HUNGARIAN DARTS TROPHY – ET11
Budapest, Hungary (28-30 August)
Yet again, Doncaster sensation Beau Greaves, as the youngster continues to rip up and rewrite the script for women’s darts.
What has she done this time, I hear you ask? Broken the sound barrier, walked on the moon, moved to the South Pole and trained a waddle of penguins to juggle while riding unicycles? Nope. She has simply qualified for her first-ever European Tour event – the Hungarian Darts Trophy – thus becoming the first female to do so in PDC history.
The trip to Budapest will also mark a debut appearance for Aussie Adam Leek. I haven’t checked the full list of players to have ever appeared on a European Tour stage, but I’m pretty sure Cheeky Leeky will be the first one named after a vegetable. Correct me if I’m wrong.
We are guaranteed at least one Price in Hungary – and that’s England’s Samuel. After a barren year with fewer jaunts to Europe than Manchester United last season, the Coventry Ace will make his bow this weekend in Leverkusen before doing it all again at the following event.
After his heroics in Slovakia, Tom Sykes has clearly developed a taste for the European Tour stage. On his maiden appearance, the Castleford Tiger roared all the way to the semi-finals. I do wonder how gingers cope during August in Hungary. He’ll either melt, turn bright red or win the thing. Perhaps even all three, though not necessarily in that order.
Among the ten who made the cut, six are English. Joining the aforementioned Greaves, Price and Sykes are Ritchie Edhouse – former European Champion, of course, and proud wearer of a sleeve on his throwing arm – James Hurrell, who handed himself a rather nice belated birthday present, and The Sniper, Connor Scutt, who will be making his third European Tour appearance of the season. Probably best to leave the rifle at home, eh son?
Ireland will be represented by Keane Barry, who now has an almost 50% success rate in these qualifying thingies. Maik Kuivenhoven is just one behind the bespectacled County Meath marksman, with Budapest set to mark the Dutchman’s fourth appearance in 2026.
Rounding off the squad of ten is a man enjoying one hell of a return to PDC life, Cristo Reyes. The Spaniard won’t be in Leverkusen this weekend but, so far this season, has missed only two European Tour events. That was due to a call-up to be a matador at a local bullfighting contest and, on the other occasion, an audacious attempt to cook the world’s largest paella. Too much stereotyping? Yeah, fair enough. In reality, he simply didn’t qualify, but that version sounded far too boring.
Congratulations to all those heading to the Hungarian capital of Budapest next month. Full list below:
QUALIFIERS
BARRY, Keane (IRE)
EDHOUSE, Ritchie (ENG)
GREAVES, Beau (ENG)
HURRELL, James (ENG)
KUIVENHOVEN, Maik (NED)
LEEK, Adam (AUS)
PRICE, Samuel (ENG)
REYES, Cristo (ESP)
SCUTT, Connor (ENG)
SYKES, Tom (ENG)
CZECH DARTS OPEN – ET12
Prague, Czech Republic (4-6 September)
Then it was eyes down for another full house, with everyone back in the hat seeking a spot in September’s Czech Darts Open.
And just like a Doncaster bus, you wait all year for one and two arrive at the same time. Yep – you’ve guessed it, Beau doubled up and bagged a trip to Prague too. Not a bad afternoon’s work for the phenomenal one, which makes you wonder why it took her this long to stamp a trip to a Euro Tour event. Bewildering.
Untypically, the second qualifier saw many of the same faces double up. Normally, it’s a fresh batch with the odd identical loaf freshly baked. Not only did Beau go two for two, so did Keane Barry, Connor Scutt and Cristo Reyes. Perhaps no huge surprise the Spaniard claimed both, I guess.
Then, to shake things up, a couple of Belgians joined the party. Let’s call a spade a spade here – and I invariably often do – lads from that waffle-loving nation have been pretty hopeless this year. In fact, the only Flemish flinger who is showing any kind of form – apart from Vincent D’Hondt, who’s doing it on two wheels – is Kim Huybrechts.
Mind you, Mike De Decker is starting to look a bit more like his old self in recent weeks. But if Belgium are choosing their best hope to do more damage in Europe than the Allied Forces in the 1940s, then it’s Kim. And that’s handy because, along with Super Mario – the dart player, not the weird Italian-American plumber who is trying to save a Princess called Peach from some bloke called Bowser – they are Czech-bound.
Including Beau and Sniper, two other England chuckers made this particular cut. Stephen Burton, who, prior to this, had only qualified for the German Darts Grand Prix. And also Callan Rydz. You have to go back to the very first event of the season – the Polish Darts Open – to see the last time the Geordie was on Euro Tour duty. Then, if you want to see the last time he had a respectable hairstyle, many moons before that.
Pride of Wales, Stack Attack himself Rob Owen was the only success story for his nation in Leicester today. He was in Austria earlier this year, but that’s all. If he is planning on driving over there in September and entrusting Big Nigel to be at the wheel, they’d better leave now.
Finally, Seth McFarlane lookalike – or so I think, at least – Jeffrey De Graaf made it three times a charm for these qualifying bad boys in 2026. The Dutch-born Swede has a Players Championship title to his name this campaign. So you’d like to think the natural progression is a Euro one. Doesn’t always work like that. But I know Jeff personally and like to think that will be the case soon.
There’s your ten joining the Pro Tour and Main Tour Order of Merit folk, along with some names that many fans will end up Googling. Congrats to these off to lovely Prague where, if you do go out early, for £20 quid, you can still get a pint and a happy ending. Or so I am told!
QUALIFIERS
BARRY, Keane (IRE)
BURTON, Stephen (ENG)
DE GRAAF, Jeffrey (SWE)
GREAVES, Beau (ENG)
HUYBRECHTS, Kim (BEL)
OWEN, Rob (WAL)
REYES, Cristo (ESP)
RYDZ, Callan (ENG)
SCUTT, Connor (ENG)
VANDENBOGAERDE, Mario (BEL)
