I’m convinced that Gian van Veen can win any of the major tournaments now after his European Championship success and run to the final of the World Championships last year. He is the only player from the field of elites to properly lay down a challenge to Littler and Humphries, and he has the extra motivation to pick up the trophies that the dominant duo have already won.

Van Veen’s underlying numbers are ridiculously good, he can easily hit the 105+ average that Humphries and Littler post regularly which decimates most opposition players - but what stands out to me with Van Veen more than his average is how good he is on the outer ring. Over the last year, Van Veen boasts the best checkout percentage of any darts player on the tour (45.62%).

We saw the effect that winning a major had on Luke Humphries, and I think it’s given Van Veen the same confidence. He recently reached the final of the first Euro Tour of the season, losing to Littler in the final, and also has started strongly in the Premier League so I don’t think confidence is a big issue for the young Dutchman. I’m happy to take him at 12.00 to win the UK Open, I only really think Humphries and Littler can live with him at the moment - especially if Van Veen can get to the latter stages of the tournament.

You may think I'm crazy for still believing in Wessel Nijman after we’ve seen the Dutchman crumble on the big stage on a few occasions over the last year - but I think he will be able to overcome this stumbling block this year and pick up his first major.

There is no doubt over the talent of Nijman, his stats over the last year have him ranked in the top 15 players on the tour and his checkout percentage is particularly notable. Nijman has maintained a checkout percentage of 42.13% over the last year - only 10 players have a better record on the outer ring.

This record surprised me when I saw it given the issues we’ve seen Nijman have on the outer ring but his performances on the floor suggest that he is a major champion in waiting. He’s reached the final of two player championship events already this season, winning one of these events by beating Gerwyn Price in the final. On his way to winning that event, Nijman posted four 100+ averages with these all crucially coming in the latter stages of the tournament.

It’s important that Nijman starts well, his confidence is a little low on the big stage given the amount of opportunities he’s given up - but I believe in his talent, and I also don’t think you’ll be able to get 26.00 for Nijman in the majors to follow throughout the year. I also considered Chris Dobey at this price point (23.00), but Nijman just edges it for me if you’re shopping around this price.

I really hope Luke Woodhouse can put together a strong run at the UK Open this year, not only because it would be a brilliant winner, but also because he really should have a major to his name given his quality and steady improvement over the last few years.

Woodhouse really reminds me of Nathan Aspinall. I’m a big fan of players who show grit and determination, and I think Woodhouse has those traits to go deep at the UK Open this year. Woodhouse has never picked up a major trophy, but is the highest ranked player on the tour without one so you could say that he is due one and the UK Open is usually the trophy that produces an unexpected winner.

I think it’s quite harsh to have Woodhouse out at 80/1 for this tournament, he’ll be very motivated to go on a run and pick up his best major and his constant improvement means that he’s coming into this competition playing the best darts of his career.

The main barrier for Woodhouse will be raising the level of his game in those longer format matches against players that can produce 100+ averages without too much trouble. Woodhouse has to work a lot harder to reach that standard, but he is more than capable of reaching it as he showed with his run to the semi final of the European Championships in 2024.