When Beau Greaves was 12 years old, darts superstar Michael van Gerwen already suspected that one day she would become the best player in the world. It’s a sensation that it’s a reality just six years later. The now 18-year-old is eliminated in the first round of the 2023 World Darts Championship, but she still makes history.
“If you continue to play so well, you can play with us someday”. These are the words of Michael van Gerwen when he throws a few darts against a 12-year-old for a TV report on “BBC” in 2016. The young darts talent is Beau Greaves. On Friday evening, just six and a half years after meeting van Gerwen, 18-year-old Beau Greaves played with the big players for the first time. World Cup at London’s Alexandra Palace. In front of 3,000 spectators.
Greaves is only the seventh woman to compete in the highlight of the year in the tournament’s 30-year history. In the middle of this year she had made no move at all to even try to qualify.
The reason goes back two years. In October 2020, Greaves played for the first time in the Women’s Series of the professional darts organization PDC. Greaves had just reached minimum age. At 16, she competed against the best players in the world. And that very successfully. In the first tournament she reached the quarterfinals.
But that should remain the only highlight at the PDC tournaments for Greaves for the time being. Suddenly, the so-called dartitis broke out in the young hope. Quite a few players suffer from the mental condition during their career that makes it difficult for them to let go of the dart at the right moment. Some get back into their normal rhythm quickly, others have had problems for years and never find their way back to their top level. In October 2020, it also hit Greaves, who had to learn how to play darts from one moment to the next, so to speak.
“I tried a lot and it didn’t work. At that point I made friends with leaving darts behind me,” Greaves recently told the “Welt am Sonntag”. The decision to try the darts career again was finally made because of the death of a family member. “He had always said that I should never stop.”
After a long ordeal, Greaves finally came back with a bang in January of this year. At the Women’s World Championship of the WDF, that is the amateur darts association, the Englishwoman won the title.
The dartitis has mostly got her under control since then. But in coordination with her family, the 18-year-old decided to take it easy and not to take part in the PDC tournaments for the time being. In the Women’s Series, she did not participate in the first 12 events. Greaves didn’t seem to want to rush anything.
But then came a change of heart. Greaves registered for the last eight tournaments of the Women’s Series this year in order to gain playing experience at the highest level. Her record has been spotless ever since. 52 wins in a row, eight tournament wins in eight participations. In the final count, Greaves even ousted Fallon Sherrock from second place, although the “Queen of the Palace” had participated in twice as many tournaments.
Her reward was participation in the Darts World Cup in 2023. Just as Michael van Gerwen had announced six years earlier. Greaves lost 3-0 sets against experienced Irishman William O’Connor on Friday evening. But the hearts of the fans and experts still flew to her on this second World Cup evening. Greaves is already being called the best player in the world. Even defeat doesn’t change that. Especially since the young Englishwoman can keep up with the 36-year-old O’Connor in two of the three sets and twice throws just millimeters away from winning the set.
O’Connor himself does not save after his victory with praise for the 18-year-old. “Beau was brilliant. She has a great future. I hope I don’t have to play her for a long time.”
Your opponents in the Women’s Series might feel the same way. If Beau Greaves plays along, she is as good as unrivaled. This year’s World Cup will not be their last.