At 55 years old, Andrew Gilding continues to astonish the darts world, producing one of the finest performances of his career at the Poland Darts Open in Kraków. The Englishman, nicknamed “Goldfinger,” launched his campaign with an impressive 106.55 average—his highest ever on a European Tour stage—despite straining a muscle in his leg just before his walk-on. Gilding defeated Jeffrey de Graaf 6–3 in the opening round, later telling Tungsten Tales, “Yeah, I’m not sure where that came from. Just before I did the walk-on in the practice room, I pulled a muscle in my leg, so I was in a bit of pain. I thought, ‘Oh, it’s going to affect me a bit,’ but obviously it didn’t.”
The match began far from convincingly, with de Graaf flying out of the blocks and putting Gilding under immediate pressure. “What went through my head was that Geoffrey really played well to start with, so I don’t think I did much wrong. I thought, ‘He’s going to beat me 6–0,’ that’s what I thought,” Gilding admitted. However, no panic or drastic changes followed; he simply carried on, and as the match progressed, momentum shifted. Gilding found his rhythm, his trebles landed more consistently, and his experience told. Reflecting on his average, he said, “It must be my biggest average, I’m sure,” adding that he hadn’t seen this level coming in practice: “Not at all. Not at all. I never expect much with energy like that anyway.”
For Gilding, currently world number 31, European Tour events are hugely important right now. The prize money and ranking points are crucial for qualification for televised tournaments and majors, and he is focused on securing automatic qualification to avoid grueling qualifiers. “At the moment, they’re very important because I’m right on the cusp of qualifying for these. A couple of days ago, I had to enter a qualifier for these and didn’t have any luck. This win today has definitely improved my chances,” he explained. His goal for the season is clear: “The aim for me this year is just to get into the qualification spots for these Euros. That’s where the money is and that’s how you get onto the TV tournaments.” When asked if he could win another big TV title, his answer was brief and emphatic: “If I keep that up, yeah.”
Gilding, a self-described late bloomer, spoke candidly about his motivation. “No, I misspent years. There’s a lot to do with it. I haven’t really saved any money, so I have to do it now,” he said. When asked how many European Tour wins it would take to buy the bungalow next door, he replied, “What is it now, £35,000 to the winner? Probably about ten wins,” adding that he probably wouldn’t have done it anyway and would “probably put it in a pension or something.” Off the oche, he praised the Kraków atmosphere: “The atmosphere is fantastic. The noise, like I said on stage, when I was backstage, I couldn’t believe it. Then when I came out, there were that many people in the crowd making all that noise. That’s Kraków, I think it’s a beautiful city. Amazing buildings, the scenery and the snow. I love the snow.” He also noted receiving noticeable support from the crowd and kept his culinary adventures simple: “No, I had a Chinese last night. But there were some Chinese dumplings, so that’s fairly Polish!”
