Posts Tagged ‘Alex Roy’

Alex Roy competition – a lucky winner drawn

I’ve drawn the winner for the Alex Roy darts today.  Alex set the question himself when he did the interview for me, and it was a real tough bugger!  In fact it was so tough that only two people got it right!!  So it was 50-50 when I drew out the names for the virtual hat.

The lucky winner was Ryan Goodes from Cambridgeshire, who should be receiving the darts very soon, so watch out for the postman.

The question was; Who did Alex Roy beat in his 1st TV appearance?
The answer is; Rod Harrington

Special mention and bad luck to Mike Crowe who did get the answer right.

If you fancy getting a set of Alex’s new darts without having to answer a really tough darts question, you can pop over to Red Dragon darts and get yourself some darting precision.

I’m sure there will be more competitions coming up – so keep an eye out for them!  Cheers, Krispy

Competition: Win a set of Alex Roy darts!

You hopefully read my exclusive interview with Alex Roy earlier this month (it’s here if you didn’t).  Alex set a question for a competition when he sent me his answers, and finally I’ve got a moment in-between darts tournaments to put up the competition to let you win a set of brand new Alex Roy 22g Red Dragon darts (check the pictures!).

I’ve had a very quick quality test, and I must say they feel pretty fantastic in the hand – especially if you like thiner high density darts.  Some nice details on them too.  As with all Red Dragon darts, the build quality is pretty special.

HOW TO ENTER:

E-mail me your full name & Answer to the following question (I will need a postal address once the winner is drawn);

Who did Alex Roy beat in his 1st TV appearance?

Competition Rules:

• All entries must be via e-mail, and reach me by Midnight of Friday 8th August.
• Random draw of correct entries to the question above will be made during the weekend 9/10th August, and a winner notified via e-mail.
• Postal address will need to be supplied by return of e-mail to receive the prize
• No cash alternatives!
• My decision is final (Alex supplied the answer himself, so he KNOWS BEST!)
• The prize consists of a set of Alex Roy signature darts, with two sets of Red Dragon flights, two sets of aluminum barrels, and a soft black case (as per picture above).

Thanks to Alex for setting the question, and to Red Dragon darts for supplying the prize.

Alex Roy interview for Darts, Beers & Cheers!

We’re in a bit of a darting lull at the moment, with no floor tournament results for a week or two.  So – to give you your darts fix while you wait for the WPM in Blackpool next Saturday.  So get yourself comfortable, open a drinky, and have a read, as I am proud to bring you an exclusive interview with Alex Roy, one of the great recent characters of darts.

To top that off, Alex has given me a question to use in a competition we will run next week – to win a set of his brand new Red Dragon darts!  (view em here).  I will post up the competition as soon as I have the darts in my grubby mits – so keep popping back early next week!

A big thanks to Dave Holland too, for helping to set this up.  Dave as you might have read here before runs ‘Dave Holland Management‘, who look after a growing number of darts pros, helping them get sponsorship and anything that helps them concentrate on their game.

On to the interview…

Q.  When did you first take up darts, and when did you realise you wanted to be a professional darts player?

I was 13 when i first started playing league darts with my Dad in his local, i did not think about turning pro but my ambition was to play for england. for some reason i was never included so when I turned 22 I decided to focus on playing professionally

Q.  You come across as a really confident person on the oche, almost strutting around like you own it.  Is that how you actually feel when you’re playing?  Are you any different off the oche than on it?  (like Paul Nicholson, who ‘acts’ a bad boy on TV).

I always try and be confident before games and during games….. I do this because its who I am and to show the opponent that I don’t fear them . if I show nerves or lack of confidence there is no point in me being there.

Q. I’ve now seen you play on TV and on the floor, do you enjoy yourself more in front of the TV cameras at the big tournaments?

Without doubt the TV events always gives you that extra buzz and with the walk on music and fans being there it gives me more confidence .

Q. What’s it like at the weekend tournaments with 100+ players packed into an event?  Do you socialise with the other players or keep it totally professional and no play?

Yes,  you find that they become your 2nd family when you are away for so long, people don’t realise that after playing the days games it is mentally draining and most times its a meal out and early to bed.

Q. Who would you count as your best mates in the game?

There all nice people but I regard Kevin Painter as my good mate.

Q. How much practice do you feel you need to be on the top of your game?

I try to aim for 2 hours a day, I find too much can affect your game , so 2 solid hours a day  .

Q. Are there any ‘bogey’ players for you who you usually want to avoid in the draw ?

Not really,there all good players and all believe they can win.  as I said early if I did not have the confidence there is no point in me being there……..Hopefully players want to avoid me !!!

Q.  Is it more important to you to play solid and win, or win and look while good doing it?

Play solid and win….you have to know how to win ugly sometimes…..winning = money.

Q. What’s the best game you’ve ever played – who/when/where.. and what happened?

Players championships in 2008 beating Raymond van Barneveld 6-0 . I don’t know of anyone else that has done that to Raymond on the pdc events.

Q.  When I saw you in Wigan on the pro tour off the oche, you seem to be quite a story teller and entertainer – what’s your favourite darting story?

That’s my no fear and way of preparing for the next game.  This has to be when I was doing a exhibition 7 or 8 years ago in February with the very funny Richie Burnett from Wales, the pub was in a village with a outside toilet.  During a break Richie went to the loo, jumped the picket gate and landed waist height in manure!!!  The taxi driver refused to take Richie back to the hotel unless he wrapped himself in bin liners and opened all the car windows….it was -1 degrees and we all froze on the way back.

Q.  How do spend time relaxing when not playing or practising?

With my wife and kids, with working all week and being away weekend I appreciate the time I get to spend with them.

I’d like to thank Alex for answering my questions, and what a funny story about the Prince of Wales, Richie Burnett!  Sorry Richie if you’re reading this – but it is a cracker

Remember to keep popping back next week for the Alex Roy competition – answer a question he has set himself to win a set of his brand new darts. You can take a look and/or buy yourself a set here; http://www.reddragondarts.com/pages/4600/Alex-Roy/

Weekend with the Pro Tour – Krispy hits Barnsley

Before I start; What’s a floor event?

The PDC Pro tour’s “floor tournaments” – that’s where the darts pro do much of their work.  It’s the “shop floor” of darts, where 120-170 players come together to play in a seeded knock-out tournament.  The top 32 seeds are spread across the 16 boards (2 per board), and then the rest of the field is drawn to make up 8 players a board (so 4 games per board).  If there are more than 128 entrants, then there is a preliminary round, to whittle the field down to the required 128. The events are staged across the year, across the country (and further, including the Netherlands next week, Austria, and America.. viva, Las Vegas!).

In Barnsley (in the Metrodome – in a big sports hall with attached bar) there was just under the 128, and when that happens, the top seed(s) are given byes as required; on the Sunday, there was a field of 125, so both Simon Whitlock, Wes Newton, and Adrian Lewis started in the 2nd round.

The players pay £100 per event (so that’s £200 for the weekend, as each day is a new tournament), and if you lose first round, you get NOTHING.  Get to the 2nd round and  you get £200 back (so if you’re got a cheap hotel, you MIGHT break even at that point).  Make it to the final and you’ve got at least £3,500 in your pocket, and if you win, £6K.  They players are not only playing for those prizes:- the money won gets turned into ranking points (point per pound).  The higher up the rankings you are, the more tournaments you can enter, and better seeded you will be (seeding helps ensure you avoid top players early rounds – well that’s the theory).  The events are NON PUBLIC (i.e. you can’t pay to get in), but players are allowed to have a guest or two – family, friends, managers etc..  so when full, the venue will be made up of 1/2 to a 1/3 darts pro’s – which is pretty amazing compared to a televised event!

Anyway, theory lesson over – now on to my experience…

Danger and Krispy’s darts road trip – Saturday

As before (when I went to Wigan earlier in the year) I was buzzing with excitement – another great weekend coming up – 12 hours or so of close up darts, and the small matter of an England game in the evening (little did I know then what a small matter that game would be.. doh!).

Silton darts legend and good mate Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin picked me up about 9am.. and we programmed in Barnsley FC into the sat nav, as it is pretty damn close to the Metrodome.  Amazingly we managed to find the place pretty quickly.. although it did get a bit one way at times (up and down a feck off hill to.  Well it’s a big hill for a Peterborough lad, I got a nose bleed from altitude! )

Our timing was spot on, as we met our invitee, Steve ‘Mr Magic’ Maish on the stairs, as he was off for a medicinal ‘sanity stick’.  I haven’t known Steve for long, but he’s a fantastic bloke, as friendly as they come – but he’s not known for being organised.. so luckily the PDC security believed us when we said we were Maishy’s guests .. else we’d have had to wait for him to finish his smoke

The venue looked better than at Wigan – the toilets especially so (that wouldn’t have been hard).  Straight to the bar for thirst quencher.  While in the queue for a drink I turned round asking Lee (well I thought it was Lee) if I could get him a pint – only to have Terry ‘The Bull’ Jenkins reply “that would be very kind of you“.  I’m sure you’ve seen Jenkins on TV – and he really is the same when you meet him in person, always smiling and laughing.

We then took a stroll around looking for Justin Pipe (who has just won the sponsorship of the Stars of Darts forum, including some of my own hard earned cash).  I found Justin at his table – where he introduced me to Gary Anderson.  After a quick chat, Justin told Gary to show me his ‘trick’ … and suddenly 3 pound coins were found.  I was hoping that this wasn’t the time I was about to lose my beer tokens.. but I needn’t have worried.  Gary went on to pretty much astound me – he can spin the coins and call them heads or tails.. and he got it right EVERY TIME.  He must have spun 12 coins.. no mistakes.  Justin joked that they could set-up a table in Vegas and clear up.. and I think he’s right!

We then caught up with Maishy – who stood chatting with Lee and myself.  He didn’t even leave our side as the draw came up – so found out that he had James Wade in round 1 from other players as they walked past.  Not a great draw to have early on!

I tried to follow Justin Pipe and Steve Maish’s games, and was rewarded with some great darts from Justin – unfortunately Steve did go out round 1, 6-2 to Wade.  Justin started off solid with a 6-3 against Trevor Frost… but his second round was against Simon Whitlock.  A really tough game that I didn’t see him winning (not in the form Whitlock has been in this year!).  Me of little faith!  Justin got the game to 5-5.. and he had the throw in the last leg.  Justin hit 101 with Whitlock on 120 – and you know that Whitlock’s big score finishing means that Pipe had to hit that!  Great stuff.. into round 3 and a big scalp in the bag.  Third round Justin beat John MaGowan, who was returning to the tour after the sad death of his wife.  Justin then beat Alex Roy 6-0, who up to that point had been playing some great darts (Lee had been following his games).  Then Justin got further than he’s ever been by beating Wayne Jones, who is one of THE top floor players.    It was all set-up then for a battle between the mates and practice partners – JP vs. Gary Anderson. I had watched some of Gary’s earlier games, and he really was throwing well.  You may have heard a lot on TV about him not being good on doubles – but there was no sign of that on Saturday!  He was hitting everything, and looking great.  It was a close game, and JP had his chances… but it was Gary’s day (in more ways than one).

In between those games I also watched Jamie Caven vs. Brendan Dolan, as Jamie is another player who makes time to come and chat to me.  It was really close… and at 5-5 it wasn’t looking good for Jamie.  He threw what I thought was some odd darts.. but then I realised he’d counted well and left himself on 170.  Dolan didn’t finish, and left himself on 24 – and probably thinking he’s be back.  Jamie then threw 3 perfect darts.. to take out 170 – that got quite a loud noise from the watching crowd (or was it just me.. can’t remember now!).  I think Jamie knew he’d picked Dolan’s pocket there.

I also popped over to say hello to Mervyn King, as I’d never properly said hello, and I thanked him for doing the interview for this site.  I must say though, he wasn’t a happy chap, even though he was winning his games at that point.  He told me that there was a gale blowing across the boards in his side of the room – a breeze probably coming from an open door or air-con.   It surprised me that he was upset (as he was winning!), but other players did confirm that there was a breeze.. I guess Merv is such a perfectionist it affected him mentally more.  Hopefully I can meet him when he’s feeling more up.. as I had to tip-toe away from him to be honest!

With aching feet I watched the final, Anderson vs. Walsh.  Now after being to a few events, I really do appreciate that Walsh is one tough floor player, and does the business week in week out.  But not on Saturday – Anderson was far too good, and won 6-1.  Great stuff, especially as I knew that Justin and Gary were in my hotel, and I’d been following them both all day.  JP was also really chuffed, as he knew that the people on The Stars of Darts forum would be following his progress as their new sponsored player, and he’s returned their confidence in him with a semi final finish.

Back at the hotel Lee and myself stuffed ourselves on some fairly decent grub – and a few ales while we watched the England game… I’ve not got a lot to say about that!  Muppets.  Bed fairly early – as it had been a long day again.

Danger and Krispy’s darts road trip – Sunday

Started with a breakfast of kings… you know it’s almost unreal as a darts fan, sitting there having breakfast with Simon Whitlock (and girlfriend), Mark Dudbridge, Gary Anderson, Justin Pipe, Tony Eccles, and Mark Webster all sitting around you.  I better add they were having their breakfast too – not just sitting in a circle watching me eat! 

Back to the venue about 10:45am.. for a ‘warm up’ cider and ice (or two).  Again Maishy come and found us and we had a good chat – Steve Grubb joined us too, and it was brilliant watching Justin Pipe play with Grubby and Maishy standing with us… Grubby giving me commentary on the game, with some great player insights.  Nothing like the TV commentary (thank god!).  It was about this point that Steve Maish gave me his replies for an interview – in a book!  Only Maishy could take my e-mailed questions and give me a hard-bound book back in return    I’ll be typing that up this week for you to read!  Top man.  We also got to watch Maish beat Lee Hayes 6-1 – Lee really didn’t have any consistency in his throw – he hit some big numbers, but also some 20′s and even an 11, so not a great day in the office for him.

Maish’s win led on to him playing Jamie Caven, who wasn’t playing his consistent best, but had got out of jail on Sat with a couple of 170 finishes.  Maish set off like a steam train – 3-0 before we knew it.  I was a tough game to ‘support’, as both players I consider ‘mates’ now.   Caven fought back, just managing to take a game back to 3-1 when Maish could have made it 4-0…  and then suddenly it was 3-3.  Then it happened – Jamie Caven suddenly went up two gears, and hit a purple patch so purple, deep purple would have been impressed.  Every dart hit it’s target.. 11 darts… 11 darts… then finished with a 12 dart leg.  That’s an 132+ average over those three legs, and it was AMAZING to watch.  Both players came round to join Lee and myself, even Jamie was a bit stunned.  We all had a laugh – Steve agreed that there was absolutely nothing he could have done about that game.  Made my weekend that did.  Jamie the gentleman took Maishy off to the bar to buy him a beer, possibly not the only one he had that weekend.

Justin Pipe’s first game was again Darren Johnson – who Dave Ladley introduced me too.  A really nice guy, who Dave told me has been a long time practice partner for Dennis Priestly, so is used to player who is a slower thrower (as Justin is – very deliberate).  It showed, as their game was very close… Justin Pipe just taking it right at the end in a tense leg which could have gone either way.

I met quite a few people off the forums – and will miss some of you out I’m sure.  It was great to meet Lee and Chissy – both moderators off The Stars of Darts.  Both were marking, but took different preparation routes for Sunday’s ‘work’.  Lee had a few scoops and some food, then early to bed after a long day (hours to get to Barnsley for these guys).  Chissy on the other hand continued on drinking… with the beers probably reaching the double figures.. darts thrown.. ALMOST Karaoke sung… and to end the night a stomach settling (???) 1/2 pint or so of Baileys over ice.  No wonder he’s nicknamed “the legend”.  3am to bed… and up again 5 hours later.  I possibly wouldn’t recommend that regime to anyone else thinking of volunteering to mark on the pro tour

While chatting to Steve Grubb about the boys being up half the night, he told me about Alex Roy’s legendary all nighters in the past.  Alex comes across as the drinking man’s drinking man and obviously is a cracking laugh.

I also chatted with James Holmes, who is a young (OK that’s young compared to me!) darts player who I have as a friend on facebook, who is mates with Tony Martin and Anastasia (he was there as part of their group).  I know James keeps up with this site, so hello mate!  Anyway – keep that name in your ‘one to watch’ notebook, as you could see him playing pro one day… he gets to practice with some real talent, and that can’t be a bad start!

Anyway, back to the darts!  Justin Pipe continued his run, beating Mark Webster 6-3, and then Steve Farmer 6-2.  I joked with him that he was just showing off at this point, as I know the forum and sponsors would be watching every score.  Unfortunately for Justin, he then played Dennis Priestly – which was a little unfortunate for the PDC organisers, as both players are known for their precise throwing technique (some of the unkind might say ‘slow’).   I did watch every throw – but the 50 minute timespan may be the longest best of 11 game every played – who knows?   It came down to the decider leg… with Dennis hitting some big scores early doors.  Justin was way back with Dennis throwing for a double.. but suddenly he couldn’t buy one.  Justin came back slowly (I think he threw 60 three times in the middle of the leg), but Dennis kept missing and creeping down the doubles.  Justin had a throw to win.. but missed, and Priestly finally found the mark, to a big round of applause.  It was a great game, two players who really concentrate on their throws.  I just pity the marker (who was ‘Bradders’, a well known forum poster).

I then watched Adrian Lewis vs. Ronnie Baxter in their semi final – as I kinda hoped to see Lewis throw some exciting darts, as we all know he can.  It was such a contrast in speed vs. the previous game!!  Unfortunately right before the game, Lewis seemed distracted; he complained about the boards, saying they were too soft, and that his darts were sticking too deep in, almost pulling his points out when he pulled them from the board.  The PDC officials swapped in another board that he was happier with.  That can’t have helped his concentration though, and it must have been nagging at him during the game.  Ronnie just blew him away, 6-0.

[EDIT] I’ve just been reminded by the Hitman (marker and nice bloke) about something else that happened… Kevin Painter was obviously not having a great day at the office… I think it was probably early on the sunday, a round 1 game vs Mark Hylton, and Kev lost 6-5??  I think I heard a strangled cry, and the sound of darts clattering down behind the boards… yep Kev had thrown all 3 of his darts over the board.. and clean over the booth set-up .. possibly hitting the wall off the hall behind.  We were tempted to nip round and ‘save’ the darts.. but I think someone else beat us to it.  I know it was spotted and reported by a PDC official (reluctantly, but they have to report any such incidents), so I’m not grassing on Kev (as if I’d dare!).

The final turned out to be Denis Ovens (who is on a bit of form again, doing well in the UK Open), vs. Ronnie Baxter – we decided to nip off at that point, as we had a long drive (through torrential rain!) back.  Another great two days of darts, again showing what great blokes the players are.  Thanks to everyone who chatted with us, players, officials, and fellow fans and forum members!

Krispy and Danger on tour

A fans view of the PDC Tour – Krispy’s days in Wigan part 2

Here’s part 2 of my write-up of my two days in Wigan to watch the PDC pro tour in action.  If you aren’t aware, the ‘bread n butter’ of pro darts are the (nearly weekly) floor tournaments, where well over 100 players will compete to win ranking ‘points’ (cash=ranking points).  Those rankings are used to determine which players can play in certain big money TV events – and also if it’s a UK Open qualifier, the chance to play at the UK Open in Bolton (and the higher the ranking, the later you get to play – a bit like the FA cup in football).

If you’ve not read part 1 yet, please do, and see how Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin (co-writer and mate) and myself enjoyed the first day in Wigan.

After quite a non rock-n-roll night watching the footy on the hotel TV…

Yeah OK, we didn’t spend all night out with any of the players – but I had an ankle of ultimate twisted pain.. dosed up on pain killers, and we were both pretty knackered after the drive up.

So we started Sunday the proper way – with a big fry-up at the hotel, after saying hello to Dave Ahmet & Jamie Caven on their way to the venue.   As usual I let my mouth run wild while we ate, forgetting that on a table just behind us was Alan Warriner-Little   As we left I managed a nodded hello – he was just grinning at me – I’d obviously amused him with my ‘kid at the sweetshop’ awe of being at the darts that weekend.

At least we found the venue easier this time – although no earlier than the day beforeso we nearly missed out on a seat again, which would have killed me with my ankle hurting worse than ever.  Luckily we’d said hello to Wayne Atwood and his wife the night before – so joined them at their table.  Also on that table was Simon Whitlock (and his girlfriend and manager) – so if you ever read this Simon – the grinning fool who didn’t say hello was me – maybe next time I’ll open my mouth

HIGHLIGHT 1: What did make me chuckle was when Alex Roy joined us at the table, who went on a 30 min joke rampage – reading them off his phone to a bemused Whitlock.  I don’t think Simon knew what hit him  – I reckon Roy was having a laugh as he’d beaten Whitlock the day before – so thought he’d have some sport with him.

We got to chat with Steve Maish again – for quite some time – as it turned out he’s a bit of a Speedway fan, and so is Lee – so they had even more to chat about.  We also chatted with ‘Jointer’ from ‘The Stars of Darts’ forum – top geezer, and Wigan footy fan.  I think he spend both days seeing who could drink more cider between him and Maishy    Next time lads I’ll show you how to do it in the evening!

Speaking of other forum members/fans – I did get to speak to quite a few – you’ll all have to forgive my aging memory (pain killers + cider don’t mix.. don’t do it kids!).  ‘Captain Ash’  made himself know to me – he’s far too tall and good looking for a darts fan, not sure what’s going on there!

HIGHLIGHT 2: I wasn’t going to spend as much time during the UK Open qualifiers updating the scores on the SoD Forum – as it had distracted me quite a lot from actually watching individual games… but when I found out the official PDC website wasn’t updating.. I started bunging up results and ongoing scores – doing my bit for the darting community.  After a while I finally got to say hello the Dave Allen, the Media officer from the PDC – who has the important and busy job at the events of updating the official website with all the scores.  We’ve swapped a few e-mails, and it was good to say hello properly, even if I could tease him about ‘his’ website not working.. ahem.

Oh and we did watch the darts – lots of darts!    I made sure I watched Chris Mason’s games – this time Chris was throwing better in his first game, not perfect, but enough to win 6-4 vs Brian Startin – it looked close at some points, but Chris got his act together near the end. Unfortunately his luck didn’t hold out, and Mace lost in the 2nd round 6-0 to Chris Thompson – and a few more darts were falling out of the board for him.

I thought I’d wonder over and see how Anastasia was doing against James Wade (what a tough draw for her!) – not well though – nothing like as good as her Saturday, a 6-0 whitewash – although against Wade on recent form it’s not that terrible a result.

Dave Ladley came over and told me about his horror draw – if he got through his preliminary round game, he had drawn Merv King in his first round!  We wished him well – and watched some of his game.. but I think his head was thinking about the next game, ruining his concentration – and he went down 6-1 to Lee Williams – who played well to be fair.  I hope you get that £200 you need to qualify for Bolton Dave – fingers crossed for you, just remember, one game at a time!

One of the other first round games I watched was Wayne Atwood beat Dave Askew 6-0 – good to see Wayne do so well round 1 after not playing for a while on the tour, especially as he was good enough to come over and introduce himself to me at the hotel the night before.  Unfortunately for Dave ‘Spaceman’ Ahmet, he drew John Part in round one, and as he’d not played the day before, the rust hadn’t been knocked off his darts (and the late night was probably kicking in..), and he went down 6-0.

Later on I made sure I watched some of the Colin LLoyd vs. Wayne Mardle game; two good mates battling against each other.  Again I stood behind Wayne’s shoulder to watch his darts fly – I wonder if mine move like that in the air!  Colin won the game, which probably isn’t a big surprise based on Wayne’s form vs. Colin’s.

I had to pull up a chair for some of the matches, as I could hardly stand by this time – never again do I want a sprained ankle when I’m at the darts!  No dis-respect to the more ‘fringe’ players – but as the rounds go buy, it is quite awe inspiring to look down the 16 boards and see the darting talent left in battling each other!  Wes Newton was looking good again until Mark Walsh took him out 6-2… not that big a surprise – if you go along to a floor tournament just look at Mark Walsh and Wayne Jones – both top floor players – and see how relaxed they look.  They both have a look of men comfortable in their well known workplace.  Or maybe that’s just me.

HIGHLIGHT 3: I went over to watch the Colin Osborne vs. Ronnie Baxter game in the quarter finals, as I rate Osborne, and I’d not seen Baxter play yet (he’d not been in Wigan on Saturday).  Initially it was pretty much just me leaning over the barrier watching them start, but soon I had Jamie Caven join me.. then Andy Hamilton.. and then Barry Bates.  How good was that?  4 ‘blokes’ watching some darts.. and the only non superstar was me!    Jamie and Andy were there to cheer Osborne on – they were sharing a car home so couldn’t leave anyway     During the match I was posting the score on the SoD forum – and Jamie had a butchers at my phone screen to see what people where saying – funny thing is the official PDC results from earlier had been posted there, and Jamie was NOT chuffed to see they’d got his losing score wrong – missing a game    Osborne won – and I think that was my best game, just because of the company.  Oh and Jamie also warned me that it’s Osborne without a U – he wouldn’t like that mis-spell I was warned!

By the semi-finals it was Colin Lloyd vs. Mark Walsh, and Colin Osborne vs Dennis Priestley (I was chuffed for Priestley – a great day for him, although it did mean we got away an hour later than on the Saturday.. or maybe I can’t blame that completely on his his slow style?).   I continued to follow Osborne now – although to be honest, he’s quite a ‘precise’ thrower.. so teamed up with Priestly it was quite a slow game.. slow enough for the other game to finish (Colin winning) well before.  Osborne won – after what felt like 3 hours (joking!), and most of us pulled up chairs around the final board.

I don’t think the averages/standard of the final between Lloyd and Osborne was the same level as Wes Newton the day before, but there were some great legs still.  Lloyd was pretty damn good in places, and took Osborne 6-3, and I was chuffed for him, because he’s obviously been a great player over many years, and still has a great game on his day.  If you read this Colin, I’m not saying you’re past it!!  hehe.

What a weekend – better than I’d imagined, some great people met, some fantastic games watched.. just 100% pure darts, and for a darts fan, there’s nothing better!