Las Vegas Desert Classic Qualifier, Day 1, Sunday 28^th June

In the first round I had drawn Michael Van Gerwan and it is fair to say there were better draws available. I had slightly changed my preparation routine and I was feeling very confident.

The match was best of 9 legs so I knew I had to start early. I lost the first leg but hit back to win the 2^nd leg in 13 darts and the game swung one way then the other. The match was standing at 3-3 and my winning legs had been 13,17,13 so it shows the standard of the game. In the 7^th leg Michael took it on the bull’s-eye with me sitting on a double – this great shot put him 4-3 up. In the 8^th leg I was on 137 and Michael was on a double and I hit treble 19, double 20 and narrowly missed a second double 20 for 4-4. Michael made now mistake and took out his double to win the match 5-3.

Las Vegas Desert Classic Qualifier, Day 2, Monday 29^th June

In the first round I had drawn Michael Putz and I won 5-0 with my worst leg being 17 darts so my form had carried on from the previous day. The second round was a more difficult match against Gordon Morrison and I had to fight back against the darts and come back from 2-4 down to win 5-4. I hit 180’s and good finishes to do this and the game was an improvement on a great first round win.

The board final was against Denis Ovens and I was feeling good and knew I would play well. I finished on 114 in the first leg to break the throw but Denis immediately broke me back and took his own throw to lead 2-1. I pulled it level at 2-2 but Denis was calm and throwing well and eased the next 3 legs to win 5-2. I did not put a foot wrong really but maybe stepped up to play the game too early and should have took 5 more minutes before playing the game. Never mind – this was a great game and I had played very well for 2 consecutive days.

Las Vegas Players Championship, Tuesday 30^th June

Following the same preparation as the previous 2 days would hopefully mean I would play as well as them days and a better result would be on the cards…

I was drawn in the first round against Wes Newton. I went through the same youth system as Wes and we were top rivals nearly 20 years ago when I was playing for Derbyshire and he played for Lancashire so we both knew we were in for a good game. Wes was going to be fighting for a spot in the World Matchplay in July and today was his last chance to pick up vital players championship order of merit money.

In the first leg Wes missed one dart at the double and I took out 130 hitting Treble 20 single 20 and the bull. I took the 2^nd leg to go 2-0 up and Wes won the 3^rd with me waiting on the double. In the 4^th leg I missed 140 finish hitting treble 20 double 20 and missing double 20 with my last dart. Up stepped Wes for 123 and hit single 19, treble 18 and bull to level the game at 2-2. I then took the next 2 legs to move 4-2 up and was feeling in control. Wes fought back to 4-4 and just found enough to win the match 4-6. Well done Wes – I knew I put up a great fight and he knew he had been in a battle!

Just to show how well Wes played on the day he carried on hitting 2 x 11 dart legs in his next round game and had a 9 dart leg in a losing match against Colin Osborne. Wes also qualified for the Desert Classic on the first qualifying day and beat Alan Tabern in the first round.

Positives from Las Vegas

1.       I played very well on all 3 days.

2.       I was finishing very well – best so far this season.

3.       Preparation changed and standard improved.

Next step for me

My next event is in Austria in September. The next 2 months are full fixtures for the PDC top boys with the World Matchplay and Championship Darts (internet). There are also 2 long trips to Atlanta and Australia which I will not be attending. Summer holidays for me now with the family and I will keep my eye in on the practice board to ensure my standard stays where it is.

My son Daniel

Daniel turned 13 on 3^rd July and has qualified for the British Teenage finals in Kettering on July 26^th by winning the Humberside Youth Play-Offs. He did this by beating teenagers of over 5 years his senior and I am pleased that all of the time he spends practicing have began to pay off. His semi final result included 2 x 140’s an 88 finish and 17 and 20 dart legs.

I qualified for the British Teenage finals 19 years ago by winning the Humberside Youth play-offs beating Gary Roberts in the final. I qualified 5 years on the trot and I hope that Daniel can emulate this. The best I achieved in the finals was a ¼ final place when I was 17 and if Daniel can beat that then I will be over the moon.

So on July 26^th I will be travelling to the National Finals with Daniel and I will be taking a back seat and doing the coaching rather like he does for me at the PDC events!

Well done Dan – I am a very proud dad.

Saturday 20th June – German Trophy, Dinslaken

I travelled to Germany with Darren Johnson, Martyn Turner and Chris Thompson travelling by car and setting off early on Friday morning. We thought we would be at the venue in plenty of time but after a hiccup with the taxi driver dropping us in the middle of nowhere we eventually arrived at the venue with 15 minutes to spare!

My first round draw was against Patrick Loos who I know little about but I have heard of the name before. The first leg was 15 darts followed by 14,15,17,15 and 16 and a straight 6-0 win for me with me never really letting Patrick get into the game. My finishing was good and scoring was similar to last week in Barnsley.

The 2nd round was against Co Stompe and Co was awesome. I lost this game 0-6 wice and opening the first leg with a 141 finish whilst I was sitting on a double.

Co lost to Ronnie Baxter in the board final 6-3 in a brilliant game and Vincent Van Der and had shots at doubles on 3 legs but Co was almost untouchable going out on bull tVoort ended Ronnie's day with a 6-0 win! What a strange game we play!

21st June – German Trophy, Dinslaken

We did not want a repeat of the previous days journey so we followed Co Stompe to the venue.

The picture below is of our travelling crew - Simon Craven, Martyn Turner, Myself, Chris Thompson and Darren Johnson. It was taken before the draw.

Well, the draw comes out and I have drawn Simon Craven, Darren has drawn Martyn Turner and Chris had drawn Co Stompe - what are the chances of that?

I lost 6-4 to Simon and played superb until I got to the double - Simon threw ok and finished very well. I was happy with my scoring but very mad with missing so many doubles - I think I actually scored better than the Saturday tournament!
Onwards and upwards to Vegas now - take Sundays scoring and Saturdays finishing and I will take some stopping!!

Thanks for reading,

Dave

Barnsley Players Championship - Pro Tour event – Saturday 13^th June

 

In the first round I had drawn Rick Lowther from Hampshire and although he was playing in his first PDC event I knew he was a good player.

 

He took a 0-2 lead and was playing quite well, hitting good scores and checking out with his first dart. I battled back at this point but with the score standing at 3-3 Rick hit 11 and 12 dart finishes to take a 3-5 lead. Again I battled back to 5-5 but Rick responded well in the last leg to win in 13 darts.

 

Rick lost in the next round 6-4 to Alan Tabern and the eventual winner was Mark Walsh (above) Full report here

 

Barnsley Players Championship - Pro Tour event – Sunday 14^th June

 

In the first round I drew Kevin Hill and managed to win a very scrappy game 6-1. I knew that the winner would play my good friend and travel partner Darren Johnson as he had just beaten Matt Clark 6-1 in his first round match.

 

The game against Darren was a much better performance for me hitting 2 x 100+ finishes to take a 4-1 lead. Darren fought back to 4-3 then the last 3 legs went with the darts to make the score 6-4 to me. I was pleased with this win because I rate Darren as a top player and of late he has had some outstanding results but it is always difficult playing a good friend.

 

The next match was the board final and I was up against Robert Thornton of Scotland. Robert has quickly come up through the rankings in the PDC and since joining in June last year he has won over £90k in prize money including 3 Pro Tour wins along the way. He is currently ranked 18 in the World and is a former World Masters Champion so with this pedigree I obviously knew I was going to have to play at my best!

 

I won the first leg with an 80 finish and Robert responded to go 1-2 up, I then took the 4^th leg to make the score-line stand at 2-2. The next 4 legs all went to Robert with me not having shots at the double but on 3 of the legs I was sitting pretty ready to take chances if he gave me them!

 

Robert went on to lose in the quarter finals to the eventual winner pictured above – Colin Osborne! Well done Colin.. See full report here

 

 

Positives from the weekend

 

1.       First time I have got to the last 32 in 18 months! Many more to come now.

2.       Good finishing on both days.

 

3.       Earned £300 for Players Championship Order of Merit and overall PDC OOM.

4.       Sets me up nicely for Germany and Las Vegas in the next 2 weekends.

 

 Thanks for reading..   Dave Ladley 

UK Open Finals 2009

I had drawn Michael Smith in the first round of the UK Open. Michael is a good solid player from Saint Helens and he has been on some good form recently so I knew I had a sizable task taking him on.

The first leg was taken by Michael on double top after 3 missed darts at double 16 from me, this quickly moved to 0-2 to Michael. I then took the next 2 legs to square the match up but Michael again took 2 more legs making the match stand at 2-4. I took the 7^th leg and Michael took the 8^th which made the match stand at 3-5. I knew at this point that I needed to win all of the last legs to take the match. I have always believed that I am never beaten until the final dart so with this in mind I came back into the match and eventually won it on double 9 after allowing Michael 2 darts at the double to beat me! Wow that was close……

The second round was against Paul Rowley who had beaten David Fatum in the first round. I know very little about Paul but he must be a decent player to beat David because he is on of Americas top players at the present time.

The opening 2 legs went to Paul and he was hitting everything. In the 3^rd leg I won hitting scores of 97,140,140,102 double 11 but for most of the match I was hanging on to Paul's shirt-tails just trying to stay in the match. I was playing better in this match than my first round game with Michael and at 2-5 down I was looking like I was going to lose 2-6. This did not happen because I fought back to 3-5 but alas the comeback was not to happen this time and Paul won the last leg and the match 3-6.

Positives from the UK Open experience

·         Great coverage from Sky Sports on me at home and at work!

·         Good interview after the Michael Smith match.

·         Improved my game for the 2^nd round match.

·         Had 3 shots at doubles in my second match and won all 3 legs!

·         Great warm up for the next 3 weekends away playing darts – Barnsley, Germany and Las Vegas.

Happy darting,

Dave

PDC Welsh Players Championships – Saturday 9^th May, 2009 at Newport Leisure Centre.

I travelled up on Saturday morning with Darren Johnson, Mark Lawrence, John Quantock and Simon Craven, a journey which took us 3 hours and arrived at Newport Leisure Centre at 9:45 for a 12 o’clock start.

I soon found out that I had drawn James Wade in the first round and as most people know, he is one of the in-form players on the circuit at the current time.

I have swapped my flights on my darts recently and gone for a heavier slightly smaller standard flight and I have started playing some impressive stuff with them and the game against Wade was going to be a test of just how good I was playing with them.

The opening leg was a great scoring game for Wade hitting off with 180,140 but his failure to hit a double let me in to take the leg with a 72 checkout 16,16 and double 20. The second leg was the same for Wade except that he hit his double and made the game 2-1 in his favor.

The 4^th leg was a good one for me hitting 140,100,140, 89 and double 16 for 13 darts and the 5^th leg I hit 135,180 at the start of the leg but 2 missed darts at double 16 let Wade take a 3-2 lead. I responded well in the 6^th leg with 95,180,140 and 86 finish for 12 darts but it was at this point where James found great form hitting 12,11,12 darts for 6-3. I hit 99,140,140 and missed 122 finish in the last leg but was not disappointed as I played well but lost to a better player.

James lost in the Quarter Final to Merv King and Gary Anderson won the event.

Full report and results HEREl

 

PDC Welsh UK Open Qualifier – Sunday 10^th May, 2009 at Newport Leisure Centre.

A bad nights sleep, migraine and sickness linked to the migraine was not the perfect preparation to this event but knowing I had played well the previous day was invaluable as today was so important for my qualification to the UK Open depended on results in the tournament – either my own results or other people but ultimately it was in MY hands.

I went to see who I had drawn today and my eyes quickly focused on the fact that I was in a preliminary match against Geoff Whitworth who I had played 2 months ago in Wigan and only just narrowly won that match. The winner of our prelim plays Merv King – easy!!

The game against Geoff was a good solid game for me with 17,16,14,15 darts been the pick of the match and a match which I won 6-0. I was ready more than ever now to play Merv, a good game yesterday; solid performance in the prelim was perfect preparation.

I won the bull and in the opening leg hit 180,92 to leave double 12 only to watch Merv take out 115 hitting 25,T18,D18. The second leg was similar with me sitting on tops and Merv finishing 117 hitting T20, S17, D20. Although I won the 3^rd leg comfortably I was never really in this game, Merv was getting stronger and stronger and when he is on that sort of form he is very hard to stop. I missed 2 darts at the double in the last leg and Merv hit the double to take a convincing 6-1 win. Well done mate – I am not down heartened.

Darren Johnson has got into the top 32 for the finals and Mark Lawrence is in the top 64 – well done to them! It is nice to see your travel partners doing well.

Tough luck to John Quantock and Simon Craven who have not qualified for Bolton – next year will be better I am sure.

Well done to Jamie Caven who won the event beating Alan Tabern in the final 6-5 – a deserved win for a fantastic player and fantastic man!! Well done you.

Full results and report HERE

The more important news came next – how have other people chasing a spot at Bolton who were level with me doing? Well, to make a long story short, I had qualified in joint 90^th position so my bad draw did not matter in the end!

Positives from the weekend

1.       Great performances on both days – improvement is very strong on last month.

2.       Hit doubles very well throughout.

3.       It took Premier League players to stop me both days.

4.       Qualified for UK Open Finals in Bolton.

5.       Flights which I have changed to have made a massive improvement – thanks to Darren Johnson for this!

One thing is guaranteed – I will not draw one of the Premier League players in the first round of the UK Open Finals!!!!