The Form Guide: Humphries regains top spot

Luke Humphries (Taylor Lanning/PDC)

PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf assesses the top ten PDC stars - based on their last 200 legs played - following this week's Players Championship treble-header in Barnsley.

#1 Averages - Luke Humphries
#1 OChE - Luke Humphries
#1 Doubles - Jonny Clayton
#1 171-180 - Ross Smith
#1 99, 101+ Checkout - Josh Rock

Form Guide - Sept 7

The most consistent performer of the past two years has been Berkshire's Luke Humphries - his eight ProTour titles compare favourably with Michael van Gerwen's seven and Michael Smith's six. 

Despite not reaching the extreme heights of last year - when he won four European Tour titles out of seven events - Humphries again finds himself top of the Form Guide after claiming an eighth ranking title during the recent Players Championship treble-header.

Humphries has defeated 18 of his last 21 opponents on the Players Championship circuit, with only one average below 90.

Over his last 200 legs, the world number six is playing at a standard which will win him five out of eight legs, on average, against ProTour opponents.

An unexpected title for Callan Rydz was the highlight of a substantial improvement for a player who had won only two of his previous 11 matches on the Players Championship circuit. 

His averages rose by 3.55 points over the past two weeks, and his OChE rating shot up by more than six points. Where Rydz was in the bottom half of Tour Card Holders in the last Form Guide update, he is now within the top 20.

Furthermore, his 12-match winning streak between Sunday and Monday saw six of the Order of Merit's top 17 players suffer defeats. As a result, he is now a favourite to win 53% of his legs on the ProTour.

A surprise qualifier for the World Series Finals, Daniel Klose was also the shock runner-up on Tuesday, when he came within two legs of claiming his first PDC title. 

Klose has now won more matches in the past week than in the first 17 Players Championships and 10 European Tour matches of the year. 

The German newcomer occupies a crowded section of the Form Guide rankings at #35, with 20 other players within a point of him in averages, but that ranking represents an enormous leap from #80 last time. 

The 43-year-old is now just below the OChE rating of 50 which indicates neck-and-neck competition with the ProTour average; just one more win could put him over the top.

Making his debut in the Form Rankings top ten is Cameron Menzies, who managed a 115 average in a major upset of Rob Cross, before averaging less than 80 against Gerwyn Price on Tuesday.

Even this erratic form left him with a 96.13 average over his last 200 legs, and in addition to that overall scoring power, Menzies now holds the fourth-best doubles percentage among Tour Card Holders, surpassed only by TV champions James Wade, Daryl Gurney and Jonny Clayton. 

His earnings this week have placed him in a position to retain his Tour Card at the end of the year as well as qualify for the World Darts Championship - his rising statistical stature could make him an unexpected dark horse in December.

*OChE (Ordinal Checkout Efficiency) explained:
OChE is a metric designed to evaluate the efficiency at which players convert their averages into legs won.
The statistic is the % of legs a player would expect to win on the ProTour, calculated from a weighted average of 4,5, 6 & 7 visit checkout rates.

Follow Christopher on Twitter @ochepedia