Michael Smith set for £650k battle after emotional darts comeback | Other | Sport
Following Thursday’s conclusion of the PDC Pro Tour season, the Robin Park Leisure Centre hosted the Grand Slam of Darts Tour Card Holder Qualifier, where 104 competitors battled for eight places in the £650,000 tournament.
Having received a bye through to the last 64, Smith comfortably dispatched Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 5-1 before facing Jose De Sousa, frequently a challenging opponent for the former world champion.
Smith demonstrated his quality to narrowly defeat De Sousa 5-4, setting up a Grand Slam deciding match against Poland’s number one, Ratajski. The St Helens player ultimately prevailed 5-3 against Ratajski, ending an eight-month absence from television since his UK Open quarter-final defeat to Jonny Clayton.
Supporters expressed their delight at Smith securing his Grand Slam place. Responding to the PDC’s announcement on X confirming Smith’s participation in the Wolverhampton event, one supporter commented: “Delighted for him.”
Another commented: “Tears in my eyes.” A third said: “Happy for him, would be a shame if he were to just vanish after playing phenomenal darts for multiple years!”
A fourth wrote: “Bully Boy! Yes!” Another admitted: “Today will be the day you look back at when he’s back in the top ten in two years, I bet absolutely huge for him.”
Reflecting on a difficult campaign, Smith believed his second-round defeat to Kevin Doets at the 2025 World Championship denied him a Premier League spot, triggering a downward spiral in form.
“I think it shows in darts, it doesn’t matter where you’re ranked – if you’re playing well you’re going to get invited to things and do everything,” Smith told the Weekly Dartscast.
“I think if I would have beat Doets that year, I thought I would have been in the Premier League, especially because I’d been in every major, made a semi-final that year, had a final as well. Just because I had one bad game, now no one even remembers my name.”
Smith lifted the World Championship trophy in 2023 following his victory over Michael van Gerwen in the showpiece. Since that triumph, silverware has proved elusive.
Yet ‘Bully Boy’ insists his competitive drive has returned. He continued: “I just need to get that hunger back, which the last two months it’s started to come back a bit.
“Sadly, it didn’t come back at the start of the year, but it’s started to come back now. You can see my averages going up again around 95, 96, which means I’m about five points off competing properly, 10 points from winning.
“It doesn’t sound much, but it does over big long formats. A couple more hours on the board, another injection in December on my wrist and shoulder – and I’ll be like, Tin, man, then going into the Worlds. I’ll be nice and loose and concentrate on having a good 2026.”
Smith will be joined by Ricky Evans, Luke Woodhouse, Connor Scutt, Wessel Nijman, Danny Noppert, Karel Sedlacek and Lukas Wenig, who have all secured their spots at the Grand Slam. However, Peter Wright, Raymond van Barneveld, Jermaine Wattimena, Ryan Joyce and Ross Smith are amongst the high-profile names who will be absent.
The 2022 Grand Slam champion has competed at the tournament on 10 previous occasions, making his debut 12 years ago. Smith has progressed beyond the group stages on all but three attempts.
