Ladbrokes Darts Masters 2020 Day Two preview and order of play: Big guns aim to make their move

The First Round action continues at the 2020 Masters on Milton Keynes on Saturday as the PDC’s elite aim to get their season off to a winning start.

The opening night at the Marshall Arena produced a major upset as Jonny Clayton ended Michael van Gerwen’s five-year reign as Ladbrokes Masters champion.

That result, along with James Wade’s exit, means a new name is guaranteed to be on the trophy come Sunday evening.

Day Two features matches from the bottom half of the draw, with Peter Wright notably kicking off his first season as World Champion with a clash against Joe Cullen.

Exactly one month after fulfilling his darting destiny at Alexandra Palace, Wright returns to action with a new target on his back as he looks to back up that fairy-tale success.

The world number two picked up five titles during 2019, including the World Cup of Darts, and will be keen to surpass last year’s run to the Semi-Finals in the season-opening Masters.

The colourful Scot holds a dominant head-to-head record over Cullen, having won 15 of their 19 previous meetings, including all five of their televised show-downs to date.

Cullen is making his second appearance at The Masters having defeated Rob Cross on his debut last year for what turned out to be one of only three wins in televised competition.

The world number 15 crashed out of the World Championship at the first hurdle once again but will be determined to hit the ground running here and become the first player to defeat the current World Champion in 2020.

Wright celebrates his world title triumph (Photo by Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Back-to-back Grand Slam champion Gerwyn Price gets his campaign underway with a clash against former world finalist Simon Whitlock.

Price enjoyed another superb season of success in 2019, picking up five titles to climb to a career high position of world number three.

The Welshman has reached at least the Semi-Final stage of five of his last six televised tournaments and will be keen to maintain that trend as the new season commences.

Whitlock, meanwhile, reached the Quarter-Finals of the inaugural Masters in 2013 but has suffered four First Round exits since and will be keen to get one over on Price for his 4-2 defeat in the Last 16 of the recent World Championship.

A closely-matched tie to kick off proceedings sees two-time major champion Daryl Gurney take on multiple major finalist Dave Chisnall.

The pair met at this stage of the competition 12 months ago, with Chisnall coming out on top 10-8 on his way to reaching the Semi-Finals.

Runner-up in 2016, Chisnall was also a beaten finalist in last October’s World Grand Prix and could count himself unfortunate to narrowly miss out on a place in the Premier League.

Gurney retained his place in the Premier League after four televised Semi-Final appearance last season, as well as a runner-up spot in the Melbourne Masters.

The Northern Irishman is hoping to register his first win in this elite invitational at the third time of asking.

Fishing pals by day, Gary Anderson and Ian White are hoping to reel in the top prize this weekend but will have to put their friendship to one side as they face off in the First Round.

Anderson is aiming to start afresh in 2020 after a nightmare 2019 which saw him miss the first three months of the season through injury and fail to surpass the Quarter-Finals of a televised singles tournament.

Masters runner-up in 2017, ‘The Flying Scotsman’ will return to the Premier League in his homeland on Thursday and will look to warm up in style with a strong run here.

White returns for his sixth consecutive crack at The Masters as he looks to finally end his miserable winless record in this competition.

A ground-breaking 2019 for the Stoke thrower saw him reach his first major Semi-Final at November’s Players Championship Finals, while also claiming two European Tour titles.

The action gets underway from 7pm GMT, with First Round matches to be contested over the best of 19 legs.

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Ladbrokes Masters 2020 Match Schedule

Saturday February 1

First Round

7.15pm Daryl Gurney v Dave Chisnall
8.15pm Gary Anderson v Ian White
9.15pm Peter Wright v Joe Cullen
10.15pm Gerwyn Price v Simon Whitlock