He may have handed over the chairmanship of the PDC to his son Eddie, but Barry Hearn remains an avid follower of darts.
The legendary sports promoter is particularly interested in the future of the sport. Hearn, now in semi-retirement, has revealed he likes to scrutinise and analyse the top young players who are coming through.
And he is keeping a particularly close eye on Northern Irish youngster Josh Rock, who secured his PDC tour card earlier this year and has since won Development Tour events and reached the quarter-finals of the European Open. The 20-year-old has a high-profile supporter in Hearn, now the PDC present in an advisory capacity, who believes the youngster is a top-eight player in the making.
“I’ll pick a few young players. I don’t always know what they look like but I’ll pick up on their data, because that’s the key. You can see a star coming through that people don’t know,” Hearn told a PDC Darts Show Podcast Special.
“Look at their numbers against quality opposition and these numbers don’t lie. Now, they’ve got to stay on the right road, they’ve got to sacrifice a little bit of their youth.
“There’s one in particular that I’m watching a lot of at the moment, Josh Rock. Even when he gets beat, he’s hitting numbers that means he isn’t going to get beat very often.”
A case in point was a Players Championship victory over Adrian Lewis earlier this year when he averaged more than 112. Earning a tour card means he can now focus fully on darts, and Hearn hopes to see the youngster at the PDC majors in the second half of the year, including the World Championship at the Alexandra Palace.
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“He missed a weekend in Germany [on the European Tour] a few months ago because he couldn’t get off work apparently and I thought ‘negative Josh, negative, walk out, son, stand your ground’,” added Hearn.
“But he’s doing really well. He needs a couple of big results to get in the Matchplay, but he’s not that far away. At the moment, he’s just about qualifying for the World Grand Prix and he’s well into the World Championship. I know my numbers! He is capable and he’s beating quality players with high averages.
"He doesn’t know me, he doesn’t know the scrutiny he’s under. But I watched him in a couple of five-all games and he kicked off with a 180. Class. When you’re under the cosh, when you’re young, when those ranking pound notes mean so much, you’re really under it. If you can deliver under that type of cosh, you’re going to get better. As long as he works hard enough, that kid will be a top-eight player one day.”
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