With the Australian Darts Masters returning to Wollongong on Friday and Saturday night, it’s a special homecoming for Australian PDC star Damon Heta.
Ranked 10th in the world, he joins 7 other PDC stars and 8 qualifiers from Australia and New Zealand.
The line up includes world number 1 Luke Humphries, former world champion Gerwyn Price, and teenage sensation Luke Littler.
He’s now a PDC player, but it wasn’t that long ago Heta was part of the Australian qualifiers, bursting onto the scene at the 2019 Australian darts masters by causing a boil over and winning the event.
“Coming home, playing in front of a home crowd is massive,” Heta said
“Obviously only getting that once a year, I just relish it all the time and don’t get all the boos and the whistles
“If it wasn’t for the PDC coming over and doing the things that they’re doing, I might not be where I’m at
“I’ve just pretty much taken advantage of it and just went for it, and knowing that you can make a life playing darts, it’s like I haven’t worked a day in my life in the last five years”
Among the Australian qualifiers is former tour card holder Simon Whitlock, whom Heta won the World Cup of darts with for his country in 2022.
It means the two known as ‘The Heat’ and ‘The Wizard’ could face off.
“Yeah, it’s always a possibility isn’t it?” Heta said.
“All the qualifiers I know, I’ve got that history with them, and I’m sure that they’re probably all wanting to play one of the other (PDC) stars
“I’ve always played these players before, they probably just don’t want to draw me just for the fact they want to draw one of the other guys and see how they go against them”, but I know it’s yeah like I said it’s just one of those isn’t it?”
The Australian Darts Masters gets underway at 7pm on Friday night, with the finals from 7pm Saturday.
