Building on glory means the world to Van Gerwen

GLORY isn’t the only thing motivating Michael van Gerwen to win the World Darts Championship this winter — the prize money would come in handy for the Dutchman’s building project. The world No 1 travelled to Alexandra Palace as the pre-tournament favourite after a stunning year that has seen him reach the final of every major televised ranking event. But the 2014 world champion, who starts his campaign tonight against either Thanawat Gaweenuntawong or Rene Eidams, is building his own palace back home in Holland and could do with the £300,000 prize on offer for the winner. ‘I have bought some land in Holland and I am going to build my own house,’ he said. ‘It’s going to cost a lot — so I need to keep winning. ‘In Holland, you don’t talk about bedrooms. You talk about houses in square metres and it’s about 400 square metres (4,300 square feet). ‘In one and a half years the house will be ready. It’s a dream for me because everyone likes to build their own house where you can have everything you want in it. I worked really hard for it.’ At 26, Van Gerwen (right) has a bright future ahead of him. But the Dutchman maintains his hunger and desire to win despite having already won every major title in the sport. ‘I always want to win,’ he said. ‘Even though I have won trophies, I want to win 100 of them. It’s never-ending. If you are not born a winner you are never going to be a champion. If I play a game of Monopoly, I hate to lose. ‘When I am 40 I still want to play darts, but I want to make the choice where I go and not need to go everywhere. I am still young and will keep going for titles. You never know what happens in the future. Maybe they don’t even broadcast darts in 50 years’ time.’ Van Gerwen lost in the semi-final 12 months ago against eventual champion Gary Anderson, who last night began his title defence with 3-0 victory over Andy Boulton. Anderson lost just two legs and averaged 99.55 to set up a second-round match against Daryl Gurney, who earlier beat Jamie Lewis 3-1. ‘I always get nervous before I play but tonight was so much harder,’ the reigning champion said. ‘I started off well but fell off at the end. ‘I can have a nice Christmas now. Had I lost I would have had a terrible Christmas.’ Former finalist Peter Wright was also a winner on the opening night of the tournament as he swept past Keegan Brown 3-0 in a surprisingly one-sided match.