PDC Tournament Weekend in Barnsley
Still a little bit unsure after my snow adventure just before Christmas in London I was a little bit sceptical before I started to Barnsley. But
I had no problems this time neither to get there nor to get back.
The weather was not really nice but beside a Shopping stop in Manchester on the way to Wigan I had not much time for staying outside anyway.
I arrived in the hotel on Friday evening. The hotel was more or less fully booked with dartplayers and their friends and families and PDC
officials - probably rather uncommon for the hotel as Barnsley is not really a touristic centre. Walking down the hotel hall almost every second
room door looked like this. There is nothing much to see in town and the landscape is not really beautiful either though the Pennine Hills
between Manchester and Barnsley are delightful.
Saturday
On Saturday morning anticipating a rather long dart day I bougth some drinks and a snack - I intended to watch the Youth Tour event as well, one of the reasons I had travelled to Barnsley.
The venue in the Metrodome was well filled - it was a UK Open Qualifier and all PDPA players are allowed to play in those not only the Tour
Card holders. So around 140 players were there accompanied by family, friends and guests.
During the Preliminary Round matches I looked around. Taylor, van Barneveld and Wade didn't take part, there was no Ronnie Baxter either and some other players were missing too. It looks the changes in the registration still is a problem for the players, John MaGowan for example just had forgotten to register in time. From the German Tour Card holders only Michael Rosenauer was there - as one hears he'll be the only one who'll really use his Tour Card.
As always during the Pro Tour events it is a little bit difficult not to loose track, too many matches are played at the same time. Of course I watched Michael Rosenauer and think he played quite well and didn't let got till the end, he had his chances in his match against Steve Brown as well.
John Part, whom I watched as well for some time, plays a lot stronger then last year but I can't say whether it's the Fit Fligth System, the new
sponsor or the new girl friend. I think it's very good to see that whatever the reason is. His new dart setup at the moment looks like this.
Robert Thornton plays a lot better as well. Dave Chisnall seems to enjoy playing the Pro Tour very much and plays convincingly. Simon Whitlock with only one win in Premier League till now looks like he's back in form again. Wes Newton developed in a very strong player. The biggest surprise for me on Saturday certainly was Ian White who never before caught my eye but really earned it to reach Saturdays final.
Late in the afternoon when a lot of Pro Tour players already had left more and more youths appeared in the venue. A few of the Youth Tour players
had taken part in the Pro event as well - Shaun Griffiths was eliminated second round, Michael van Gerwen reached third round.
On one side of the hall the UK Open Qualifier was played to the end - Steve Brown was the winner - while on the other side the youth players started their tournament. All looked very well organised and eversthing run smoothly. When the Qualifier was over the youth took over the venue.
Fathers and sons
128 players took part in the Youth tournament, only one was a girl. As players between 14 and 21 years of age can take part both the looks and the skills were rather different. Some still were "little boys", some clumsy youths and some already young grown-ups. Those who in the end prevailed and showed the greatest skills all belonged to the young grown-ups already.The winner of the youth tournament - Shaun Griffiths - is sponsored by sky sports commentator John Gwynne. Till the qualifying school Shaun played BDO - he even took part in this years BDO World Championship.
He won the WDF Europe Cup Youth once and twice the BDO World Masters Youth and has some experience. In the qualifying school he manged to win a Tour Card and since then is a PDC player. He showed quite a commanding performance throughout the youth tournament.
Michael Smith - his opponent in the final - plays the PDC Pro Tour since 2008. In his quarter final against Michael van Gerwen he produced a nine-darter, probably the first in competition during his career. After this the PDC decided to reward nine-darter in the youth tour with some price money as well.
Some of the participants in the Youth Tour are sons of well-known players. Probably best known by now is Arron Monk, son of Colin Monk and the first PDC Youth World Champion. He is a rather talented player and to be sure not an opponent one likes to play. It's not without a cause his nickname is "Bad Monk".
Then we've got Jamie Green, son of BDO player Robbie "Kong" Green.
And Co Stompe junior who doesn't look very much like his father though as he he's tall and slim too.
And then we've got Ryan Harrington, son of Rod Harrington, who seems to be quite a pleasant and talented player and who looks very much like his father. Ryan Harrington had played the UK Open Qualifier as well and reached the semi-finals of the youth tournament.
The youth tournament ended around half past eight in the evening and I was really done and decided I could rather do without the glittering night life of Barnsley (That really exists - at least Saturday night!!!).
I only wanted to get back to the hotel and to finally sit down and eat something...
Sunday
On Sunday morning not a lot of players appeared at breakfast and some looked slightly bleary-eyed. It rained and was windy but I nevertheless walked through town as all the shops are open in England on Sundays.When I arrived at the venue the draw just was over and all the players had grouped around the two monitors.
For Scotsman John Henderson it was not a good day, he was already defeated in the Preliminary Round - he really had played to deserve that.
Michael Rosenauer lost first round against Robert Thornton - nothing seemed to work. But he'll have a new chance in Wigan.
In second round a lot of well known players ended: Gary Anderson who had a horrible weekend, Colin Lloyd, Mervyn King, Adrian Lewis, John Part - who played a somehow screwed up match against Dennis Smith in which both players seemed to have to fight a lot against themselves.
Wayne Mardle though reached third round - might be he'll manage to come back to form!
The tournament was totally open, no dominating top player was around though I did see really a lot of strong performances. Most convincingly might be was Dave Chisnall who in the end reached the final.
I watched Mark Hylton for some time, who looked a little bit fidgety at the oche.
I went on to watch Wes Newton who was on this day incredibly sure on double ten - well - at least till in the quarterfinal where in the deciding leg against Dave Chisnall he couldn't hit it and Dave won 6:5.
Some time before the quarterfinals Wes Newton and Barrie Bates had played the funniest match of the day due to the fact Barrie was very well aware he would not have a chance against his friend Wes. It was not that he didn't took the match serious but to the delight of the spectators behind Wes back he did some mischief.
Rather astonishing in the final Dave Chisnall met young Michael Smith who had played like in trance through the day. It was a thrilling and very close final. Michael had a 3:0, a 4:3 and a 5:4 lead but every time Dave managed to square the match. Both players had equal chances in the deciding leg - it was Smith who got the win.
All in all I had a rather interesting weekend full of surprises. A lot of the top players had no chance at all with the exception of Simon Whitlock who reached the semi-finals on both days. Wes Newton after a good though not outstanding weekend now is under the top ten of the PDC. Dave Chisnall seems to have successfully settled in the PDC. Some players look like the might be able to celebrate a comeback and a return to form.
The Youth Tour certainly looks like a success.
I enjoyed myself very much, talked to a lot of people and really look forward to what might turn out to be a rather interesting year in darts.
And here for all interested a picture of Gary Mawson's new darts. As John Part he's sponsored by Cosmo now and this is how the darts look at the moment. They are not really the finished version yet, Cosmo is still working on them.
