Austrian Darts Open 2026 Predictions: Three to grab a title in Graz

The European Tour is back this weekend in Austria, with all 48 players looking to grab another ranking title on the continent. 

Of course, our resident darts tipster Sean Rafferty is back on board and here are his Austrian Darts Open Betting Tips...

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History, Location and Format

The 2026 Austrian Darts Open is the sixth of fifteen events on the PDC European Tour this season.

The event is once again being held at the Stadthalle Graz in Graz, Austria and runs from Friday, May 8th to Sunday, May 10th. It will be aired on PDC and Viaplay in the UK.

The 48 strong field features all the top 16 in the world, the next 16 from the Pro Tour order of merit and 16 regional qualifiers.

The defending champion is German Martin Schindler, who defeated Ross Smith 8-4 in the 2025 final.

Prize Money

There is a prize fund of £230,000 on offer to the 48 participants, with £35,000 going to the winner.

1 units Ross Smith each-way @ 16/1

Smith has done everything bar win one of these really - he’s made four finals in the last 28 European Tour events he’s played. The most recent of those was at the European Darts Grand Prix a few weeks ago - Ross was edged out 8-6 in the final by Gerwyn Price, but managed to weave his way that far despite averaging below 97 in four of his five matches that weekend, proving that he can go deep with his B or C game in these somewhat depleted fields.

Smudger will face a tricky tie against one of James Hurrell or Niels Zonneveld as a seeded player in the second round, if he wins that then the draw starts to open up more - Martin Schindler would be his most likely opponent in the last 16, who’s form has looked bang average recently. Van Veen is the top seed here but hasn’t shown nearly enough form this year to suggest he’s definitely going deep into this event. The remaining players left in this quarter haven’t shown the same form as Smith this year.

Ross has had plenty of joy here in recent years, making the final last year where he finished runner-up to Martin Schindler and also made the semi-finals in 2024. He’ll be eyeing up a similar run in Graz this weekend as he looks to continue his solid run of form in 2026.

1 units Danny Noppert each-way @ 16/1

Noppert is in a very similar boat to Ross Smith in terms of his record on the European Tour - he’s made four finals since 2022, with two of those coming in the last eight events he’s played on this tour. The most recent was the German Darts Grand Prix last month, falling short against Nathan Aspinall in the final. It was very plain sailing for Danny in the lead-up to that final though, dropping just five legs in total between the last 16 and semi-finals. He’s maintained a solid level since then, reaching the semi-finals of a Pro Tour event at the start of the week in Hildesheim.

The first couple of rounds look very inviting for Noppie - as a seeded player, he’ll face Raymond Van Barneveld or Alan Soutar in the second round, followed by a last 16 encounter against one of Reyes, Heta or Chisnall. So I’d expect the Dutchman to reach the quarter-finals, with a potential all-Dutch battle against Wessel Nijman in the quarters, which would arguably be his biggest test en route to the title.

He made the final here in 2022 so has some good memories to fall back on. I’m guessing he’s spent the last few days having some quality time with family and friends back in the Netherlands, with it being a short trip from Germany and Austria. That may be the ideal preparation to see him have another big run here. With the lack of events won, the each-way option is advised at odds of 16/1.

0.5 units Luke Woodhouse each-way @ 33/1

Woodhouse once again suffered heartache in a PDC final, as he faced off with Kevin Doets in the final of a Pro Tour event at the start of the week, with the winner clinching their maiden PDC title. Unfortunately, Luke was indeed on the losing end as he lost out 8-5 to the in-form Dutchman. I’m hoping he can take the positives from that as it’s the third final he’s made since September last year, so you have to feel the win will come eventually.

We already know he’s in good shape heading to Graz and hopefully he’ll take that confidence and put it to good use in a wide open field - it’s a bizarre quarter of the draw where you could actually argue that Woodhouse and Doets are favourites to come through it. A lot of the other seeds are either out of form are don’t boast a great record in Euro Tour events. Woody likely faces Joe Cullen in the second round who without doubt has more bad days than good on the oche of late, followed by a potential last 16 match against James Wade, who’s failed to make a quarter-final in his last six European Tour events, despite being a seed.

When you compare it to some of the other outright odds, Woody looks the best value in this half of the draw, with the 33/1 on offer making it an easy choice to back him each-way.

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