an incredible advantage or the sporting equivalent of having Albert Einstein check your maths homework every evening.
He’s undoubtedly one for the future. And if he turns out to be even half the player his old man has been over the years, he’ll enjoy one heck of a career. I’d start growing the beard now though, mate. You’ve got an awful lot of catching up to do in that department.
KAYA BAYSAL
Continuing with another outstanding young prospect, Kaya Baysal is very much a player heading in the right direction. Unlike his beloved Burnley, who recently found travelling in the opposite direction considerably easier after waving goodbye to the Premier League. They also managed to secure fewer points than Nathan Potter does in a snooker match, which, as we’ve already established, is hardly setting the bar at Olympic height.
Still a couple of weeks short of his sixteenth birthday, Baysal already boasts more silverware than most clubs can only dream of. In fact, I’d wager there are probably more trophies in his cabinet than you’ll find in at Turf Moor. Last year alone, the Lancashire youngster claimed both the WDF Budapest Classic and the Riga Open. Then he flew home and went to school the following morning. That’s proper mic-drop territory.
Kaya probably wins the Most Interesting Lunch Break Conversation award every single day. While most of his classmates were enjoying a chippy tea at Nan’s and a fiercely competitive game of Connect Four before bedtime, Baysal was busy collecting trophies in foreign countries. It’s fair to say they’re living slightly different teenage lives.
JIM MCEWAN
Finally, we come to one of the genuine gentlemen of the sport. Nicknamed ‘Chucky’ for quite possibly the same reason you might call Lionel Messi, ‘Kicky’.
At 59 years of age, Jim McEwan’s days of worrying about homework and double maths on a Monday morning are long behind him. In fact, it’s been so long since he last walked through the school gates they’ve probably bulldozed the place, built a housing estate on it and are halfway through planning permission for a retirement village. Ironically, in another few years he might find himself back there again. I jest, of course.
Truth be told, Chucky has plenty left in the tank. They clearly build them differently up in Ayrshire. I was going to go all stereotypical, saying it’s all the porridge oats and Irn-Bru, but I’d probably receive an angry letter from the Scottish Tourist Board.
While plenty of blokes approaching sixty are carefully planning their morning around a gentle stroll to buy the newspaper and complaining about the price of milk, McEwan is probably out in the back garden tossing about trees for a warm-up before throwing darts in the afternoon.
He’s also spent the last few decades praying Scotland might one day escape the group stage of a major football tournament. Sorry, Jim. Postcards generally arrive home later than The Tartan Army tend to.
So there you have it – just four of the many names worth keeping an eye on this week. The frightening thing is we’ve barely scratched the surface. The line-up is so ridiculously stacked with talent that if you wrung it out, you’d probably fill your own swimming pool with tungsten.
Good luck to everyone involved.
GROUP A
Robert Thornton
Mike Warburton
Nathan Potter
Jack Aldridge
Carl Batchelor
Jamai van den Herik
GROUP B
Jim McEwan
Chas Barstow
Jamie Lewis
GROUP C
Mason Whitlock
Kaya Baysal
Lee Evans
