TWO-TIME BetVictor World Matchplay champion Rod Harrington has tipped this year's Winter Gardens event to be the toughest ever to win.
A supreme field of 32 stars will descend on Blackpool this weekend for the prestigious £450,000 tournament, which runs from July 18-26 at the Winter Gardens.
Former world number one Harrington is one of only six players to have won the World Matchplay since the tournament was introduced in 1994, alongside Phil Taylor, Larry Butler, Peter Evison, Colin Lloyd and James Wade.
Taylor's incredible run of success has seen him claim the title 15 times across the past two decades, and he has claimed the World Matchplay trophy for an amazing seven straight years in Blackpool.
While Michael van Gerwen, the world number one and last year's beaten finalist, kicks off the tournament as the bookies' favourite, Harrington admits that 54-year-old Taylor will be hard to beat at an event he has dominated.
"I think it's hard to win any major tournament but especially now because of the strength in depth in darts," said Harrington, the 1998 and 1999 World Matchplay champion.
"We've got the 32 top players in the world in this event and they can all beat anybody, so to win seven in a row is amazing - and I think Phil has a great chance of making it eight this year.
"When you're talking about a legs format instead of sets, Phil's style where he applies such leg-on-leg pressure is better for him in this format and he's going to take some beating.
"The longer format plays into his hands because a lot of people cannot keep their concentration leg-on-leg and Phil wears people down, and when we get into the quarter-finals it means that someone's going to have to play exceptional darts to beat him.
"He's just won in Japan and showed out there that although he might have an indifferent game now and again but he can then turn it up when he needs to.
"You can't praise Phil enough for his mental approach and his mindset. It's incredible that a guy of his age still gets up there and does it to this level.
"He started off in Eric Bristow's era and has gone through my era, had rivalries with John Part and Raymond van Barneveld at their best and is now up there with Gary Anderson and Michael van Gerwen and is still the player to beat.
"Every tournament we go to gets tougher and tougher though and the players are not scared of Phil any more, so he has to work harder and harder to make sure he doesn't miss too many chances.
"You look at how well Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson are playing, and Peter Wright at the moment is going to be an outsider and it's just whether he can get over the line to win a major title.
"There aren't any easy games and it's going to be the toughest tournament we've ever had."
The tournament will also feature a host of young stars who are emerging at the top level, including St Helens' Michael Smith, Isle of Wight's World Youth Champion Keegan Brown, Wales' Jamie Lewis and Dutch youngster Benito van de Pas.
"Bringing in the Youth Tour and Challenge Tour systems has provided those stepping stones to fame and fortune within the PDC," adds Harrington, who is now a PDC Director and Sky Sports pundit.
"All the players need now is the ability and the bottle. Michael Smith has probably got the best chance of winning the World Matchplay this year out of the youngsters, and if he can stay focused then he has got a big chance.
"He's got that scoring power, but like a lot of players he can go off the boil in crucial legs, and they don't necessarily know how to grind out a result like Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and other top players do.
"Benito has shown that he's a quality player. He's got youth on his side and a long future in the game - and he showed that he isn't scared of anybody when he beat Michael van Gerwen in a European Tour event in Germany recently.
"He won't be overawed by the occasion, he'll get up there and throw some good darts and I'd like to see him do well. He's come through the system and earned his place in this tournament."
Harrington's double victory means that he is the only player other than Taylor to have won the World Matchplay more than once, and he reflected: "It's something I can look back on fondly.
"The first year I won it, in 1998, I really deserved it and I was probably playing the best in the world at the time, but in 1999 I came into the event in terrible form and edged a lot of games.
"I ground results out in the second year and got over the line. It's everybody's favourite venue, such a special, historic venue with the high ceilings and the balconies.
"Everyone who plays in Blackpool loves it."