Toeing the Oche

The importance of what Simon “The Thunder from Down Under”  Whitlock accomplished at the World Championships can not be discounted. His plan could be the road map for other “non Europeans” on how to fnd success on the PDC Tour. Canadian John Part was the original trailblazer  in the last century. “Make a commitment to play in the UK, stay there the year, play and learn.” Those sage words come from John Kramer an American Star during their Golden Age Darts. “You can’t be competitive playing the occasional tournament. Either be a professional dart player or stay home and drink beer.”


Gibraltar Players Championship

Two names were missing for this opening weekend of the Players Championship.  One was Phil Taylor who had a serious virus that came close to scratching him from night one of the Premier league and a rematch with Whitlock.   That meant that the regular fsh swimming in the Mediterranean around the Rock of Gibraltar were in a feeding frenzy with the “Shark” away the fsh would play. Also AWOL was Simon Whitlock who stayed in Aussie were he won the singles and men’s double at the West Coast Classic in East Perth, W.A.  Total cash haul for Whitlock was $1,300 Aussie which.   The two day Players Championships could have used Dinah Washington singing “What a Difference a Day Makes”. A fav of the Old Dart Coach.  Worlds # 8 Colin “Jaws” Lloyd drew frst blood being tested only once on his way to the £ 6,000 frst place check. That was against Tony Eccles 6-5. The fnal against Wayne Jones was over early as Lloyd build a 5-0 lead then fnished with a 6-2 win.

Denis Ovens hadn’t won a title in two-and-a-half years or been in a fnal in 16 months. While Lloyd was on his way to a win on Saturday,  Ovens would go out in the 3rd round 6-5.  The next day Lloyd went out in the third round losing 6-5 to Steve Evans. “What a Difference a Day Makes”.  Early on Ovens had an easy time winning 36 legs while dropping only 13. The fnal was a different kettle of fsh. Ovens took the early lead 4-2 built upon a pair of 180’s. Gary Anderson leveled at 4 with fnishes of 78 and 96.  Ovens got one leg from the win when he made 120 disappear though Anderson would level at 5. Anderson had no answer for Ovens’ 180 or  96 fnish that  left Anderson looking on helplessly a 6-5 runner-up.  Another winner was Matt Clark who picked up £3,000 for the year’s frst 9 darter.


Premier Night 4 Premier League

It was a crowd of more than 8,000 at the 02 Arena in Greenwich for opening night of the 14 week  Premier league. The highlight of the evening was to be the highly anticipated  rematch of this years World Championships fnal between Phil Taylor and Simon Whitlock.  First on stage racing to the best of 14 legs was a rejuvenated “Rocket” Ronnie Baxter toeing up against Terry Jenkins.  Baxter’s frst appearance in the League seemed to be going swimmingly well when he got to a 7-5 lead. It was a match where both players failed to hold serve on numerous occasions with missed doubles.  Jenkins took the fnal two legs for a “kissing your sister “ 7-7 draw. “Yea it’s OK but nothing to be proud of”, reminds the Old Dart Coach.

Sky Sports Wildcard  player Adrian Lewis started off like gangbusters against 2009 runnerup Mervyn King.  Lewis’s won the frst leg in 14 darts with a 177 to leave 24. The second he took in 12 darts backed by a T80 for 2-0 lead. King got on the board with a 12 darter then capitalized with a Lewis missed the double to level. 

Lewis regained the lead against the darts when King answered with 3 on the trot for a 5-3 lead.  Lewis scrambled back to level at 5 when King lowered the hammer. He took the next three one in 14 darts, one in 13 using the Old Dart Coaches favorite out of double 1 and then double 4 for a 8-5 win. King averaged 101 but wasn’t happy. “I'm using some new darts and still getting used to them, and believe me there is plenty of room for improvement."

Defending Premier Champion James Wade made an auspicious start to 2010 league play when he lost to Raymond van Barneveld 8-5.  Wade had a 3-2 lead after fve only to see Barney turn the match around running the off four straight for a 6-3 lead. Barney snatched defeat from victory in the 10th leg after scores of 140,180 and 145 to leave 36 after 9. Wade accepted the gift of the leg with double tops.  Wade had shots at tops in the next legs but couldn’t convert as Barney would take a 8-5 win.

The words of Yank John Kramer might help explain Simon Whitlock’s sub par performance in a rematch of the World Championships fnal  against Phil Taylor.   “Make a commitment to play in the UK.” Whitlock choose to play  in his homeland of Australia so just might not have been ready for “The Power”.  Taylor, who got out of sickbed, was not sharp early with his doubles. He would miss 8 doubles going down 2-1 but won the 4th leg with double 5. Taylor took the 5th leg with a “Rembrandt “ 12 darter.  Up 3-2 Taylor again missed doubles which allowed Whitlock’s 80 fnish to level the match 3-3 at the break. Resisting the urge to write “ Taylor turned the “Power on after the break” he did to take the next 5 for the 8-5 win. In that run Taylor had three 12 darters and a 103 fnish for the 8-3 win. “I got better as the game went on but Simon wasn't at his best either,” said Taylor which could be echoing  JK’s words.