{"id":6052,"date":"2023-07-24T13:01:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T13:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/07\/column-hr418-beau-is-bodacious\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:17:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:17:52","slug":"column-hr418-beau-is-bodacious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/07\/column-hr418-beau-is-bodacious\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR418 BEAU IS BODACIOUS!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, July 24, 2023
\n<\/strong>Column HR418\u00a0<\/strong>
\nBEAU IS BODACIOUS!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 7 top women and one \u201cI Feel Like a Woman\u201d toed the oche for the second Women\u2019s World Matchplay – the winner would bank \u00a310,000.\u00a0 The show\u00a0opened with\u00a0a collage of women\u2019s legends of darts.\u00a0 Shame on the PDC for ignoring the fact that there were great female dart players well before\u00a0those\u00a0that they featured – Maureen Flowers, Linda Barren,\u00a0Sonja\u00a0Ralphs, Mandy Solomons, Yoko Koyoma, Sandy Reitan-Green, Kathy Maloney, Kathy Karpowich, Deta Headman and Stacy Bromberg, among others.<\/p>\n

The quarter finals were all sets of 7 with the 7+one ladies qualifying via the Women\u2019s Series with seeding based on their series performance.\u00a0\u00a0The big favorite going in had to be 19-year-old Beau Greaves.\u00a0\u00a0It would be out of order to call her \u201cBodacious\u201d Beau (after the famous bucking bull named Bodacious)\u00a0who took pleasure in beating the cowboys and then stomping the.\u00a0\u00a0Everyone knows that a female “bull\u201d doesn\u2019t exist, regardless of the \u201cwoke\u2019 culture.<\/p>\n

Beau\u2019s opening match was \u201cun-Beau-like” as she averaged only 82.36 in dispatching “I Feel Like a\u00a0Woman\u201d Noa-Lynn van Leuven 4-0.\u00a0 It would be inappropriate to write that “Beau left van Leuven\u2019s junk on the floor of the stage of the Winer Gardens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Captain of Ireland (Robyn Byrne) would face the Captain of Wales (Rhian O’Sullivan) in a \u201cwing ding doodle\u201d of a tussle.\u00a0 Byrne, throwing first, would be level with Sullivan at 2.\u00a0 O’Sullivan, well known for her scoring prowess, strung together three T40 trips with a 81-finish to break going up 3-2.\u00a0 Byrne broke back in 17 forcing a decider as O’Sullivan’s scoring disappeared with only one big triple in 18 darts.\u00a0 Undaunted, O’Sullivan got to 40 with Byrne at 95 which disappeared in 2 darts with T19 and d19.<\/p>\n

Mikuru Suzuki is the best women player not under King Charles’ reign – not only that but her walk on music, \u201cLittle Shark,\u201d had the Winter Gardens rocking.\u00a0 True fact – introducer John McDonald\u2019s head was bobbin’ like he was doing the “Walk Like an Egyptian”.\u00a0\u00a0Throwing first Suzuki went ahead 2-1.\u00a0\u00a0That became 3-1 with a 76-close against Netherlands’ Aileen de Graaf.\u00a0 de Graaf narrowed to 2-3 when a 13-darter by Suzuki, her best, closed the door.<\/p>\n

The final quarter-final match promised high level darts.\u00a0 Promises are made to be broken and this one was – both Lisa Ashton and Fallon Sherrock have played better.\u00a0 Their combined finishes 5 of 25 speaks volumes as do their averages in the high 70s.\u00a0\u00a0After 4 legs, the two ladies were level using darts of 22, 21, 21 and 19.\u00a0\u00a0Lisa Ashton secured a 3-2\u00a0lead\u00a0when Sherrock fired back with a 94-close and 12 darts to level once again.\u00a0\u00a0Ashton, with the darts, had her best leg of 16 darts to take the 7th\u00a0leg and the 4-3 win.\u00a0 Sherrock, last year’s Matchplay winner, was sent home (she missed 5 from\u00a050 to have won the 5th<\/sup>\u00a0leg which would have put her one leg from victory).<\/p>\n

Beau Greaves and Robyn Byrne would meet in the first semi-final with the format moving to first to 5.\u00a0\u00a0Beau is likable not only for being a great player but also for her facial expressions which tell the story of how she feels.\u00a0\u00a0A missed double or a wayward dart brings out the \u201cWhiskey Tango Foxtrot\u201d look.\u00a0\u00a0Her walk on music, \u201cRockin\u2019 All Over The World,\u201d takes the Old Dart Coach back to the Mediterranean Open (Malaga) where the disco blared it constantly.\u00a0 The song, by the way, was written by John Fogerty with the big recording by Status Quo in 1977.<\/p>\n

If Robyn Byrne was still thinking of her 95-out allowing her into the semis those dreams disappeared when Beau Greaves broke in 14 darts leading 1-nil.\u00a0 Byrne leveled at 1 and 2, actually leading 3-2.\u00a0\u00a0In 14, 15 and 13 darts Greaves would secure a spot in the finals 5-3.<\/p>\n

Mikuru Suzuki averaged 92.16, best ever, to reach the semifinals over Lisa Ashton’s meager 76.\u00a0 Suzuki opened a 3-0 lead by breaking, holding, then breaking again with\u00a0a ton finish.\u00a0 In the first three legs Ashton would never see a double.\u00a0 That changed when Ashton got 2 back in 24 and 18 darts.\u00a0 Ashton\u2019s first win came after Suzuki missed 4 doubles.\u00a0 Suzuki would lead 4-3 when a T80 left her 16 which she took out for the win 5-3.<\/p>\n

If the final was the best example of women\u2019s darts – it was a rather ugly Picasso painting.\u00a0 \u201cTorn softball or spinach on the teeth\u201d come to mind.\u00a0\u00a0For all intents and purposes, the outcome was decided in the first leg…<\/p>\n

Against the darts from 121 Suzuki left 43 as Greaves sat on 64.\u00a0 Suzuki\u2019s first dart hit 24 leaving 19 in real time but in Suzuki time she saw 40 left.\u00a0 Her first dart missed double tops and the last a 20 for a bust.\u00a0 Greaves took the leg and the next 5.\u00a0 Suzuki, who rarely shows emotion, was given away by her \u201cmoon-like face\u201d as it turned as red as the sun on the flag of Japan.<\/p>\n

Suzuki would garner one leg that showed how far off the boil she was.\u00a0 With 46 left and going for the 6 to leave tops she hit d10 followed by d13.\u00a0 Greaves would win 6-1 to take her first Matchplay title in her first attempt.\u00a0 For her afternoon\u2019s work she\u00a0earned \u00a310,000.\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

Recap<\/u><\/p>\n