Arron Monk claimed a brilliant double at the weekend, with victories in the PDC Unicorn Youth Tour Event’s one and three at the Moorways centre in Derby.

Photo: Lawerence Lustig/PDC

The 2011 Under-21 World Champion whitewashed both James Hubbard and Michael Smith, who won the second event, in final triumphs on consecutive days.

Monk, who plays Raymond van Barneveld in the inaugural European Tour Event in Austria next weekend, collected over £1000 in prize money for his excellent efforts.

He said: “It’s absolutely brilliant, I’m over the moon. This will be my last year on the Youth Tour and I want to make it count. My aim is to win 14 of the 21 events so this is a great start.”

“Last year was frustrating for me. I had a bad patch and was changing my darts and trying to improve my game, and it just didn’t happen for me on the Youth Tour.

“I’ve been practising for a while now with a different throw, where my darts flick up more in the board instead of laying flat, but I’ve never had the guts to try it in tournaments before this weekend.

“Chris Aubrey persuaded me to try in Derby because we’ve been practising together ahead of this and I’ve been hitting 180s and 140s for fun, so it’s a massive boost for my confidence that it’s worked so well.”

Monk’s route to glory in Saturday’s Event one included victories over Aubrey and Smith before overcoming Hubbard 4-0 in the final with a commanding performance, in which he produced a stunning 150 checkout.

After reaching the last 16 in Event two, Monk returned on Sunday to win Event three, beating Co Stompe Jnr and Jamie Lewis amongst others, before another 4-0 victory in the final.

By Chris Murphy

Simon Whitlock tightened his grip on a McCoy’s Premier League play-off place after claiming his third successive victory, with an 8-4 triumph over Raymond van Barneveld, while James Wade remains firmly in the hunt for a semi-final spot after sharing the spoils with Andy Hamilton in Bournemouth.

Photo: Lawerence Lustig/PDC

Whitlock moved onto 14 points after getting the better of ‘Barney’, who won back to back tournaments at the weekend.

‘The Wizard’, who produced two fabulous ton-plus checkouts on his way to victory, said: “The 155 was lovely, as was the 116, and they changed the match. I’m not satisfied with being on 14 points; I want at least another two or four points to make sure I’m in the Play-Offs.”

Whitlock sits in second place, three points ahead of James Wade, who earned a hard fought point against Hamilton.

‘The Machine’ hit four 180’s and took out finishes of 116 and 114, but was matched all the way by ‘The Hammer’.

Adrian Lewis joined Wade on eleven points and moved into the top four, after inflicting Phil Taylor’s first defeat of the season, while Kevin Painter kept his semi-final hopes alive, with a win over Gary Anderson.

Van Barneveld’s defeat against Whitlock meant the Dutchman dropped out of the play-off places, but he is still in strong contention and just a point behind Lewis and Wade.

‘Barney’ will be aiming to make a return to the top half when he faces Hamilton in Liverpool next Thursday. Wade takes on Painter at the Echo Arena, while Whitlock, who faces ‘The Power’, could officially seal qualification.

By Chris Murphy

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