The 29th PDC World Championship gets underway this evening at Alexandra Palace, London.
The Irish interest will be in the young Keane Barry of Meath, Limerick's Willie O'Connor, Steve Lennon from Carlow and the Ulster duo of Brendan Dolan and Daryl Gurney.
Gerwyn Price is favourite to retain his title heading into the competition with world number 3 Michael Van Gerwen next in line. Peter Wright sits in the number 2 slot in the order of merit, and is third favourite to win what would be his second title.
Jonny Clayton has been the form player of 2021 and that is reflected in the early outright betting. The Welshman is fourth favourite to win the tournament.
Defending champion Gerwyn Price headlines the first night of action as he faces either Ritchie Edhouse or Lihao Wen who will battle it out in the preliminary round.
Two-time champion Adrian Lewis will also be in action, facing Canada's Matt Campbell for the right to take on Anderson.
Thursday, December 16 will see the first double session, as two-time winner Anderson plays either Lewis - in a possible rematch of two previous finals - or Campbell, and Lisa Ashton meets Dutchman Ron Meulenkamp.
World No 2 Peter Wright will begin his quest for a second Ally Pally title in three years against either Ryan Meikle or 16-year-old German Fabian Schmutzler on Friday, December 17, when 67-year-old legend Paul Lim will also be in action.
Saturday, December 18 will see Michael van Gerwen start his challenge to lift the trophy for a fourth time against Chas Barstow or John Norman Jr.
Fallon Sherrock will face Steve Beaton on Sunday, December 19 as she returns to the stage where she famously became the first woman to beat a man at a World Championship two years ago.
A blockbuster Sunday evening session will also see 2021's form player Jonny Clayton in action against Meath's Keane Barry or Royden Lam.
Returning Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld will make his Alexandra Palace return on Monday, December 20 against Lourence Ilagan, before three-time semi-finalist James Wade begins his campaign.
Tuesday, December 21 will see the first round draw to a close, while 2018/19 runner-up Michael Smith and two-time quarter-finalist Dimitri Van den Bergh will be in second-round action.
Here's the draw in full:
Quarter One
- (1) Gerwyn Price v Ritchie Edhouse/Lihao Wen
- (32) Kim Huybrechts v Steve Beaton/Fallon Sherrock
- (16) Stephen Bunting v Ross Smith/Jeff Smith
- (17) Dirk van Duijvenbode v Jermaine Wattimena/Boris Koltsov
- (8) Jonny Clayton v Keane Barry/Royden Lam
- (25) Gabriel Clemens v Lewy Williams/Toyokazu Shibata
- (9) Michael Smith v Ron Meulenkamp/Lisa Ashton
- (24) Glen Durrant v Willie O'Connor/Danny Lauby
Quarter Two
- (4) James Wade v Maik Kuivenhoven/Ky Smith
- (29) Vincent van der Voort v Adam Hunt/Boris Krcmar
- (13) Joe Cullen v Ted Evetts/Jim Williams
- (20) Simon Whitlock v Martijn Kleermaker/John Michael
- (5) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Florian Hempel/Martin Schindler
- (28) Devon Petersen v Jamie Hughes/Raymond Smith
- (12) Krzysztof Ratajski v Steve Lennon/Madars Razma
- (21) Mervyn King v Ryan Joyce Roman Benecky
Quarter Three
- (2) Peter Wright v Ryan Meikle/Fabian Schmutzler
- (31) Damon Heta v Luke Woodhouse/James Wilson
- (15) Ryan Searle v William Borland/Bradley Brooks
- (18) Danny Noppert v Jason Heaver/Gordon Mathers
- (7) Jose de Sousa v Jason Lowe/Daniel Larsson
- (26) Mensur Suljovic v Alan Soutar/Diogo Portela
- (10) Nathan Aspinall v Joe Murnan/Paul Lim
- (23) Brendan Dolan v Callan Rydz/Yuki Yamada
Quarter Four
- (3) Michael van Gerwen v Chas Barstow/John Norman Jnr
- (30) Chris Dobey v Rusty-Jake Rodriguez/Ben Robb
- (14) Dave Chisnall v Darius Labanauskas/Charles Losper
- (19) Luke Humphries v Rowby-John Rodriguez/Nick Kenny
- (6) Gary Anderson v Adrian Lewis/Matt Campbell
- (27) Ian White v Scott Mitchell/Chris Landman
- (11) Rob Cross v Raymond van Barneveld/Lourence Ilagan
- (22) Daryl Gurney v Ricky Evans/Nitin Kumar
