PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf runs the rule over this year's Betfred World Matchplay field - based on their last 200 legs played - ahead of this year's summer showpiece at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool...
#1 Averages - Gerwyn Price
#1 OChE - Gerwyn Price
#1 Doubles - Ricardo Pietreczko
#1 171-180 - Chris Dobey, Luke Humphries
#1 99, 101+ Checkout - Jonny Clayton, Jermaine Wattimena, Josh Rock
If the players with the highest recent averages were to reach the final of the Betfred World Matchplay, it would be an all-Welsh affair at the Winter Gardens.
Fresh from their victory as a team in last month’s World Cup of Darts, it is highly unlikely that Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton will meet in Blackpool, as they are in opposite halves of the tournament draw and each have multiple higher seeds with which to contend.
But they are the clear #1 and #2 over the past 200 legs for all players, with no other players in the PDC currently sustaining a performance that would win them 60% of legs in ProTour matches.
The Welshmen's particular strengths are very different, however - Price has thrown 79 maxima in his last 200 legs, just two off the high score of 81 (and 25 ahead of Clayton), but it is Clayton who has the higher accuracy on doubles and the greater number of completed three-figure checkouts.
The most recent ProTour winners - Luke Humphries and Damon Heta - are not far behind the Welsh duo; they rank 4th and 3rd respectively among Tour Card Holders for their OChE ratings.
Heta in particular is especially effective in winning legs relative to his average: Chris Dobey, who scores 0.14 points more per visit, nonetheless wins 4% fewer legs than the Australian number one.
For his part, Humphries - on top of the world for his spectacular output of 180s per leg - would be the favourite (on recent form) should he face Michael van Gerwen, against whom he has a substantial advantage in checkout accuracy and OChE rating.
A massive upset could be on the cards on Monday, as Peter Wright (defending his 2021 earnings as World Matchplay champion) takes on the best double-hitter of those Tour Card Holders qualified for the tournament.
Wright, having endured a difficult Premier League campaign and without one of the first 16 Players Championship titles of the year for the first time since 2011, currently holds only the 56th highest average - and 109th highest doubles percentage - of the 128 Tour Card Holders.
His opponent, Andrew Gilding, who has earned more on the Order of Merit than the two-time World Champion in 2023, has been winning 8% more legs against ProTour opponents, with nearly 46% doubles accuracy.
If Wright's absence from the ProTour in the past month has improved his form, he will need the help against one of the strongest non-seeds in the draw.
However, Heta is probably not thrilled to be facing the strongest non-seeded opponent, Josh Rock, in his World Matchplay opener on Sunday.
The expectations are already high for 22-year-old Rock in his first World Matchplay, as he is not only the World Youth Champion, but has figured in the top 10 of Tour-Card Holders' averages and OChE ratings all year.
Only 0.06 points separate Rock and Heta in their averages over the last 200 legs, with Rock similarly holding slight advantages in maxima, doubles and high checkouts.
The Rock-Heta match promises to be one of the most closely-fought of the first round - a win for Rock would make him the youngest player to win a match in Blackpool since Michael van Gerwen, 15 years ago.