AFTER years of resisting, Scott Mitchell finally took the plunge and joined the PDC circuit last year.

And he proved any doubters wrong, more than holding his own among the sport's elite, comfortably qualifying for the year-end showpiece - the World Championship at Alexandra Palace.

Optimism was rife heading to north London that the Dorset ace could make a winning debut on the big stage, but he crashed to a 3-0 loss to unfancied Dutchman Chris Landman, missing a host of doubles along the way.

Now, little under three months on, Mitchell is set for his first taste of a PDC major since that crushing loss, when he heads to the UK Open in Minehead, a 158-player tournament televised on ITV4.

Bournemouth Echo:

The Bransgore thrower will kick-off his challenge in round two on Friday afternoon, against either Liam Meek or Danny Jansen, before a potential third-round tie with Ricky Evans.

Asked if he feels he has a bit of a point to prove in his first big event since the worlds, Mitchell told the Daily Echo: "Yeah, of course. I went to the Players Championship Finals and got the big draw of Jonny Clayton on the TV and messed that up (losing 6-0) in November.

"That was probably on my mind a little bit going to Ally Pally and I messed it up again. So, this time round, I’m just hoping it’s going to be third time lucky and we get going and get off the mark and away we go."

Following his World Championship exit, Mitchell decided he needed to make some changes.

"I’ve got new darts since Ally Pally," explained the 51-year-old.

"We changed a few things and then went to the first Pro Tours and didn’t win a game and that was pretty tough to take. I was doing 95, 96 averages and not winning.

"But then the second Pro Tours went really well and I won three games, so that was really good and put a few quid on the rankings. That’s sort of set me up really.

"I feel more confident with the darts and I actually did a 100 average in one of the games and won, so that was good.

"It showed that the new darts are going in the right direction. Sometimes it can take a while to get it right. But they seemed to go in the right direction pretty quickly, so I’m pleased with that."

Bournemouth Echo:

Reflecting back on the time between his loss to Landman and the 2022 season getting underway, Mitchell said: "I can’t explain to you what a difficult time it was after Ally Pally, really, mentally. Mentally just destroyed myself. I couldn’t believe that that had happened. That’s something you don’t get over in two minutes.

"One of the ways I got over it actually, I went away to QPR to watch Bournemouth. We went up to London for the day, with a bunch of guys who didn’t know me, except one. And we had a really good time.

"A couple of them were chatting to me and didn’t know a lot about darts. It was just a great thing to do, to get away from darts and darts people and do something different.

Bournemouth Echo:

"To be in the crowd with the AFCB fans for what was an absolutely magic game and a big win away at QPR. You come back and go, 'do you know what, I’ve got to get my head around this'.

"So I spoke to my mind coach again and have done a few things with him and we’re talking 6-5s now. I think had I not done all these things I’d be talking 6-1s and 6-0s. We’re heading in the right direction.

"And then in the second bunch of tour events I’ve won two or three games."

The 'mind coach' Mitchell refers to is Stephen McKibben, who he has called upon many times throughout his career.

Asked what he has helped him with recently, Scotty Dog revealed: "It’s just trying to help me get over the disappointment.

"It (the worlds) was a big thing and the bookies had me as red-hot favourite and nobody could see me losing that (Landman) game.

"Sometimes all those things get to you and stop you. I know it sounds plainly obvious but we’ve worked on trying to get rid of the negative thoughts.

"Being the favourite, you’ve got to go to the board never thinking you’re the favourite and we’re trying to go backwards so we can go forwards again, with no over-confidence within a game.

"I don’t know how he does it and how he gets it out of me, but here we are a month later from when we got together after Christmas and we’re starting to fall into place."

Bournemouth Echo:

Mitchell has just got back from a weekend exhibition event with a host of top darting stars in Germany.

During his time away, the 2015 Lakeside winner recorded victories over the likes of Glen Durrant, Darryl Fitton and even 16-time world champion Phil Taylor.

"It was only a little, short format, but at the moment when you’re looking for confidence and looking for something to give you a bit of a boost, then it’s all good," said Mitchell, reflecting on his win over the Power.

"I had a big exhibition in Germany last weekend and Phil Taylor was one of the guys that was there. He said ‘when you’re throwing well Scotty, your style and everything just looks like it cannot go wrong’. But he said ‘when you’re throwing badly, for some reason, you don’t ever look like getting it back’.

"I’ve gone to my mind coach already since we’ve been home and said, ‘Phil said this’.

"It’s lovely people notice what you’re doing and so when it’s people like Phil Taylor, you know you’re doing something in the right place at the right time and he’s noticing. I’ve got to bounce off of these lovely comments really."