A busy weekend of darts in Barnsley, with a Friday evening qualifier for the Austrian PDC Euro Tour, and then two events to continue the UK Open qualifiers for Bolton.
Friday evening saw 62 players going for the 20 spots available – so it was going to be a short night, and concentration needed to be right straight away, as there is a £15,000 top prize to play for in the European tour events, with £1,000 for just a single win!
Round 1: Dean Winstanley 6-3 Gary Butcher
Dean has a tough draw for Austria, as he takes on the class floor player and ‘TV bad boy’; Paul Nicholson (16) v Dean Winstanley, but there aren’t really any easy games in the PDC any more, so you’ve got to get used to playing the best!
“Well pleased with tonight. Played Gary Butcher a fantastic player shame someone had to loose. Happy I got through!”
The good news is it’s at least £250 won towards the rankings by winning that game, and there are many good players who won’t have that opportunity. Fingers crossed that could go much higher!
Saturday UK Open Results
Prelim: Dean Winstanley 6-3 Gareth Pass
Round 1: Sam Hill 6-3 Dean Winstanley
Sunday UK Open Results
Prelim: Dean Winstanley 6-1 Mark Stephenson
Round 1: Dean Winstanley 6-5 Peter Wright
Round 2: John Part 6-3 Dean Winstanley
No shame in losing to a multiple world champion, and John Part is a pure class player. Dean had a tough draw, playing and beating the highly fancied Peter Wright, in round 1.
Just £200 added to the pot from the UK Open events, but Dean’s previous results mean he’s well safe – and even though there are two more events in Birmingham to finish off qualification – Dean should have already qualified in the top 32, which means missing out the early dangerous rounds on Thursday.
UK Open Order of Merit (after event 6)
Number of events played in brackets
1 Raymond van Barneveld £14,000 (4)
2 Phil Taylor £12,000 (2)
3 Wes Newton £7,800 (6)
4 Michael van Gerwen £7,000 (6)
5 Brendan Dolan £6,000 (6)
6 Andy Smith £5,800 (6)
7 Simon Whitlock £5,000 (6)
8 Kim Huybrechts £4,400 (6)
9 Ian White £3,600 (6)
10 Vincent van der Voort £3,600 (6)
11 Dean Winstanley £3,600 (6)
12 Mark Jones £3,400 (6)
13 Jamie Caven £3,200 (6)
14 Colin Lloyd £3,200 (6)
15 Justin Pipe £3,200 (6)
16 Dennis Priestley £3,200 (4)
17 Michael Smith £3,200 (6)
18 Dennis Smith £3,200 (6)
19 Dave Chisnall £3,000 (6)
20 Richie Burnett £2,800 (6)
