World Darts Championship 2014: Raymond van Barneveld hits the ground running as he sees off Rowby-John Rodriguez in style

'Barney' finished the match with a 150 bullseye checkout and believes not wearing his normal glasses paid off

Raymond van Barneveld hit his best form to beat Rowby-John Rodriguez (Getty Images)

Raymond van Barneveld eased into the second round of the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace on Monday after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Rowby-John Rodriguez.

Van Barneveld took a 1-0 lead against the 20-year-old Austrian, who then stuttered in the second set to be on the wrong end of a 3-1 leg deficit as the 2007 champion eased to a 2-0 lead.

It meant the 47-year-old just needed one more set for victory and he quickly moved two legs in front with an average of 129 before taking the set in style with a bullseye finish off a 150 checkout.

Van Barneveld played the match without his usual glasses and admitted it helped his game.

"I tried to play tournaments with the glasses and I never felt comfortable," the Dutchman told Sky Sports Darts.

"The view is fantastic because it gives you HD view, but tonight, 167, 170 without glasses - what can you say? I'm really happy now.

"Don't get me wrong, the first round is always hard. You want to win before Christmas. You go back (home) tomorrow and unwind with family and want to celebrate Christmas and you're not happy if you go out of the tournament and it's happened to a couple of us.

"I'm really happy, not with the first set but I played well after that. Brave finishes and this crowd is amazing."

Michael Smith battled back from a set down to see off Mensur Suljovic (Getty Images)

Earlier, Jamie Craven defeated Jason Hogg 3-2 in the first match of the night, sealing victory with a 12-dart leg.

Craven was rewarded for his victory with a second-round match against Van Barneveld.

Dolan progressed to the second round as he beat South African Arendse (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Michael Smith recovered to beat Mensur Suljovic 3-1 and will now face Brendan Dolan, who defeated Nolan Arendse 3-0 in the night's other match.

Results:

1st rd: Jamie Caven (Eng) bt Jason Hogg (Sco) 3-2

Preliminary rd: Nolan Arendse (Rsa) bt Alex Hon (Hkg) 4-0

1st rd: Michael Smith (Eng) bt Mensur Suljovic (Aut) 3-1

1st rd: Raymond van Barneveld (Ned) bt Rowby-John Rodriguez (Aut) 3-0

1st rd: Brendan Dolan (NIr) bt Nolan Arendse (Rsa) 3-0

PA