More than ten years ago, he already missed seven match darts against Martin Adams to reach the quarter-finals. Jeffrey Sparidaans (32) from Tilburg never got any further than that at the Dutch Open Darts in Assen. Until last year’s edition, of course!
That Sunday evening, the likeable Brabander stood on the stage at De Bonte Wever holding the trophy! How does he look back on that February weekend? We spoke last week with the reigning Dutch Open Darts champion.
Hi Jeffrey! How are you doing?
“Hello! All good here in Tilburg. I’ve had a really great start to January, because I regained my Tour Card at Qualifying School in Germany! I had lost it the year before. Now I can compete on the PDC circuit again, which of course is a dream for anyone who plays darts!”
Congratulations! How did Q-School go for you?
“Yeah, it went really well. I qualified for the Final Stage fairly quickly. On the first day of that, Thursday, I reached the semi-finals. I still missed four doubles for the Tour Card there… But on the second day my form was still good, and then I secured the card directly! An amazing feeling!”
As you said, you’ve played on the PDC circuit before. What was that like?
“Amazing, of course, but the first year is pretty nerve-racking. I had never experienced anything like playing among the professionals. You first need to gain experience, and only then do you really understand how it works. In the second year, results had to come, but that didn’t quite happen yet. Still, I did play twice on the Euro Tour and on the main stage of the UK Open. That’s all valuable experience. I hope things will click from the very first weeks this year!”
How are you going to approach that?
“I’m going to focus very seriously on my matches over the next two years. It also helps that everything is very well arranged with my job. I’m a landscaper, and last week I walked into work in the morning and suddenly all my colleagues were in the canteen applauding and had a surprise for me. They give me all the freedom I need to throw darts. I’ve written down all the dates when I have tournaments, and that will work out. So I’m going for it! And of course I hope to qualify for the PDC World Championship one day!”
Your PDC adventure does mean that you won’t be able to defend your Dutch Open Darts title in two weeks’ time. How do you look back on last year?
“It’s my greatest achievement so far, my best title—absolutely! I went there without any expectations. We stayed with a fun group of 24 people at a holiday park. And then suddenly on Sunday I was holding the trophy! Saturday was a very long and tough day, though. I played my first match at 10:00 in the morning and only qualified for Sunday at 8:30 in the evening.”
And how did finals day go?
“When it started, I still thought: ‘This isn’t going to be my day.’ In the very first leg I missed loads of doubles. In the second match I had six match darts against me and was almost knocked out. From that moment on, everything suddenly went great! After a tough match against Daniel Zapata, I was on the stage. Amazing! I had never gone that far at the Dutch Open Darts before. A long time ago I did reach the last sixteen once against Martin Adams, but back then I missed seven match darts myself. This time, I did make it to the stage! And once I was there, everything just flowed, and all three matches went my way. Thirteen matches in a row won—absolutely brilliant!”
What was the secret behind your title?
“I think my experience. The two years at the PDC and playing on big stages like the Euro Tour and the UK Open really helped me. But also just having fun and enjoying the weekend!”
What’s coming up next?
“Lots of darts! The PDC season will be starting soon. Together with Jimmy van Schie (from Breda) and manager Frank van Creij (from Rosmalen), we’ll be travelling to the tournaments. At the end of January I have my first event: a qualification tournament for the World Masters. And then we’ll get back to the floor tournaments!”
Want to rewatch Jeffrey’s final from last year? You can find the broadcast of the 2025 Dutch Open Darts via this link.
Picture: Bas van den Berk
