Thursday, October 24, 2024
Column HR471
DOWN THE TUNGSTEN TRAIL…
The Tungsten Trail weaved a circuitous route this week with stops at the Philadelphia Social Club, Leicester’s Mattioli Arena and the Gambrinus Czech Darts Open in Prague.
The Championships Dart Circuit held their season ending Continental Cup in the city of Brotherly Love. Stowe Buntz, with sporting a soup bowl haircut, was back to defend the title he won last year. Although a defending champion Buntz was seeded 3rd with Leonard Gates being the number #1 seed. As they were on different sides of the bracket if a meeting were to occur it would be in the final.
The first round of 16 to 8 went with the seed except for the #8 spot. Gary “The Mailman” Mawson was #8 with Doug Boehm #9. Why is Mawson called the “Mailman”? Because like hoopster Karl “The Mailman” Malone, Mawson usually delivers. That’s the ODC’s story and he’s sticking with it. This time the “Mailman” failed to deliver losing 4-5 as he missed 5 doubles to win 3 losing legs.
Leonard Gates coasted into the finals when he broke a 4-4 tie against Alex Spellman, winning 7-5. Canadian Jim Long fell behind Stowe Buntz 5-6 on the road to 7 legs. Buntz missed match darts allowing Long to erase 52 using 3. Buntz was sitting on 90 but only collected 57, 33. Long used 2, taking out 40 to head to the final.
Gates started off the final like a four-alarm fire taking 4 of the first 5 legs. Gates led 6-4 when his power disappeared, and a missed double gave Long his first lead since the initial leg. Gates slammed the door with a pair of 16-darters but in the decider Long couldn’t close with 3 from 76. All hail the champ.
Can’t take a road but will fly from Philadelphia, via the internet, to Leicester’s Mattioli Arena for the Women’s and Tranny PDC Series #21-24. The distance is 3,520.6 miles for those that care. There was a post:
A tranny is a woman.
A tranny is a woman.
A tyranny is a woman.
That brought the following response:
My Kia is a Mercedes.
My Kia is a Mercedes.
My Kia is a Mercedes.
Point taken.
Noa-Lynn van Leuven took series #21 when “it” swamped Beau Greaves 5-3 (with an average of 109.64) after trailing 1-3. In series #22 Beau Greaves got the win over Fallon Sherrock 5-1. Sherrock had reached the finals, handing van Leuven a 5-1 trashing in the semifinals.
On Sunday, with Greaves MIA, all interest focused on the battle between Fallon Sherrock and Mikuru Suzuki for a place in the PDC World Championship. Sherrock had a £2,100 lead over Mikuru Suzuki. They met in the Sunday opening final with Sherrock handling Suzuki a 5-2 loss to secure her place at the Ally Pally. Suzuki reached the final after defeating van Leuven 5-3.
The two ladies were battling for a place in the Paddy Power World Dart Championships in December. van Leuven and Sherrock, were second and third respectively, on the Women’s Series Order of Merit following the conclusion of the 2024 season on Sunday. The top winner of the series, Beau Greaves, instead will play in the WDF Lakeside Championship. With van Leuven headed to the PDC World Championships that means Deta “The Queen” Headman will play in the Lakeside event. To date, the only Norte American to make the Lakeside Women’s field is Paula Murphy (USA). Leonard Gates and Jason Brandon as of now are both in the Lakeside field.
New faces appeared in the final event #24 as the final saw Angela Kirkwood face off against Anastasia Dobromyslova. The deciding leg was a “humdinger.” Angela Kirkwood unloaded a 13-darter to claim her first Women’s Series win.
We end this week’s Tungsten Trail in the Capital of the Czech Republic in Prague with the Gambrinus Czech Darts Open. Falling just a week after the Grand Prix, it tested the players’ fitness. Last year, Luke Humphries started his run at the Grand Prix and continued it in the Czech capital.
There is a saying that revenge is best served cold. Nay, nay cries the Old Dart Coach. Serve it hot, early and with vile intent…
Luke Littler was dumped early in the Grand Prix while being the betting favorite. In typical Peter Wright fashion, he changed darts in the players’ mid-week championships. How did the move work?
Against Nathan Aspinall, Wright was the unfortunate victim of Littler’s “take that.” Luke won the match 6-1 with an average of 110.43 finishing with 91, a 12-darter T28 (T18, T18, d10), 88 and 12-darter T24 points (T20, T14, d11). Later, Littler would beat MvG 6-1 in a match where MvG had the higher average – 112.19 to 110.57. “How could MvG lose?” asked a gentleman on Facebook? Simple – Littler had had legs of 11, 12, 2-13s, a 14 and a 15.
Mike De Decker looked as though he was going to mirror Luke Hmphries who won the Grand Prix and then the Czeck Open. That was until the quarterfinals when he ran into Luke Humphries, suffering a 6-2 defeat. De Decker got out scored 103.19.
Luke Humphries was cursing as he met Luke Littler in the semifinals. It was the epitome of professional darts. Both players played well enough to win. Humphries averaged 108.56 to Litler’s 106.73. Many times, the outshot numbers are meaningless but in this match they tell the difference as both had 13 chances with Humphries connecting on 7 and Littler on 4.
The final matched Kim Huybrechts against Humphries. Had Huybrechts walked on stage wearing socks, a reasonable assumption, he would have left the stage sockless as Humphries blew them off in an 8-1 win. Five of the legs won by Humphries were 3-12s, a 13 and a 14. Humphries three dart average was 105.57 to Huybrechts 86.14.
This week the PDC will invade Westfalenhalle, Germany for the European Darts Championship where the top 32 from the 2024 European Tour Order of Merit will battle it out for £600,000 in prize money. Here in the US of A tungsten twirlers head to Myrtle Beach for the Ghost on the Coast.
Finally, from ODC’s friend Ms. Pattie who sent a note reminding all women that the flying season, Halloween, is approaching at warp speed. “Be prepared by having your broom checked by a certified expert. Also don’t use a dollar store broom as they fail at high speeds.”
Oh yes, Geico can provide broom insurance.
Stay thirsty, my friends.
