The Baltic Sea Darts Open has been hit by a wave of high-profile withdrawals, with Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price and Josh Rock all pulling out of the Euro Tour event in Kiel. Van Gerwen revealed on the Darts Draait Door podcast that he is going on holiday with his children this coming weekend, explaining: “Then I think you should make some time for that.”
The withdrawals of Humphries, Clayton and Price do not come as a surprise, as the trio will be in action on Thursday evening in the Premier League Darts play-offs. It is not clear why Rock is not taking part. Luke Littler and Gary Anderson were also absent from the field, but their names were already missing when the field was announced.
The recent withdrawals are being replaced by the highest-ranked players who lost in the final round of the Tour Card qualifier. Rob Cross, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Richard Veenstra, Christian Kist and Cristo Reyes are the players who benefit from the openings.
