Live Darts on Saturday | New Zealand Darts Masters 2026 Day Two Preview and Order of Play
The final eight face off for the right to be crowned 2026 New Zealand Darts Masters champion in Auckland on Saturday.
Six PDC representatives and two Aussie underdogs will battle it out for the £30,000 top prize at the Spark Arena as they bid to claim World Series silverware.
The opening day of the season’s fifth World Series event saw a clutch of big names pushed close by Oceanic opposition, while Stephen Bunting and Ross Smith suffered shock early exits.
Raymond Smith marked his return to PDC competition with a dominant 6-2 victory over Bunting which saw him convert six from seven attempts at the outer ring.
Smith now comes up against fellow Aussie ace Adam Leek – who pulled off a deciding-leg scalp of World Series debutant Ross Smith, recovering from 4-1 down and surviving a staggering six match darts in the process.
Victory for either Smith or Leek is likely to secure a spot in next month’s World Series Finals, but more imminently a semi-final tie later in the evening against either Gerwyn Price or Damon Heta.
Former New Zealand Masters champion Price opened up with a 6-1 rout of Mark Cleaver on Friday and the Welshman is bidding to become the first player to lift this trophy on more than one occasion.
Price has won 16 of his 23 previous meetings with Heta, the most recent of which coming in the semi-finals of the European Darts Trophy back in March.
Heta, the 2024 runner-up, secured his spot in the Last Eight courtesy of a stirring comeback win over Ben Robb which saw him reel off five consecutive legs from 4-1 down to prevail with a 97 average.
The opening tie of the evening sees world number two Gian van Veen take on fellow Premier League star Jonny Clayton.
The pair met at the same stage of the US Darts Masters in June, with Van Veen prevailing 6-3 to square up the overall head-to-head at five apiece.
Van Veen safely saw off Jonny Tata 6-1 in his opener on Friday, while Clayton was forced to dig deep to deny former Tour Card holder Haupai Puha in a last-leg shootout.
Josh Rock resumes his quest for a maiden World Series title with a clash against James Wade – who is also yet to pick up World Series silverware.
Rock dispatched former European Champion Simon Whitlock 6-4 in round one and has won six of his eight previous meetings with ‘The Machine.
Wade emphatically whitewashed Kayden Milne in six successive legs and is vying to reach his first World Series final in four years.
The action gets under way from 8am BST (7pm local time), with quarter-final matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs, semi-finals best of 13 and the final best of 15.
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New Zealand Darts Masters 2026 Day Two Schedule
All times BST (local time +11 hours)
Saturday August 15
8am-12pm
Quarter-Finals
Gian van Veen v Jonny Clayton
James Wade v Josh Rock
Gerwyn Price v Damon Heta
Raymond Smith v Adam Leek
Semi-Finals
Veen/Clayton v Wade/Rock
Price/Heta v Smith/Leek
Final
