SCOTT Mitchell admits "I’m going to have to dig on all my experience" if he is to book a third-round showdown with Ricky Evans at the UK Open tomorrow.

Mitchell is set to enter the competition at Butlin's Minehead in the second round stage, against either teenager Danny Jansen, or 24-year-old Liam Meek.

Both are on their first years on the PDC circuit.

The draw for the third round has also already taken place, with whoever progresses from those three set to face world number 39 Evans.

Jansen has already made early waves on the tour, beating 2022 World Championship finalist Michael Smith 6-2 with a 106 average last month.

 

Discussing his second-round match, Mitchell told the Daily Echo: "You’re talking about two of the lesser guys, without being rude, they’re two of the new guys to the scene and that’s what they’re doing.

"To be a tour pro and keep your card for an amount of time now, you’re going to have to throw some good stuff.

"These young guys are coming in and there’s money to be made. They’re looking to make careers of it and fair play to them. They’re doing the averages and showing everybody they can do it.

"So I’m going to have to dig on all my experience to try and make sure that we can get over the line.

"Liam has beaten me for fun. So maybe I can turn the tables on him, the same as happened to me at Ally Pally, if he wins his game."

Like Mitchell, Jansen comes from a farming family, back in his native Holland.

"I have yet to meet him," said Scotty Dog.

"It would be lovely, we’d probably chat farming more than we’d chat darts!"

Mitchell enjoyed a good run at the UK Open last year, beating Lewis Williams and Andrew Gilding, before pushing Michael van Gerwen all the way, only to fall to a 10-8 loss in round four.

"Obviously it was very different last year, it was all behind closed doors," said Mitchell.

"I’m just looking forward to it. You come over to the PDC and want to be part of the TV tournaments and the UK Open is the first one of the year.

"Last year I had a really good run and good start and I think I bounced off that for the rest of the year. I’ll be hoping I can do the same, get a few games under my belt and get myself up the rankings a little bit, because there’s that importance as well because all the money you win goes on your rankings.

"That would be nice to pick up a couple of wins if I could to get the ball rolling to be where I need to be to get to the top 64.

"I’ve crept up inside the top 70, I think I dropped over the weekend to 69. The golden ticket is being in that top 64 come January when it’s all evaluated again, because I don’t really want to go back to Q School again.

"So it’s a case of stringing a few together now, but the 128 is the best it’s ever been. It’s better this year than it was last year. The pundits keep saying that."

Should Mitchell get past either Meek or Jansen, a meeting with Evans would await. The 31-year-old is nicknamed 'Rapid', due to his fast throwing style.

He once recorded a 180 in just 2.16seconds during a World Championship match against Smith in 2016.

"We’ve only played each other once and he wore my eyes out just watching him! He was so fast," said Mitchell.

"He’s a good friend, he’s a good friend of my daughter’s as well.

"We know him well and we get on well. There’s no animosity between us or anything like that.

"It’s a difference of styles and ages."

He added: "The way the UK Open works, you don’t get any money until you get to round three.

"So it’s a big game to have first off, straight in at round two, but of course you’re playing guys who have already had a game, so they’re warm.

"You’ve just got to not think about that, find something, get up there and just play the board and do your stuff."

The UK Open will be televised on ITV4, beginning at 11.45am.