{"id":6081,"date":"2023-11-30T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T12:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/11\/column-hr439-now-it-begins\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:17:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:17:42","slug":"column-hr439-now-it-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/11\/column-hr439-now-it-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR439 NOW IT BEGINS…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday, November 30, 2023
\n<\/strong>Column HR439\u00a0<\/strong>
\nNOW IT BEGINS…<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the first couple verses of the “sports” anthem\u00a0Sweet Caroline<\/em>\u00a0comes the refrain…<\/p>\n

Sweet Caroline<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Good times never seemed so good<\/em>
\nI’ve been inclined<\/em>
\nTo believe they never would<\/em>
\nBut now I\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For dart fans the good times mark the start of the Championship season.\u00a0 It all begins on Saturday, December 2 (through the 10th) with the World Darts Federation Lakeside World Championship.\u00a0 Some would say, \u201cThis Is It” (as in the old Huey Lewis and the News hit).<\/p>\n

The Old Dart Coach admits he knows little of the men competing.\u00a0 When the starting gun goes off December 2 there will be 16 men and 8 ladies playing in the first round.<\/p>\n

For the ladies Beau Greaves is expected to dominate the field. \u00a0That\u2019s not an earth-shaking\u00a0prediction.\u00a0\u00a0Many feel she\u2019s not only the best current female player but the best of all time.\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible to judge players from different eras.<\/p>\n

North America\u2019s lone lady entrant is Ms. Paul Murphy.\u00a0 She gets no soft draw when she meets Spain\u2019s Almudena Fajardo which in other circumstances could be a final at any tournament.\u00a0 The problem is that it isn\u2019t the final but round\u00a01.\u00a0 Ms. Fajardo, a soft point player, made her impact in steel darts in 2022.\u00a0 In the WDF Europe Cup she advanced to the finals beating Deta Hedman along the way to the final – losing to Beau Greaves 7-4.\u00a0 A win by Murphy, a good bet, advances her to round 2.<\/p>\n

Three male Yanks constitute the North American contingent.\u00a0 New\u00a0ADO President Jim Widmayer gets the call on Day 1 against Patrik Kovacs of Hungry.\u00a0 Widmayer has a good chance to advance as Kovacs, although he has been around for some time, has been successful mostly in smaller events.\u00a0 Widmayer has been consistent for years.\u00a0 He was seen recently in an almost 15-minute interview posted at the ADO website.<\/p>\n

Leonard Gates will play Brian Corbett of New Zealand.\u00a0 Gates has become a favorite in England following his two victories in senior events.\u00a0 A\u00a0formidable player in both steel and soft point, he has trouble with counting, relying on his ability to hit \u201cnot popular” out shots.<\/p>\n

The final Yank to make an appearance is Danny Lauby who comes in as the #6 seed.\u00a0 Lauby will face the winner of the first-round match between Jamie Lewis (WAL) and Jarno Bottenberg (NED).<\/p>\n

North America has been less than successful in these championships for years (a definite understatement).\u00a0 The late Javier Gopar and David Miller are the only two Americans to ever finish in the top four of the WDF’s World Championships.<\/p>\n

On December 15, the PDC World Championship kicks off at the Ally Pally –\u00a0where first place pays a handy \u00a3500,000 (as compared to \u00a350,000\u00a0for the men’s winner at Lakeside).\u00a0 A first round loser at the PDC event takes home \u00a37,500,\u00a0which is more than a Lakeside quarter finalist.\u00a0 All three players from Norte America have first round matches, drawing into difficult\u00a0brackets.<\/p>\n

Stowe Buntz who was so special at the Mr. Vegas Grand Slam will face #66 Kevin Doets of Netherlands.\u00a0 If Buntz is even close to his Grand Slam standards he should capture a win.\u00a0 That win gets him no break, except more money, as he\u2019ll then face #1 seed Michael Smith.\u00a0 On the bright side, Smith has been less that dominating of late.<\/p>\n

Alex Spellman draws into a more favorable bracket where he meets England\u2019s Ryan Joyce.\u00a0 Joyce is still looking for his first PDC win after securing his PDC tour card in 2018.\u00a0 This should be a win for Spellman.\u00a0 The win would put him in against #18 Stephen \u201cFamily Guy\u201d Bunting in round two.<\/p>\n

Jules van Dongen faces 51-year-old Darren Penhall born in England but who now lives and competes in Australia.\u00a0 He got his tour card in 2020 but has enjoyed little success so far.\u00a0 van Dongen, a transplanted Dutchman, has a better than 50-50 chance of advancing – where he would then face #14 Joe Cullen.\u00a0 van Dongen can run hot and cold.\u00a0 Hot and he advances.<\/p>\n

The two\u00a0ladies\u00a0competing face a steep climb to advance to round two.\u00a0 Fallon Sharrock has to get by a veteran\u00a0Jermaine Wattimena who\u2019s not been a winner lately. As an underdog, a win would put Sherrock against a beatable #26 Martin Schindler.<\/p>\n

“Miracle” Mikuru Suzuki faces the brilliant German Ricardo Pietreczko who got his tour card in 2022.\u00a0 He\u2019s been a big hit in the latter stages of 2023.\u00a0 He took the German championship this year and is ranked #39 in the PDC.\u00a0 Suzuki\u2019s record is well known but, alas, her draw puts her in deep water.<\/p>\n

The final championship event of the season is the Stacy Bromberg Senior Open – January 19-20, 2024, in Las Vegas.\u00a0 In addition to giving seniors a chance to play and win the tournament, the event will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.<\/p>\n

The associated auction will see\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0money raised going directly to Make-A-Wish.\u00a0 England\u2019s Roger Nickson donated a Watney\u2019s 1982-1986 London County shirt and artist\/darter Neil Dickson has donated \u201cone-of-kind\u201d copies of his famous dart paintings.\u00a0 These items and others donated by Mr. John Lowe, Bob Anderson, Jerry Umberger all go under the hammer on Saturday night, January 20, in Las Vegas at CD\u2019s Sports Lounge aka CD\u2019s Sport\u2019s Pub.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview, ADO President Jim Widmayer is sure to raise some eyebrows.\u00a0 That\u2019s especially true when he said,\u00a0I have my reasons I don\u2019t play CDC events.\u00a0 CDC doesn\u2019t care about their players and doesn\u2019t know what to do to gain more support, it\u2019s just their way and that\u2019s it.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a moment of Vice President Kamala Harris word salad Widmayer said,\u00a0The past problems of the organization is the biggest problem.\u00a0 <\/em>Then he added,\u00a0But yeah, looking to getting rid of past problems for the ADO.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The interviewer asked:\u00a0The ADO was always quite strongly linked to the BDO.\u00a0 Even linked in their problems.\u00a0 Is the link to the WDF now as strong (after all the vice president of the WDF is Buddy Bartoletta, an American who once was ADO president) and might that be helpful in reforming the ADO?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Widmayer’s response:\u00a0I talk with Buddy if I need direction.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The new ADO president took a step forward by admitting there were problems that have been denied for years.\u00a0 Good for him.\u00a0 What is not good is that Buddy Bartoletta, undeniably, was and is a huge part of the problem.<\/p>\n

Stay thirsty my friends.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent interview, ADO President Jim Widmayer is sure to raise some eyebrows.\u00a0 That\u2019s especially true when he said,\u00a0“I have my reasons I don\u2019t play CDC events.\u00a0 CDC doesn\u2019t care about their 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Reed","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/howie-reed\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In a recent interview, ADO President Jim Widmayer is sure to raise some eyebrows.\u00a0 That\u2019s especially true when he said,\u00a0\"I have my reasons I don\u2019t play CDC events.\u00a0 CDC doesn\u2019t care about their players...\"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":17,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"howie-reed","display_name":"Howie Reed","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/111howie.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/111howie.jpg"},"first_name":"Howie","last_name":"Reed","user_url":"http:\/\/www.dartoidsworld.com","job_title":"","description":"Astute, often controversial, and always humorous, the Old Dart Coach, Howie Reed (a former rodeo cowboy and advertising executive), is heralded as the Dean of Darts Chroniclers - the most prolific and widely followed writer ever about our sport. He goes back decades with the legends and knows where the skeletons are buried (just ask any of the ADO and WDF old-timers!). Here are four well-known facts about the Old Dart Coach: 1) he is a Republican, 2) he loves the ladies, 3) he can drink most anybody under the table, and 4) he throws darts as bad as Dartoid."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6090,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6081\/revisions\/6090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6081"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}