Durrant salutes the crowd at the Winter Gardens (credit:Lawrence Lustig/PDC)
Glen Durrant believes he should be granted a place in the 2019 Grand Slam of Darts by default as the reigning BDO World Champion.
Durrant, who claimed a third consecutive BDO world title at Lakeside in January before securing a PDC Tour Card shortly after, is currently outside of the provisional places for the sport’s annual cross-code tournament.
The 48-year-old has enjoyed a dream start to life in the PDC, picking up two Players Championship titles while also reaching the Semi-Finals of the World Matchplay on his debut in Blackpool.
However, Durrant is yet to reach the final of a televised PDC event or win a European Tour event which would guarantee his qualification, meaning he is currently relying on being selected as part of the BDO’s eight-player contingent.
BDO Chairman Des Jacklin is due to announce his picks in the coming weeks, and after PDC Chairman Barry Hearn recently urged Jacklin to pick Durrant along with Mikuru Suzuki and Leighton Bennett, ‘Duzza’ admits he would be proud to represent the BDO but will respect the decision either way.
“What Barry [Hearn] says usually goes but Des [Jacklin] is doing big things with the BDO,” Durrant told Live Darts.
“I was at the World Darts Trophy last week and it was terrific, there’s real signs of improvement.
“It was a great venue, the crowd was great and I thought the players did really well.
“Des is his own man and if he wants me in the Grand Slam… I just think a Grand Slam should have the PDC and BDO World Champions in, but I would say that, wouldn’t I?
“I’ll accept any decision that’s made, if I get there as a PDC player – wonderful. If I’m going to be representing the BDO as their World Champion – fantastic.
“But whatever happens, I’ll accept it.”
Durrant returned to his roots as a spectator at the BDO World Trophy in Blackburn last week – which was eventually won by his close friend Jim Williams – and the Middlesbrough ace believes Williams could potentially dominate the BDO circuit in years to come.
Williams narrowly missed out on a Tour Card at PDC Qualifying School in January and has been linked with a second bite at the cherry in 2020, but Durrant feels the Welshman should only make the move when the time is right.
He added: “Jim is a terrific man and we were super proud when he won at the weekend.
“He did text me and say ‘wish you were here’ and I was only two hours away from Blackburn but it wasn’t about me, it was about Jim and very passionately me and Susan shouted from our living room.
“He played another wonderful young man in Richard Veenstra so it was happy days for me whatever happened in that final but to see Jim take that trophy I’d had in my house for the past 12 months was pretty special.
“I would like to see Jim go and dominate the BDO for two or three years so that might surprise a lot of people.
“If he went to Q School in January, I’ve got my partner in crime back, along with Jamie Hughes.
“I do see good things happening in the BDO but on the flip side, I have never been so happy in all my life. The PDC has absolutely changed everything.
“I’m back on the practice board, whereas when I was in the World Masters last year in the final against Adam Smith-Neale, I didn’t want to be there.
“Things happen in life and this change to the PDC has been the absolute making of me.
“If he did come over, it is the Willie Wonka golden ticket, that’s what I’d tell him, but if you had to put me on the spot I’d say ‘go and dominate the BDO for three years, Jim.'”