Darts Fans Spot Major Issue With Dartboard During World Championship Match

A big talking point from Monday evening's session at the World Championship was the condition of the Winmau board during Connor Scutt's first-round win over Simon Whitlock.

Scutt will face Gary Anderson in the second round of this year's tournament after he recorded a 3-2 win over two-time World Championship finalist Whitlock.

Whitlock, who lost his PDC Tour Card at the end of last year, battled back from 2-0 down to force a decider.

But despite hitting a 167 finish on his way to levelling the match, the Australian narrowly missed out on a place in the next round after Scutt notched three straight legs to secure a hard-fought victory.

By the final stages of the contest, viewers were pointing out how much damage the Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core dartboard had taken, with Whitlock's aggressive points being blamed for its condition.

One fan commented on the situation, saying: "One set in and Whitlock has destroyed the board already," while another wrote: "I’m sure Winmau are absolutely delighted watching Whitlock shred an 80 quid board to pieces in about 15 minutes."

A third said: "F------ hell. Hard to imagine Simon Whitlock used to have even more aggressive points. State of that board after 18 legs."

A fourth wrote: "Nice to see Simon Whitlock’s darts are still chewing up the board. I thought those type of points had been banned?" and a fifth added: "I’d love to know how many practice boards at home Simon Whitlock goes through. Them points are tearing the board to f---."

Simon Whitlock has previously addressed 'constant' accusations of damaging dartboards

For much of his career, Whitlock used aggressive points in order to help his darts stay on the board.

But back in 2023, the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) implemented a rule that allows tournament directors to prohibit the use of aggressive dart points if they are causing excessive damage to the dartboard.

Whitlock has previously hit back at criticism over his darts.

After a Unicorn dartboard suffered significant damage in his clash against Peter Wright at the 2019 World Matchplay, the Australian responded to criticism by calling out the manufacturer.

”As for the constant blaming me publicly for damaging your dartboards, please ask your own sponsored players for their honest views” he said.

”There are many professionals who have taken to using varied points to compensate for the inconsistency in the standard and quality of the boards. I chose to amend my equipment like many other professionals, rather than moaning online and just accepting the quality of the boards.”

He added: ”I have done nothing wrong. Only try and improve my game and have less bounce outs and allow my dart to enter the board and remain in the board at the correct angle for the following dart to lay correctly. The constant singling me out is annoying and unjust."