PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf assesses the top ten PDC stars - based on their last 200 legs played - following last weekend's International Darts Open in Riesa.
#1 Averages - Gerwyn Price
#1 OChE - Gary Anderson
#1 Doubles - Danny Noppert
#1 171-180 - Gary Anderson
#1 99, 101+ Checkout - Joe Cullen & Luke Humphries
In claiming the International Darts Open title this past weekend, Martin Schindler has not only become the highest-ranked German player on the Order of Merit, but has done so in the Form Guide as well.
Schindler is now the 11th most effective player in the PDC at translating his averages into legs won; his 4.96 point increase in OChE now puts him ahead of Michael van Gerwen for the first time in the history of the Form Guide.
In his Sunday evening matches, moreover, Schindler defeated three players who all have 200-leg averages greater than his, including the current #1 Gerwyn Price, the only player currently averaging more than 100.
Though he did not average 100 himself in his last four matches at the weekend, Schindler won four out of every seven legs played in 15 darts or less, a rate nearly double the PDC average of 29.5%.
The 27-year-old defeated his two highest-ranked opponents by comfortable margins - a further confirmation that not all 95 averages are created equal.
The aforementioned Price emerged from the weekend without another European Tour title, but with encouraging results as he seeks to come from behind to salvage his Premier League Play-Off hopes.
He is now the most in-form player of the eight with respect to averages and maxima, and trails only Luke Humphries in doubles percentage and OChE.
Thus far in the Premier League, Price - with six wins and 11 losses overall - has recorded impressive averages without managing to accumulate the points he needs to rise out of seventh place in the league table.
That could be on the cusp of changing with Price rising to his highest overall stats level of 2024, but with upcoming fixtures against the year's two most outstanding players - Humphries and Luke Littler - even further improvement will be required to claw his way out of the hole in which he finds himself.
Humphries and Littler themselves could not be expected to remain red-hot forever, and both suffered losses in the past week that did not live up to the incredibly high expectations that the first few months of PDC action had set for them in the eyes of fans.
Both players declined more than three points over their last 200 legs from their positions in March, but are still ranked #3 (Humphries) and #4 (Littler) on that statistic.
Even during a lull in their form, Humphries remains tied for the most 101+ checkouts with 20 and Littler, with 77 maxima to his name, is still a more productive power scorer than any Premier League contestant bar Price.
The week's most improved player - Ritchie Edhouse - came from nowhere to defeat two Premier League stars with outstanding averages, resulting in his first quarter-final appearance on the European Tour in nearly six years.
Edhouse, whose lifetime ProTour average of 91 may not have initially caused much concern for Michael Smith or Rob Cross, won six of seven legs in 15 darts or fewer against 2023 World Champion Smith, before averaging 103.49 to upset Cross.
However, Edhouse was beaten by Stephen Bunting in a last-leg shoot-out (after missing a match dart), which gave Bunting his 14th consecutive European Tour victory in a deciding leg.
Despite his showing against Bunting, Edhouse played like a top-32 player in Riesa, and the Form Guide confirms this - he now has the 8th highest doubles percentage, and 22nd highest OChE, after showing the biggest improvement since March in his winning effectiveness.
*OChE (Ordinal Checkout Efficiency) explained:
OChE is a metric designed to evaluate the efficiency at which players convert their averages into legs won.
The statistic is the % of legs a player would expect to win on the ProTour, calculated from a weighted average of 4,5, 6 & 7 visit checkout rates.
Follow Christopher on Twitter @ochepedia