Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wales
Last weekend was the 2 Welsh Tournaments. I hadn't really put any decent practise in. Despite planning to get some in the 3 weeks before the tournaments, something always seemed to get in the way. So I went not expecting miracles.
On the Saturday was the Players Championship tournament. In the 1st Round I faced Jimmy Dunlop. Despite my lack of any form whatsoever, I started off ok, winning the first set comfortably 2-0. I took the 1st leg of the 2nd set, but then as often happens my mind started to wonder on to other things, thinking the job was done. Kenny took the next leg, and this seemed to wake him up a bit as he took the next leg to win the set, then also won the 3rd set 2-1. I was in big trouble, and had to hold my throw at 1-1 in the next set. Despite giving him chances, I managed to take it to force a deciding set. This was pretty comfortable and I played much better, and won the set 2-0 to win the match 3-2. In the 2nd Round I played John Quantock. I played him in Hayling Island, and I was very poor and he beat me 3-0. I knew I'd be in for a tough game, but also knew if I played my best I would be ok. He started off well with the throw, and went 1-0 up. I needed a 132 finish in the next leg to level the set up, but then wasted this in the next leg and lost the first set. I played better in the second set, winning it 2-0, but then lost the 3rd set 2-0. We were 1-1 in the 4th, and I missed 2 darts at doubles to level the match, and he then took his double out. While I was no where near my best at all, I still got to plenty of double in both matches. But I was missing plenty, and I was missing Double 10 by a long way, which started to play on my mind.
On Sunday it was the first UK Open Regional. The first round was against Steve Evans (not the ex-Boston manager!). I was expecting a really tough one here, as he's a decent player who beat Ray Barneveld in his first ever PDC tournament! He won the bull, and started off well. But I started well too, and took 117 out in the first leg. The second leg I took 120 out, and in the 3rd and 4th I cruised through, playing as well as I have since I beat Roland Scholten. I had 1 bad leg to let him make it 4-1, but as the doubts started to creep into my head, I managed to close the game out in the next leg to win 5-1. I was very happy with the way I played here, and while his game deteriorated once I won the third leg, this was partly due to how well I was playing. In the 2nd Round I played Kevin McDine. Kevin is shooting up the rankings, and despite being the lower end of the ranked seeds at the moment, it was not a great draw at all. Again I lost the bull up (for the 4th time in the weekend!), and I lost the first leg easily. I played much better in the 2nd, and levelled up at 1-1. He just nicked a good close 3rd leg, and in the 4th I had chances at doubles but couldn't take them. After this I lost my way a little, and he made it 4-1. I again missed doubles in the 6th and he took the match. While this is my recollection of the game, the PDC website says it was 5-2, so I must have won another leg in there somewhere!!
To top the whole weekend off, my girlfriend managed to park the car in a Multi-Story car park on the Saturday morning, that she thought was 24 hours. However when we went back to the car, it was shut at 7pm on Saturday evening, and wasn't open again until 7:30am on Monday! Despite asking the council to open it for us, we couldn't get it out and had to spend an extra night in Newport.
These were the first tournaments in a busy period until the end of the year. The diary is as follows:
Sunday 30th September - Grand Slam of Darts Wildcard Qualifier - Aldersey Leisure Village, Wolverhampton
Saturday 6th October - PDPA Players Championship - City West Hotel, Saggart, Dublin
Sunday 7th October - Irish UK Open Regional - City West Hotel, Saggard, Dublin
Sunday 14th October - Cheshire Open - Rudheath Social Club, Northwich
Saturday 20th October - PDPA Players Championship - Magnum Centre, Irvine
Sunday 21st October - Scottish UK Open Regional - Magnum Centre, Irvine
Saturday 27th October - PDPA Players Championship - SeePark Kirchheim, Germany
Sunday 4th November - John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic - Ireland National Event Centre, Killarney, Ireland
Saturday 10th November - PDPA Players Championship - Golden Tulip Hotel, Lisse, Holland
Sunday 11th November - PDPA Players Championship - Golden Tulip Hotel, Lisse, Holland
Friday 16th November (My Birthday!!) - World Championship Qualifiers - Aldersey Leisure Village, Wolverhampton
Sat-Sun 1st-2nd December - German Darts Championship - Gerry Weber Event Centre, Westfalen, Germany
Those in Red are dependant on money/form.
On the Saturday was the Players Championship tournament. In the 1st Round I faced Jimmy Dunlop. Despite my lack of any form whatsoever, I started off ok, winning the first set comfortably 2-0. I took the 1st leg of the 2nd set, but then as often happens my mind started to wonder on to other things, thinking the job was done. Kenny took the next leg, and this seemed to wake him up a bit as he took the next leg to win the set, then also won the 3rd set 2-1. I was in big trouble, and had to hold my throw at 1-1 in the next set. Despite giving him chances, I managed to take it to force a deciding set. This was pretty comfortable and I played much better, and won the set 2-0 to win the match 3-2. In the 2nd Round I played John Quantock. I played him in Hayling Island, and I was very poor and he beat me 3-0. I knew I'd be in for a tough game, but also knew if I played my best I would be ok. He started off well with the throw, and went 1-0 up. I needed a 132 finish in the next leg to level the set up, but then wasted this in the next leg and lost the first set. I played better in the second set, winning it 2-0, but then lost the 3rd set 2-0. We were 1-1 in the 4th, and I missed 2 darts at doubles to level the match, and he then took his double out. While I was no where near my best at all, I still got to plenty of double in both matches. But I was missing plenty, and I was missing Double 10 by a long way, which started to play on my mind.
On Sunday it was the first UK Open Regional. The first round was against Steve Evans (not the ex-Boston manager!). I was expecting a really tough one here, as he's a decent player who beat Ray Barneveld in his first ever PDC tournament! He won the bull, and started off well. But I started well too, and took 117 out in the first leg. The second leg I took 120 out, and in the 3rd and 4th I cruised through, playing as well as I have since I beat Roland Scholten. I had 1 bad leg to let him make it 4-1, but as the doubts started to creep into my head, I managed to close the game out in the next leg to win 5-1. I was very happy with the way I played here, and while his game deteriorated once I won the third leg, this was partly due to how well I was playing. In the 2nd Round I played Kevin McDine. Kevin is shooting up the rankings, and despite being the lower end of the ranked seeds at the moment, it was not a great draw at all. Again I lost the bull up (for the 4th time in the weekend!), and I lost the first leg easily. I played much better in the 2nd, and levelled up at 1-1. He just nicked a good close 3rd leg, and in the 4th I had chances at doubles but couldn't take them. After this I lost my way a little, and he made it 4-1. I again missed doubles in the 6th and he took the match. While this is my recollection of the game, the PDC website says it was 5-2, so I must have won another leg in there somewhere!!
To top the whole weekend off, my girlfriend managed to park the car in a Multi-Story car park on the Saturday morning, that she thought was 24 hours. However when we went back to the car, it was shut at 7pm on Saturday evening, and wasn't open again until 7:30am on Monday! Despite asking the council to open it for us, we couldn't get it out and had to spend an extra night in Newport.
These were the first tournaments in a busy period until the end of the year. The diary is as follows:
Sunday 30th September - Grand Slam of Darts Wildcard Qualifier - Aldersey Leisure Village, Wolverhampton
Saturday 6th October - PDPA Players Championship - City West Hotel, Saggart, Dublin
Sunday 7th October - Irish UK Open Regional - City West Hotel, Saggard, Dublin
Sunday 14th October - Cheshire Open - Rudheath Social Club, Northwich
Saturday 20th October - PDPA Players Championship - Magnum Centre, Irvine
Sunday 21st October - Scottish UK Open Regional - Magnum Centre, Irvine
Saturday 27th October - PDPA Players Championship - SeePark Kirchheim, Germany
Sunday 4th November - John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic - Ireland National Event Centre, Killarney, Ireland
Saturday 10th November - PDPA Players Championship - Golden Tulip Hotel, Lisse, Holland
Sunday 11th November - PDPA Players Championship - Golden Tulip Hotel, Lisse, Holland
Friday 16th November (My Birthday!!) - World Championship Qualifiers - Aldersey Leisure Village, Wolverhampton
Sat-Sun 1st-2nd December - German Darts Championship - Gerry Weber Event Centre, Westfalen, Germany
Those in Red are dependant on money/form.
# posted by Gaz @ 1:01 pm 
