The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsEuropean Tour Darts finally returns after a two month absence on the PDC calendar, and Mulheim in Germany will play host to the seventh European Tour event of this year.
The highly-exclusive World Series events over August have kept us entertained, but for many players, especially those in the first round, this will be their first ranking event since July.
Michael van Gerwen already has a quartet of European Tour victories under his belt in 2015, and will be looking to make it a fifth win when he appears as the number one seed.
Michael Smith slots in at number two seed due to his impressive ProTour ranking, James Wade and Adrian Lewis fill in the third and fourth seeds.
Premier League stars Peter Wright, Kim Huybrechts and Dave Chisnall will also feature as seeds in a star-studded line-up who will enter the competition at the second round on Saturday.
Another Premier League competitor in Stephen Bunting will appear in the first round, and he has been drawn against Mark Barilli. Kevin Painter against Alan Norris is another standout tie in the first round.
Gerwyn Price will be full of confidence following a good run at the World Matchplay, and he faces Andy Jenkins in the first round whilst Wes Newton comes up against Chris Dobey.
The field is compiled of 48 players, 16 of which are seeded and will enter the competition in the second round at the weekend, 20 UK qualifiers, eight European qualifiers and four Home Nation qualifiers.
Gary Anderson’s withdrawal from the competition means that Benito van de Pas will step in as the sixteenth and final seed.
Tournament Draw Bracket
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Hunt/Ratajski
Benito van de Pas (16) v Lovett/Artut
Dave Chisnall (8) v Dekker/Bain
Justin Pipe (9) v Suljovic/Soethe
Peter Wright (5) v Price/A Jenkins
Kim Huybrechts (12) v Hopp/van Barneveld
Adrian Lewis (4) v Wilson/Schindler
Terry Jenkins (13) v Pallett/S West
Michael Smith (2) v Newton/Dobey
Vincent van der Voort (15) v Painter/Norris
Brendan Dolan (7) v Finnan/Reyes
Mervyn King (10) v Gurney/Frost
Ian White (6) v Bunting/Barilli
Simon Whitlock (11) v Hubbard/Rodriguez
James Wade (3) v Dudbridge/Johnson
Robert Thornton (14) v van Duijvenbode/Kist
Schedule of Play
First Round
Friday September 11
Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm local time, 12pm-4pm BST)
Mark Dudbridge v Darren Johnson
David Pallett v Steve West
Darryl Gurney v Mark Frost
Connie Finnan v Cristo Reyes
Jason Lovett v Jyhan Artut
Jan Dekker v Jamie Bain
Adam Hunt v Krzysztof Ratajski
James Hubbard v Rowby-John Rodriguez
Evening Session (7pm-11pm local time, 6pm-10pm BST)
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Christian Kist
Mensur Suljovic v Christian Soethe
Gerwyn Price v Andy Jenkins
Stephen Bunting v Mark Barilli
Max Hopp v Raymond van Barneveld
Kevin Painter v Alan Norris
Wes Newton v Chris Dobey
James Wilson v Martin Schindler
Second Round
Saturday September 12
Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm local time, 12pm-4pm BST)
Brendan Dolan (7) v Finnan/Reyes
Robert Thornton (14) v van Duijvenbode/Kist
Justin Pipe (9) v Suljovic/Soethe
Terry Jenkins (13) v Pallett/S West
Benito van de Pas (16) v Lovett/Artut
Mervyn King (10) v Gurney/Frost
Kim Huybrechts (12) v Hopp/van Barneveld
Vincent van der Voort (15) v Painter/Norris
Evening Session (7pm-11pm local time, 6pm-10pm BST)
Ian White (6) v Bunting/Barilli
Dave Chisnall (8) v Dekker/Bain
Adrian Lewis (4) v Wilson/Schindler
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Hunt/Ratajski
Peter Wright (5) v Price/A Jenkins
Michael Smith (2) v Newton/Dobey
James Wade (3) v Dudbridge/Johnson
Simon Whitlock (11) v Hubbard/Rodriguez
Sunday September 13
Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm local time, 12pm-4pm BST)
Third Round
Evening Session (7pm-11pm local time, 6pm-10pm BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
