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Posts Tagged ‘Simon Whitlock’

Whitlock’s Oceanic Masters Glory – the Wizard gets lucky in Oz

It’s a quite month in the UK for the PDC this August, so many players are getting in a well earned rest, or touring the Exhibtion scene.  Not Simon Whitlock though!

SIMON WHITLOCK has won his second DPA Oceanic Masters title, defeating Shane Tichowtisch 6-5 in the final.

Whitlock followed up his previous victory in the tournament, in 2002, by edging out his fellow countryman in Sunday’s final to claim the $2,000 first prize.

The Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship finalist enjoyed a successful return to action on home soil at the Illawarra Yacht Club in New South Wales, with his deciding-leg win over Tichowitsch following up some other fine victories.

He saved his best, though, for last to take out a 12-darter in the 11th leg, when with the scores tied at five-all he threw 100, 180 and 180 against the throw to leave 41, which he checked out for victory.

Whitlock had defeated Craig Prizeman 6-2 in the semi-finals, dropped just one leg against New Zealand’s Phil Hazell in the quarter-finals and also defeated Bill Aitken and Jeremy Fagg in the latter stages.

Tichowitsch, who took home $900 as runner-up, defeated another former Oceanic Masters winner, Barry Jouannet, 6-2 in the semis.

He also defeated Paul Nicholson 6-3 in the last 16, as well as seeing off Wayne Weening and Jerry Weyman. DPA Order of Merit leader Rob Modra was amongst the quarter-final losers, alongside Ian Dargan.

The Oceanic Masters preceded a week of events in Australia which will culminate next Sunday in the PDC ranked Australian Open Players Championship, with play commencing on Wednesday at the Revesby Workers Club, NSW in the two-day Linddales Fours event, which will be followed by two Australian Grand Prix events.

European Championships – Night 1 results and review

Phew what a night – as Bravo TV televised their very first ever darts tournament.  While there was some technical hitches (new hamsters needed on the computer scoreboard me thinks!!), the coverage overall was very good I thought.  Some experienced pundits and commentators, with a style that I thought was very good (a little less excitable than Sky’s coverage perhaps?).

Loved seeing Chris Mason back on the screens, and Alan WL always does a good job too.

The biggest surprise for me was when I received a text message from Bravo TV asking if I’d run their twitter account for the night, as they weren’t able to do it this evening (normal service should be back tomorrow).  So apologies if my constant score updates and player comments were not to your cup of tea    It was good fun anyway.

Also I was jumping up and down as the first question put to a player was mine, and my name was read out by Dave Gorman – haha, fame at last!

Anyway – onto the evenings results, and remember it all carries on tomorrow night from 7pm on Bravo TV.  Follow their twitter if you can’t watch some/all of the games to keep track of the evenings games.

Thursday July 29
First Round
Paul Nicholson 3-6 Andy Smith
Mark Walsh 6-3 Antonio Alcinas
Terry Jenkins 6-4 Andree Welge
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Dennis Priestley
Gary Anderson 2-6 Jamie Caven
Phil Taylor 6-2 Co Stompe
Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Vincent van der Voort
Mervyn King 3-6 Barrie Bates

Personal highlights for me is my mate Jamie Caven winning through to round 2 – although it was a shame to see Gary Anderson still suffering with a dodgy shoulder.

World Match Play Semi-final results

Well I managed to sneak home earlier than I thought, so managed to start watching the Barney vs. Wade game before the end.  So the great news is, it is the REAL BARNEY – he is back!   The game actually looked a little one sided, Barney pretty much destroying James Wade.

So we’re possibly going to have a very interesting final depending on how the Phil Taylor vs. Simon Whitlock game goes…

Game 1: RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD 17-8 JAMES WADE

Game 2: PHIL TAYLOR 16 – 4 SIMON WHITLOCK

Oh dear – Phil is kicking bottom early on in his game vs. Simon Whitlock… it’s serious stuff, and Whitlock needs to pick up his average big time now.

Simon continues a low average, and Taylor is beating him up big style here.  I thought that Simon would do more, but couldn’t see him beating Taylor as I said in my preview earlier today.

Taylor ran away a winner in the end, leaving Whitlock way behind.

So our finals is the ‘old firm’ clash, of Taylor vs. Barneveld.

PDC Unicorn Women’s World Championship Final

Stacy Bromberg 6-5 Tricia Wright
Best of 11 legs (first to six, no tie-breaker)

Nerves are playing a big part in tonights game between Tricia and Stacy – both missing darts they’d normally easily hit.  It can’t be easy coming up late after two big games, and with a crowd so large.  Tricia is not scoring well, but Stacy has missed important doubles to keep the game with throw.

Tricia breaks Stacy, and goes 3-2 up.. if she can hold her throw.. WHICH SHE DOES.  4-2!  Two more and we have an English world champ!

Well done Stacy – who took the last two legs to win the match, and to become the 1st PDC Womens World Champion!

World Match Play, Semi final preview by Krispy

Semi-Finals

7pm start
James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld
Phil Taylor v Simon Whitlock

So it’s the business end of the play from Blackpool, and this year’s event has thrown up what I’d probably call “The Dream 4″ – pretty much the four best darts players in the world at the moment (be that PDC or BDO) playing each other in the semi finals.  All in 3D too!  If you fancy watching the games in 3D, you’ll need to find yourself a pub showing it – 3D pub finder here.

The bad news for me – I’m out this evening, so will miss the games!!  So no live updates from me     I’ll tape it and watch Sunday morning, so no telling me the scores!

Anyway, back to this evening’s games… and where would I start?

James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld

Tasty!  Even when you look at the stats you can hardly separate these two, and the head-to-head wins is; James Wade 12-13 Raymond van Barneveld – so Barney JUST has the edge.  Even this year, their two games in the premier league are split 1 win each.

Barney has been good and relaxed all tournament – almost back to his best.  Wade started badly, but has improved game by game.  Wade is also a big game player, as I think big games give him that kick up the bum to concentrate.

To be honest I can’t really call it – if we have got the old Barney back, then I think he will win, but it’s a test like this against Wade which will determine if he still does have the mental strength to win.

Phil Taylor v Simon Whitlock

This game keeps popping up this year – with a cracker of a world Final to start them off.  Many people (me included) see Whitlock as one of the 2 or 3 players who will be challenging for the worlds best spot as (WHEN?!) Taylor starts to lose his power.   Taylor still dominates Whitlock when you look at their head-2-head, 7-2 in Taylors favour.

Based on tournament form – and seeing Taylor win the other night without actually getting into top gear or being challenged by Painter, I think Taylor will win tonight, BUT it will be a close game, with a HUGE average (110) if Whitlock does push hard.

Ladies World Championship

Don’t forget, tonight is also the PDC Womens World Championship final! It’s a shame it’s being shown AFTER the men’s semi’s, as the crowd might be a little worse for wear and all cheered out, but we can’t have everything.  I hope it’s not too late for the ladies, as they deserve the respect they are due.  There’s big money on offer, with a £10,000 top prize (which is huge compared to prizes they have played for previously), plus other benefits (qual for the grand slam of darts included).

The ladies final is best of 11 legs, and is between England’s Tricia Wright V Stacey Bromberg of USA.

p.s. Bravo TV have released their trailer for their upcoming darts coverage (starts Thursday).  see it here; http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=412780966620

World Match Play – Quarter Final results

ARGHH! I’m at work and have missed the first two semi’s!  I heard the first was quite a cracker between Wade and Jones, with some high 100 ish averages.  In the second game I hear Klaasen held his own with some superb finishing in the early stages, but a run of nine successive legs from the Australian saw him streak away to victory at the Winter Gardens.

The 2nd two games are on tonight from 7pm, so I’ll start my weekend with those.

I may miss the semi’s… so it might be time to record them and watch Sunday morning… then I’m off to my local Rileys to check out their new Darts Zone (Rileys are fitting 6 board darts zones to their clubs across the UK – with proper oche’s and lighting and scoring).  Play for an hour or two..then into a local pub for 3D darts final!  Sorted.

EVENING UPDATE:

Well Barney vs. Stompe was a great battle… Co Stompe had some good chances there to win, getting ahead, only to have Barney come back and overtake him.  Ding dong until near the end.  Great stuff – Barney IS BACK!

Bring it on – Barney’s response to hearing that James Wade is looking forward to playing him… me thinks we have a proper game on the cards!

Taylor walked on in very confident mood, posing for photos, wearing silly sunglasses the works.  I think that was all a message to Painter waiting for him on the stage.. “I am so confident tonight I am not really going to take it seriously.. cause I don’t have to”.  Ruthless to be honest.. and it’s working so far.  6-1 and Painter doesn’t look like a man who is going to challenge now.

Painter just playing for pride now at 9-1… it’s getting painful.  Ouch it continues.. 13-2?  Taylor is cruising… cause Painter can’t put any pressure on him.

Taylor wins.. 16-4.. in a very one sided game.  Painter must find it hard to play Taylor now – especially when you realise he’d lost 24 out of 25 games played in the PDC vs. Taylor – double ouch!  And this game made it 25 out of 26.

StanJames.com World Matchplay Quarter-Finals

Afternoon Session
James Wade 16-12 Wayne Jones
Jelle Klaasen 8-16 Simon Whitlock

Evening Session (7pm)
Co Stompe 12-16 Raymond van Barneveld
Kevin Painter 4-16 Phil Taylor

World Match Play from Blackpool – Results from night 3

I will add the scores as they come in – for those of you who cannot watch on TV or are at work…

Steve Brown lives up to my prediction - so I do know SOMETHING about darts

Game 1 – Steve Brown 10 – 7 Terry Jenkins

A great win by Steve ‘The Bomber’ Brown, who only just did an interview for me last week.  He’s been my main prediction for this first round, as I could see him beating Jenkins when comparing their recent form on the floor.  I do like Jenkins, but Steve is showing a lot of hunger, and is definitely shooting up the rankings.  He looked nervous, but controlled them as he won fairly easily (he would have won by a bigger margin if he’d hit some of the doubles he was after).. a great 149 checkout pretty much won the game for him.

It’s awesome – the biggest win of my career, It’s a monkey off my back to go on television and win - Steve ‘the bomber’ Brown

Game 2 – Simon Whitlock 10 – 1 Tony Eccles

I’m gutted for the Viper – not only because I’ve recently bought a set of his darts and got a signed top from him direct.  He just wasn’t on fire.. while Simon Whitlock played good and solid (but not yet his best, but a 53% finishing percentage).  The crowd was pretty quiet too, as it was a bit one sided.

Game 3 – Gary Anderson 10 – 0 Robert Thornton

Oh wow, what a great performance from Anderson!  He’s a big 60 hitter and heavy scorer as it is, but tonight his 60 odd % checkout hitting really meant he motored!  Unfortunately Thornton has had a bit of a poor year so far, so he was really outscored, out finished, and out played.  A whitewash for Anderson!

Game 4 – Jelle Klassen 10 – 4 Mervyn King

Well blink and you would have missed the last game.  Jelle was fast and fecking good!  Merv started well, but Klassen just turned on the klass there, and kicked his bottom.  Lots of fast doubles, a nice bull finish.. it had it all.  Another great result for the dutch – it has been a great round one for em.

Day 4 Games

First Round (7pm)
Colin Lloyd v Kevin Painter
Mark Walsh v Mark Dudbridge
Phil Taylor v Barrie Bates
Paul Nicholson v Steve Beaton

Simon Whitlock interview, for Darts, Beers & Cheers!

The exclusive interviews are coming in thick n fast now – thanks to all those players and officials (and walk on girls!) who have agreed to answer my questions.

To coincide with tonights start of the World Match Play, I have been very lucky to get an exclusive interview with Simon Whitlock, a real man of 2010, who is shooting up the world rankings, and is seen as one of the few players who will be competing for the number 1 spot in the next years to come.

I have to thank my friends at Red Dragon darts for making Simon available to me – Whitlock of course throws Red Dragon darts (get em here).  Good luck to Simon, who will be starting his 1st round game in Blackpool against Tony Eccles on Monday (approx 8pm).

Q.  How are you finding life in the UK now you’re living and playing darts here?

It’s a little bit colder which is nice, I’ve always loved coming over to the UK to stay and play darts as UK dart players are more aware of the professional game, and everywhere you go people are mad to play.

Q. How does the pro tour compare between the UK and Australia?  Is there a different atmosphere or attitude between players?

In Australia we have to travel much further distances to events so all of the players on tour tend to be a bit more regional as opposed to the top guys who make every event.  The guys who travel to every event tend to be quite close, as we share the same travel pains!!

Q.  A lot was made of your foot/heel injury just before your start in the premier league – how is that now, and how much did it actually affect you (all we have to go by is the Sky commentators)

I hurt my heel whilst back in Oz and its been a real bind to be honest and has taken longer than I thought to get over. To be honest it’s been like a dull toothache that you know is there and always just twinges, so it did affect me. I’m happy it’s much better now.

Q.  What I’ve noticed this year is that most of the time your doubles have been awesome – is it true you only practice doubles?  What is a typical practice routine for you?

That would be telling!! In my practice I try to replicate game intensity and situations so that that I can be ready for them in games. I don’t practice solely on doubles, right now I’m in a Champions Choice phase at the moment as the reduced doubles and trebles are so hard to hit, they really frustrate you.

I see doubles as just another section on the dartboard and try not to attach too much importance to them as it can paralyse your throw.

I do work with different sets of my darts so that I don’t get attached to one set, but too be fair my darts are all made exactly the same anyway.

Q.  The darts crowds seem to have warmed to you very quickly since joining the PDC – has that surprised you, especially as our countries are normally locked in sporting competition?

Ha Ha yes a little, but I’ve played darts in the UK for many years so maybe a few of the crowd know me from before.

It’s a real honour for me that so many of the UK darts crowd like my game and get behind me, and it genuinely means a lot to me and I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who’s cheered me on.

Q.  You obviously had some success in the BDO and have been playing for years, but have you been surprised how quickly things have happened for you in the PDC?  (world final, sponsorships, prem league play offs, floor event wins etc).  Have you had time since the worlds to take it all in?   Has it surprised you – or is it all part of a plan you’ve been working too?

I’d like to say that it was part of my plan, but it wasn’t I’m afraid. I don’t set a clear plan in terms of winning this event, or that event I just prepare myself as well as I can for the event I’m going to play in. If I get cluttered up in saying I need a top 16 to make the next TV event I find it get in the way of playing my best darts.

I’m really happy how things have gone since leaving the BDO, I know that it’s contentious to say about standards of darts etc but there are still loads of tough games in the BDO, and it was great preparation for what I’m facing now.

What really helped me is learning to win games no matter what the event it is, even if it’s you and a few of the boys on a Friday night chucking in a few bucks.

Q.  You come across as fairly quiet and introverted (in fact an atypical aussie) – is that fair, or is it just how you like to portray yourself in the darts arena?

Er, what’s introverted!! If you mean laid back and happy then yeah I guess I am but I’m not that quiet.

Q.  Are there any players on the PDC tour who you would say are your mates?  Do you think the other players have welcomed you as much as the fans seem to have?

I’m close with James Wade, Mark Webster and Merv King, but all the players have been great to me which is really nice and I’ve met so many characters on tour.

Q. You’ve shot up the rankings – have you set yourself a target?   Do you feel (like many fans do) that you will be one of a select few pros who will be there challenging for Phil Taylors crown in the coming years?

Nah I haven’t, I take every event as it comes and I work hard so that I believe I can win every game. I’ll leave the speculation to you guys.

Q. Based on the way things are going, can you see yourself living in the UK for some time to come?

Definitely, I’m going to buy a place over here when I’ve got everything sorted.

It’s really hard juggling my home life with the demands of travelling on tour but luckily I’ve got some great help behind me now and it makes all the difference.

Q.  What are you interests outside of darts – and is there anything specific you miss having moved to the UK, and anything that you’ve been pleasantly surprised at?

Fishing, I love fishing and I do miss the odd early morning beach cast.

I’m surprised how many people come up to me in the street, at airports etc and say hello and good luck – it’s great I love it!!

Great stuff from Simon there – he comes across in the interview just as he does watching him on TV, very laid back and easy going.  Next time I see him on the pro tour I’ll say hello properly, rather than just grinning like a loon as I did back in Wigan when sitting on his table

Day 2 Tropicana USA results – Anderson wins!

Gary Anderson wins another player championship tournament, this time out in Vegas, beating Simon Whitlock in the final.  Gary really is now showing his true form in 2010, after a ‘quiet’ 2009, and is proving himself to be one of the true class players in the PDC, and a serious threat to the Power.  Simon Whitlock is also one of those threats, and to have both in the final is great to see.

A great run by Chris Thompson, a regular on the Stars of Darts forum – he took out the great man himself to get into the Semi Final.

A good day for my mate Steve Maish with the 4th round reached (last 16), more of that today sir!   The fight for the last place in the World Match Play ends tonight – so the players in the mix will need to win games in the last player championships event in Vegas (that includes you JP!).

Fourth Round

Phil Taylor 6-5 Andy Smith
Chris Thompson 6-4 Andy Hamilton
Ken MacNeil 6-3 Vincent van der Voort
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Denis Ovens
Paul Lim 6-5 Alan Tabern
Gary Anderson 6-4 Steve Maish
Colin Lloyd 6-3 Steve Brown
Ronnie Baxter 6-4 Darin Young
Losers £500

Quarter-Finals
Chris Thompson 6-5 Phil Taylor
Simon Whitlock 6-5 Ken MacNeil
Gary Anderson 6-2 Paul Lim
Colin Lloyd 6-2 Ronnie Baxter
Losers £1,000

Semi-Finals
Simon Whitlock 6-2 Chris Thompson
Gary Anderson 6-2 Colin Lloyd
Losers £1,500

Final
Gary Anderson 6-4 Simon Whitlock
Winner £6,000
Runner-Up £3,000

Win Simon Whitlock darts here at “Darts, Beers & Cheers!”

It’s competition time again!

*** COMPETITION CLOSED ***

Thanks to Red Dragon Darts, we have another great darting prize – the lovely ‘gold tipped’ Simon Whitlock darts (22 gram).  The darts feel fantastic in the hand, quite smooth but with some grip (so not a heavy gripped dart).  The barrels are quite thick, so spread the weight well (they feel lighter than my 22 gram Merv Kings for example)

The darts are brand new, with only 9 test throws by myself to ensure they fly OK     You can see in the pictures that the darts come with a nice soft leather case, two sets of Red Dragon flights, and two sets of stems (red and black).

How to enter the competition?

Something different this time… I want you to design a set of flights – let your imagination run wild.  Fun, serious, favourite player theme… whatever you think will impress me!  (nothing X rated please!)  Get yourself over to the Red Dragon flight designer (pretty swish it is too), and create a design.

You can pick any either of the flight shapes, it’s up to you!  The designer lets you add text (colour it, turn it on any angle), and upload images.  Once you have a design you like, use the old “alt & printscreen” button combination to take a screen-shot, paste it into any paint package, and save it to a jpeg format (hopefully your software will let you do that!).

Rules and stuff

I will accept TWO designs per person.

*** COMPETITION CLOSED ***

..by midnight, Wednesday 9th June (just over a week from posting this). I should contact the winner by the end of Thursday night (to give me some judging time).

The design should be non X rated, i.e. nothing too shocking please, I want to show the design off on this site

I will TRY and get the prize out Friday 11th June – otherwise it will be the following Monday as I am at the darts over that weekend    You don’t need to send me your address until I contact you if you have won.

The Red Dragon designer must be used for your designs to be considered, and my decisions are final.

Good luck!  I look forward to seeing your design(s).  Krispy.

Premier League 2010 Final – Best match of all time?

Well well well.. I’ve been discussing the possibility of TWO 9 Darters in one match for a while now… and Phil Taylor only went and did it!!!    What a game – Phil hitting two 9 darters.. and JUST missed another – for a 10 darter… and only beat James Wade 10-8 in the final .. imagine that!  You’ve got to say hats off to Wade for keeping up with that – show’s what form he is in at the moment.

That’s the very first time EVER that any player has hit two 9 darters (the perfect leg) in one match – and it’s even more impressive as it was done over a short format game (18 legs).  It might be some time until we see its like again – or maybe we’ll only have to wait until the UK Open?

OK it was a day late (got to pity the fans who could not make todays date), but I doubt you’d ever see a better game of darts .. until the Power does it all again!  Two nine darters in only 18 legs.. ULTIMATE DARTS!  In the leg after the 2nd 9 darter, Phil threw 7 more perfect darts… make it 16 perfect darts in a row – has that every been done before?

He had to hit two nine darters to beat me 10-8  – James Wade

Other highlights;  Stephen Fry commentating alongside Sid Waddell – he’s a true darts fan.  His line “he’s like a pig in chardonnay” ranks up there with the best of Sid’s lines.

I was also pleased that the crowd were pretty well behaved, and only booed ‘a bit’ – and let Merv throw .. but it wasn’t a good night for the King, as he was totally overpowered.. by the Power.

The final game of this year’s premier league has to rank as one of the greatest finals (if not games) of all time – right up there with the greats.  Hats off to James Wade too – he played his part in that – and it took something pretty special to beat him.

For your special viewing pleasure – here are the two 9 darters from Phil Taylor…

Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts Play-Offs
May 24 – Wembley Arena, London
Semi-Finals
Simon Whitlock 6-8 James Wade
Phil Taylor 8-1 Mervyn King

THIRD PLACE PLAY-OFF
MERVYN KING 8-7 SIMON WHITLOCK

FINAL

Phil Taylor 10-8 James Wade
Averages: 111.67 vs 100.08
Doubles: 48% vs 47%