September 2012

Michael van Gerwen produced some fabulous performances as he stormed to his third ProTour title of 2012 in Barnsley on Saturday.

The 23-year-old Dutchman, who recently hit a nine-darter in the Betfair World Matchplay, continued his fantastic form to win Players Championship 11, beating Ian White 6-1 in the final.

“I’m so happy to win because I’ve played really well all day,” said van Gerwen.

“I felt good and the further I went in the tournament I played better and better. That showed in the final and it gives me great confidence going forward.

“If I keep playing like this there is no reason I can’t that do really well in next week’s European Championships.”

‘Mighty Mike’ swept past William O’Connor and Mark Frost before triumphing 6-4 over Darren Webster in the last 16.

He then whitewashed Gary Anderson, with a 102.48 average, to set up a semi-final clash against World Championship runner-up Andy Hamilton.

Van Gerwen raised the bar again in the last four, defeating ‘The Hammer’ 6-2, before producing an even better performance to beat White.

The Dutch star won the first leg with a neat 78 finish, only for White to level up by taking out 148.

van Gerwen took the next leg in 13 darts and never looked back, hitting another 78 checkout to go 3-1 in front.

14 and 13 dart legs followed, giving ‘Mighty Mike’ a 5-1 advantage.

And he finished the job, hitting double eight to claim the £6,000 title.

Simon Whitlock reached the quarter-finals with some strong performances, most notably a 6-1 win over Dennis Smith, in which the Australian ace averaged over 112.

Mervyn King also reached the last eight after defeating Arron Monk, Denis Ovens and Paul Nicholson, who showed a return to form by winning his board.

‘The Asset’ saw off Gareth Pass, Kevin Dowling and Stuart Kellet on his way to the last 16.

Sunday sees the twelfth Players Championship take place, the last ProTour event to count towards qualification for next month’s PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix in Dublin.

By Chris Murphy

Enjoy The VIP Experience, Tonbridge with Raymond van Barneveld,  James Wade and more on Oct 20. Click here to book now.

Images courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC

The draw for the 2012 PartyPoker.Net European Championship was made on Sunday evening, after the qualifiers were confirmed following the completion of the German Darts Masters.

The 32-strong field, which includes nine MODUS associated players, is made up of the top 16 players from the PDC Order of Merit, eight qualifiers from the Pro-Tour Order of Merit and a further eight from the European Order of Merit.

The first round draw sees James Wade take on Colin Lloyd in an all English affair, while Raymond van Barneveld faces Terry Jenkins.

Australian pair Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson will face Mark Walsh and Andy Hamilton respectively.

Mark Webster has been granted a rematch with Andree Welge, Mervyn King is up against Kevin Painter and Vincent van der Voort takes on Kim Huybrechts.

Michael van Gerwen was handed a tie against Andy Smith, while Co Stompe faces Richie Burnett.

The PartyPoker.net European Championship will be held from September 20-23 in Muelheim, Germany and screened live on ESPN.

The schedule of play will be confirmed in due course.

PartyPoker.net European Championship Draw

(MODUS associated players in bold)

Phil Taylor (1) v Magnus Caris
Jerry Hendriks v Mensur Suljovic
Mark Webster (8) v Andree Welge
Justin Pipe v Brendan Dolan
Andy Hamilton (5) v Paul Nicholson
Ronnie Baxter v Michael Rosenauer
Wes Newton (4) v Tomas Seyler
Mervyn King v Kevin Painter
Adrian Lewis (2) v Ian White
Kim Huybrechts v Vincent van der Voort
Terry Jenkins (7) v Raymond van Barneveld
Michael van Gerwen v Andy Smith
Simon Whitlock (6) v Mark Walsh
Dave Chisnall v Gino Vos
James Wade (3) v Colin Lloyd
Richie Burnett v Co Stompe

By Chris Murphy

Enjoy The VIP Experience, Tonbridge with Raymond van Barneveld,  James Wade and more on Oct 20. Click here to book now.

James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld led the MODUS charge in the German Darts Masters at at the Glaspalast in Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart.

Both players reached the semi-finals of the European Tour Event, which saw Mark Webster achieve a nine-dart finish, but it was Adrian Lewis who took the £15,000 title.

Wade defeated Kurt Van De Rijck, Steve Beaton, and Nigel Heydon en route to the quarter-finals, where he and Simon Whitlock played out the match of the tournament, with both players posting huge averages of over 105.

‘The Machine’ ran out as the 6-3 winner, only to be denied a place in the final by Lewis.

Whitlock had seen off Tonci Restovic, Magnus Caris and Wayne Jones before losing out to Wade.

Webster began his campaign in sensational style on Friday evening, hitting a fabulous nine-dart finish in his first leg on the Stuttgart stage. However the Welshman was denied victory by home favourite Andree Welge.

Mervyn King also missed out on a place in the last 32, after Michael Mansell egded a last leg decider.

Mansell also went on to take the scalp of Paul Nicholson in round two, after ‘The Asset’ had claimed an impressive first round victory over Dean Winstanley, defeating the Yorkshireman 6-2.

Arron Monk had a fantastic first round win, defeating Ronnie Baxter 6-2, but the former Under-21 World Champion bowed out to an in-form Robert Thornton.

‘The Thorn’ went on to produce a stunning performance in the last 16, whitewashing Wes Newton 6-0, with a 107 average to boot.

But the UK Open champion’s bid was ended in the quarter-finals by eventual runner-up Ian White, who had earlier become the second player to achieve a nine-dart finish over the weekend.

White also put paid to Raymond van Barneveld’s bid for a second European Tour triumph, beating the Ducthman 6-4.

‘Barney’ had seen off Mark Dudbridge, Colin Osborne,Welge and Vincent van der Voort in his run to the last four.

van der Voort defeated Maik Langendorf, Stuart Kellet and Jerry Hendriks in an impressive run the quarter-finals.

By Chris Murphy

Enjoy The VIP Experience, Tonbridge with Raymond van Barneveld,  James Wade and more on Oct 20. Click here to book now.

Images courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC

The local qualifiers for The Untouchables event in Eastbourne on Friday October 19 have been confirmed as Jim Withers and Dave Creasy.

The pair will compete against six professional stars at The Winter Garden next month.

Seven-time major title winner James Wade and five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld will be appearing in the tournament, alongside Vincent van der Voort, Dennis Priestley, Tony O’Shea and Terry Jenkins.

Withers and Creasy are both well-known players in the area and will be looking to topple the PDC players.

Withers has form for defeating professionals, notably beating Johnny Haines in the final of the 2012 Red Dragon Eastbourne Open.

He said: “I play professional players regularly and I’m always confident of beating them.

“I’m looking forward to playing some top players in this event and if I play like I can, I think I stand a good chance against whoever I’m drawn against.”

Creasy, 48, also believes he could cause an upset or two on the night.

He added: “I’m looking forward to it and I’ll give it a good go. If I can hit my doubles like I did in qualifying then I’m in with a chance.”

Tickets (from £25) for THE UNTOUCHABLES, Eastbourne Winter Garden, Fri 19 October are available by calling 08450 180 180 or via www.dartshop.tv

By Chris Murphy

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