World Grand Prix 2025 Predictions: Can Cool Hand return to form?

One of the premier darting events of the season takes place this week, with the unique double in, double out format of the World Grand Prix continuing to attract viewers. 

Our darts expert Sean Rafferty gives us his World Grand Prix 2025 predictions - comprising three selections in the outright market, as well as some picks in the to win the quarter markets. 

History, Location and Format

The World Grand Prix 2025 is the twenty-eighth running of this PDC event, having been first held in 1998 and is the only major tournament that uses the unique double in, double out format.

The tournament will again be held at the Leicester Arena, with this year's event running from Monday 6th to Sunday 12th October and will be shown on Sky Sports in the UK.

The World Grand Prix has multiple former winners including Phil Taylor (11 times), Michael van Gerwen (six) and James Wade (two).

The defending champion is Belgian Mike De Decker, who defeated Luke Humphries 6-4 in the 2024 final.

Prize Money

There is a prize fund of £600,000 on offer to the 32 participants, who are made up of the top 16 in the PDC order of merit and the top 16 in the Pro Tour Order of Merit.

3 units Luke Humphries to win @ 11/2

I saw enough from Humphries this week at the midweek action on the Pro Tour in Leicester to confirm him as my main outright pick - Luke posted four averages of 103+ and will be happy enough with how he performed across the three days.

This tournament is where it all started for Humphries in terms of establishing himself at the very top of the game - he won this event in 2023 and subsequently went on to win the Grand Slam, Players Championship Finals and of course the World Championship in the months that followed. He put up a solid defence of his title last year, where he just came up short against Mike De Decker in the final, with a 6-4 loss in sets.

A comment that really caught my attention from Cool Hand recently was in a post-match interview at a Euro Tour event - he spoke about recently tweaking his throwing action, saying he follows through more after the release of the dart now and he spoke very positively about it and how great he’s feeling as a result, I felt it was something to note down ahead of the coming months, as any little edge these elite players can find could make all the difference.

The draw could have been kinder in the opening round, as he faces 2022 finalist and multiple major winner Nathan Aspinall. I’m sure it’s a challenge that won’t phase the World number one though, considering he’s won 10 of his last 12 meetings against The Asp. The potential last 16 tie looks easier against Ratajski or Schindler so I fully expect him to go on a run if he comes through his opening match which is a more cutthroat format, being only best of three sets. 11/2 for a player who has made the final here the past two years and sits top of the tree in the rankings is all too big if you ask me.

1 unit Gian Van Veen each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 25/1

1 unit Gian Van Veen to win Quarter 3 @ 17/2

Where on earth do you start with this quarter of the draw? There’s bags of talent, World Champions and dangerous dark horses everywhere you look - Littler, Van Veen, Wright, De Decker, Price, Searle, Rock and Joyce make up Quarter 3 and with the possible exception of Peter Wright who despite all his success is really struggling for any form, you wouldn’t confidently rule out any of them from having a big say in how this section will play out.

Despite having arguably the toughest tie you could have asked for opening round, Gian Van Veen is screaming out at me this week. For me, this young lad has everything you’d look for in a darts player - heavy scorer, outstanding doubles, a brilliant temperament and carries himself exquisitely off the oche, speaking with wisdom and experience beyond his years every time he’s interviewed.

He’s had some rotten luck in terms of the draws he’s had or how well his opponents have performed against him, that doesn’t look to have changed here as he faces the daunting task of trying to topple the current World Champion, Luke Littler in the opening round. It’s a task that Gian will fully believe he can accomplish though, given his recent successes over the 18 year-old - GVV has won all of their last three meetings, which have all come on either the European Tour or Pro Tour. If he comes through that, a far more manageable match against the winner of De Decker and Wright awaits, which would be a real opportunity to find his feet in the event, having went out opening round to Ross Smith on debut last year.

Going back to his brilliant doubles, Van Veen is statistically the most efficient doubles hitter in the world in 2025, nailing a staggering 46.65% of his targets on the outer-ring this year. It’s hard to imagine this double-in format not suiting him and looks one of the most likely events for him to makes his real breakthrough in. He’s only 25/1 due to his first round opponent, if he can pull off the mini upset there then they odds will capitulate, I’m willing to take the gamble on the young Dutchman now.

1 unit Jonny Clayton each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 25/1

I feel like I’ve been willing to back Jonny off a cliff this year in all honestly, I’ve been an avid backer of the little Welshman but to not much avail so far. However, I do feel like that next major win could just be round the corner for Jonny, considering the way he’s performed almost all year. He’s climbed all the way up to 6th in the world rankings as a result of his consistently good performances across all tours in 2025. If he’s to push his way into next year’s Premier League line-up though, I still think he may have to add a title of this calibre.

He comes back to an event where he has tasted success in the past, winning this title back in 2021 when he seen off his good mate Gerwyn Price in the final. Outside of that win, it’s been a relatively mixed bag from Jonny at this event, making only one QF in six other appearances. But I wouldn’t say his form has been as strong as it is this year many times - The Ferret also sits 4th in the world for checkout percentage this year, at 43.45%. Much like my other selection Van Veen, if Jonny is firing on the D16/D8 area of the board at the start and finish of legs then he’s a formidable opponent for anybody this week.

Another bonus is the quarter of the draw Clayton sits in, it’s a relatively open one with Van Gerwen being the obvious main threat, but despite his mini-resurgence recently, I still think doubles are a regular downfall for MVG and if that is who Clayton faces in the quarters, I fancy Jonny to come through it. My only slight concern with the draw is Clayton’s record against his first round opponent Andrew Gilding - incredibly, Gilding has won their last six meetings which definitely took me by surprise. I’m willing to write that off though and do think Jonny’s scoring power could be too much for anyone else in this section, doubling-in is likely to be the key factor. With all that being said, 25/1 is another price on Clayton that I find all too tempting to ignore.

1 unit Wessel Nijman to win Quarter 1 @ 7/1

I couldn’t resist some sort of punt on yet another exciting young Dutch talent in the form of Wessel Nijman, after bagging himself another Players Championship title in Leicester on Thursday. It came as a bit of a surprise that that was his first final this year, having been a constant threat and regularly posting impressive numbers all year. He really did play some quality stuff on the Pro Tour, winning 15 of his 17 matches and producing averages of 98+ in 12 of those.

The next step for Wessel without doubt is making a real impact on a major event - to date, Nijman has never went beyond the third round of a major, which has been the UK Open on two occasions. It’s hard to believe this is his debut in this event, given the impact he’s already had over the last 18 months. He sits 11th in the world for doubles this year at 42%. He faces an out-of-form Rob Cross opening round, if he wins that and builds further confidence then I think he’ll be tricky for anybody in his quarter to put away. A real danger man this week.

1.5 units James Wade to win Quarter 2 @ 11/2

Despite a surprisingly poor record here over the past ten years, I just couldn’t leave Wade out altogether. James had a cracking record here in his earlier years, winning the event in 2007 and 2010, as well as making a further final in 2014. Since then though, he’s made just one QF in ten appearances, exiting at the first round stage on seven of those occasions. That QF did come last year though and a very efficient 2025 so far for James, makes me think he could go well here again. After all, he sits 6th in the world for doubles percentage this year so the format really should be suiting him. Climbing all the way back up to 5th in the world rankings, now pushing the top four, tells you how consistent he’s been recently.

He faces the massively inconsistent Joe Cullen in the opening round, who hasn’t enjoyed much success in the televised events for a considerable length of time now. 8/9 times out of 10 I’d expect Wadey to come out on top in that one just now and I’d fancy him to topple Anderson or Van Barneveld in the last 16. He’s made the finals of both the UK Open and World Matchplay this year, I wouldn’t rule out a third for The Machine in Leicester.

1 unit Niko Springer to win Quarter 2 @ 10/1

This is without doubt one of the most open quarters of the draw, with nobody massively standing out. So I thought I’d have a stab at someone with longer odds too, Springer was an easy selection to be that player. Niko qualified for this from nowhere really, thanks to a quite brilliant run to win the Czech Darts Open. You certainly can’t accuse him of swerving the big guns on route to that title - the young German saw off Van Veen, Heta, Cross, Humphries, Rock and Noppert to complete an astonishing string of results. Not to forget that he already made a European Tour final earlier in the year too, losing out 8-6 to Jonny Clayton in the final.

Albeit he’s still in the very early stages of his career, Springer to me looks to be shaping up to be a player who produces his best stuff at the big events in-front of the big crowds. When you compare his Euro Tour form to his Pro Tour form, it certainly indicates that’s looking like it could be the case. He’s got a tricky opener against Bunting, but he’s already defeated The Bullet twice in the space of the last few months. If he comes through that, I make him favourite against one of Noppert and Wattimena which would see him one win away from winning the quarter. 10/1 is great value for Meenzer Bub to shine on debut here.

0.5 units Ryan Joyce to win Quarter 3 @ 28/1

As I’ve already touched on, this truly is the “quarter of death” for want of a better term. I’d make Joyce the dark horse to come through it though, or certainly threaten to. That’s exactly what he did here last year, as he pulled off an upset against Josh Rock in the opening round, who he opens his Grand Prix campaign against again this week. He kicked on after that win and went all the way to the semi-finals, defeating Aspinall and Cross along the way, before walking into a monstrous performance from Humphries.

This time round it looks an even bigger challenge to make the semis, as his likely route would be Rock, Price then one of Littler or Van Veen. It’s a massive ask, but at odds of 28/1 I think we can justify having a little flutter on Relentless to pull off an incredible run. After all, he’s been one of the best double hitters on tour for several years now, this format evidently suits him so I think he’ll come here with some confidence despite his form not setting the world alight recently.

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