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PDC BUDWEISER UK OPEN 2005 DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP
In the largest field assembled to date 170 players would be whittled down to just one over 48 hours of hectic competition at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton with every dart broadcast live to the nation, courtesy of Sky Sports.
A few players had to play in a preliminary round before round one proper, including three times World Champion John Lowe. More about Lobo in a moment..
First up on the main stage was one of the heroes from last year James “Odd Job” Barton who disposed of Alex Roy and made a name for himself. In the first preliminary he was up against “The Snake Man” Steve Alker from Wales. Alker was a name we would hear a lot more of before the weekend was through and his stats from the game against the departing Barton were as follows : 1-0 (Alker checks out 137), 2-0 (Alker checks out 120), 3-0 (Alker checks out 121) and 4-0 for the match (Alker checks out 96). Incredible stuff a 100% checkout rate and a 97.0 average.
John Lowe took on Wantage’s Jimmy Pryde in his opener and had little trouble winning 4-2. PDC veteran Kevin Spiolek returned to top flight darts with a 4-3 win over Ireland’s Paul Dillon (seen at last year’s World Grand Prix). Belgian teenager Yoeri Raets impressed with a 4-2 win over Paul Everson and his fellow countryman Yves Cottenge beat Mark Holyoake by the same score. “The Cockney Jock” Jason Clark was edged out by Aaron Turner 4-3.
Steve Alker continued his winning way in the first round beating Al Hedman 4-0.
Next up was the kind of fairytale that only the UK Open can conjure. A 67 year old Italian waiter from Lewisham called Sergio Bongiovanni appeared on tv many years before as a competitor in I suppose the UK Open’s natural predecessor, the News Of The World tournament. His opponent was Portsmouth’s Ian Critchett. Critchett led 2-1, then 3-2 and it looked like ‘goodnight’ to the Italian. But some inspired darts saw him claw back and go through to round two with a 4-3 win.
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Into Round 2 and a rejuvanted Richie Burnett soundly beat ‘Fen Tiger’ Peter Evison 4-0. Burnett said that he had taken a couple of months away from darts and had come back with a real desire to win.
Another former world champ, Keith Deller seemed to be having a tough time against Surrey’s Jason Roberts at 2-2. However Deller’s experience showed through and he won 4-2 courtesy of a 100 checkout.
Other round two highlights included Rod Harrington scraping through against Witney’s Nigel Russell 4-2 and Andy Boulton ending the dreams of Sergio Bongiovanni with a 4-3 win. Snake fancier Steve Alker slithered through to round 4 with a 4-0 win over Rikki Blay and John Lowe continued to reel back the year’s with a 4-3 win over Mark Lawrence from Yorkshire (even going 6 darts into a possible perfect 9 en route).
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Round 3 and ‘Sparky’ Mark Landers took out the veteran Tom Kirby from County Kildaire 5-2, while Richie Burnett comfortably beat Keith Deller 5-0 in a battle of former World Champions.
‘Big’ Cliff Lazarenko showed some inspired form to take out PDC up & coming youngster Adrian Gray 5-1, while Dennis Smith scraped through 5-4 against Kevin Pearson from Surrey.
Andy Belton scraped through 5-4 against Andy Callaby and Steve Alker continued his charge with a 5-4 win over Gary Dobson.
Lionel Sams had no trouble with Glenn Moody and a 5-0 win and John Part beat Alan Warriner by the same score. John Lowe won again with an impressive 5-0 over Steve Johnson and Gary Welding beat a ‘mullet-less’ Steve Beaton 5-3 winning with a 109 checkout.
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Round 4 and the top 32 money ranked players from the regional finals entered the fray.
Andy Belton soared on beating Peter Allen 8-4 and Dave Askew beat Terry Jenkins 8-5.
Mark Walsh led 4-1 against ‘Flash’ Mark Dudbridge before the Bristolian clawed back to 4-4. Walsh however persevered through to an 8-5 win.
Colin Monk beat Alan Caves 8-5 and Barrie Bates beat the young Belgian Yoeri Raets 8-3.
Michael Barnard looked to have the measure of reigning UK Open champion Roland Scholten and was leading 7-3 with just one more leg needed to win. However some inspired form from the Dutchman showed that he wasn’t going to hand over his title that easily. He took 5 legs on the trot to win 8-7. In leg 14, Scholten narrowly missed a 9 darter shaving the final double 18.
Colin Lloyd got off to an impressive start beating Andy Hayfield 8-2, checking out a 120 and maximum 170 en route to victory. Darren Webster squeezed through 8-7 in a tight game against Matt Clark, while Belgian Erik Clarys started well with an 8-6 win over Stuart Rattray. Wayne Atwood beat the only lady in the tournament Deta Hedman 8-1 and Peter Manley beat Bolton’s Steve Coote 8-3.
Probably the most eagerly awaited tie of the round was Phil Taylor against Ronnie Baxter. Many thought that this could be the tournament where Taylor could be challenged and that Rocket Ronnie could be the man to do it. However Taylor got off to a blistering start leaving Baxter trailing because of some indifferent throwing. Before you could catch your breath Taylor was 6-1 up and averaging 102. However Baxter began to show his class, too late unfortunately, but he managed to claw the scoreline back to a respectable 8-6 to Taylor.
Wayne Mardle also flew out of the traps against James Wade but the Hampshire lad clawed the game back to overturn a 4-1 deficit to lead 6-5. Mardle took the next with a 104 checkout and that seemed the impetus he needed to take the next two legs as well for victory.
Chris Mason stormed through Paul Williams 8-1 and “Tommo” Mark Thomson took out Richie Burnett 8-4. John Lowe soared on with an 8-5 win over Darren Johnson and surprise of the round saw Kevin Painter fall to this year’s UK Open hero, Steve Alker by 6 legs to 8.
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Into the last 32 and a cracking match between Chris Mason and Colin Lloyd. Played to a very high standard Mason led 9-4 after taking 6 legs on the trot. Lloyd clawed two back taking it to 9-6 with a 90 checkout on the bull. Mason took the next and then Lloyd made it 10-7 with a 120 checkout. ‘Mase The Ace’ just needed one more leg though and he took it to win 11-7 in a match where he threw 7 x 180s and averaged 99.
Adrian Lewis had little trouble with Colin Monk winning 11-0 and Peter Manley beat Alan Reynolds 11-3. Erik Clarys went through to the last 16 beating Wayne Atwood 11-6 and Roland Scholten took out ‘Pie Man’ Andy Smith by the same score.
Snake fancier Steve Alker finally had to slither home after coming up against ‘The Power’. Taylor took a 5-0 lead and by the next interval it was 9-1. 11-1 at the end and Alker’s tremendous weekend came to an end. Last 16 though for Taylor.
Mark Walsh beat Andy Hamilton by an impressive 11 legs to 4 and Lionel Sams squeezed through against Barrie Bates 11-10. John Part took out Mark Landers 11-3, while ‘Diamond’ Dave Askew put an end to Darren Webster’s tournament with an 11-8 win.
It was a real case of the veteran against the young pretender as former World Champion Bob Anderson took on James Wade. Anderson took the early advantage leading 6-4 and he held the two leg advantage still at 8-6. Wade then won two legs in succession to tie the match and then another two to lead 10-8. Though Anderson took the next it was too late as Wade won 11-9 and booked his place in the final 16.
John Lowe played a belter against Andy Belton to win 11-4 and Alex Roy took out ‘Big’ Cliff Lazarenko 11-5.
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First match of the last 16 couldn’t have been any more dramatic as Roland Scholten took on the ‘Legend’ John Lowe. Lowe had the first break to lead 3-2 courtesy of a 101 checkout but Scholten came back to then lead 4-3 (Scholten averaging 104). Lowe squared it at 5-5 and then following missed doubles by the Dutchman, Lowe led 8-6. At 9-7 and following a 141 checkout many thought John Lowe was on his way to the quarters. But Roland Scholten isn’t in the top 5 for nothing. Bringing it back to 10-10 he took the last leg to go into the quarters, but what a tournament for ‘Lobo’.
Chris Mason was 4-2 down to Adrian Lewis early doors but in another high class encounter Mason came back to win 11-8. Mason also came within a whisker of a 9 darter shaving the wire of the final D18.
Alex Roy beat Dave Askew 11-3 and Mark Walsh beat Mark Thomson 11-8. Things were close between Lionel Sams and Colin Osborne for half of the match but it was Osborne that motored at the business end to win 11-6. Erik Clarys took out ‘The boosh’ Mark Holden 11-6 and Peter Manley put an end to James Wade’s tournament with an 11-4 win.
Tie of the round though was Phil Taylor against John Part. Recent Premier League form may have made punters think Taylor was a sure bet for the quarters, but the Canadian more than any other player has tested ‘The Power’ in recent years and this match was no exception. Incredibly Part took the first 4 legs averaging 102 before Taylor chalked up his first. Part then soared to 7-1 with Taylor averaging 99. But Taylor did what he does best and took out a 146 to make it 7-3. Part then showed his mettle with a 157 checkout against the darts to make it 8-3 but Taylor broke straight back. Part took it to 9-5, then 10-6 needing just one more leg for victory. Taylor dug in even though his average had dropped to 94 and pipped the remaining legs off one by one as Part’s nerve seemed to break. Finishing in spectacular style on 108 for the win, Taylor went through but perhaps no one will have a better chance of beating Taylor this year.
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Into the quarters and first up was Alex Roy against Peter Manley. Could ‘The Mouth From The South’ take on the ‘Amarillo’ man? Certainly Roy had shown a more mature approach of late but Manley would be a tough nut to crack. Too tough as it turned out for the Hertfordshire man. Manley turned a 5-3 lead into a 7-4 lead courtesy of a 164 checkout. That seemed to kick the last of the fight out of Roy and it was Manley who was in the semi’s.
Roland Scholten stormed to an 8-1 lead against Colin Osborne and victory soon followed 11-4. Mark Walsh had too many bullets for ‘The Sheriff’ Erik Clarys turning a 5-1 lead into an ultimate 11-3 win.
Many thought Phil Taylor against Chris Mason would be the match of the tournament but sadly not the case this time. Taylor led 6-0 with a 108 average to Mason’s 92 showing the difference in the two players in this particular match. Mason had to wait until the tenth to take a leg and by then of course the match was long gone. 11-2 to Taylor.
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Phil Taylor has always said that top quality opponents always bring the best out of you and there is always the chance of a 9 darter. They don’t come with much more quality than Roland Scholten and 9 darters don’t come more frequently than they do to Phil Taylor. For the second year in succession at the UK Open and for an incredible 3rd time on live tv (of the few other players that have hit 9 darters on tv none have done so more than once – Lowe, Lim and Greatbatch). The match was of course overshadowed by the remarkable feat and Scholten put in a reasonable performance but nowhere near enough to worry Taylor who whipped in a 156 to win 11-6.
Mark Walsh against Peter Manley was a poor match and it seemed the slow throw of ‘Walshie’ was grinding the fast chucking ‘One Dart’ down. At 8-6 Walsh was winning with only an 84 average showing the poor standard of this semi-final. 11-7 ultimately to Walsh.
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No one gave Mark Walsh a hope for the final particularly after the poor semi-final that he had been involved in. However while Walsh never looked like he could win the game, he didn’t disgrace himself at all and made the final a less predictable affair than many would have thought. He broke Taylor immediately to win the first leg but shortly after and with a 124 Taylor led 4-2. Taylor made it 5-2 with a 107 finish averaging 97. Walsh brought the match back to 4-6 courtesy of another break in the ninth leg and then 5-6 following another break. Taylor then took 4 legs on the spin and upped his average from a pedestrian 97 to over 100. Another brief fight back from Walsh as he broke Taylor again with a 111 checkout but two more to Taylor effectively put an end to the match. 13-7 to Taylor finishing on 96 and another title to ‘The Power’.
A gruelling day and Taylor said, “I’m absolutely shattered, this is the hardest tournament I have ever won.”