The Winmau DPA Satellite tour finished this last weekend with the final three events held in Queensland.
On Friday night Peter Willmott defeated Larry Leedie 6-2 and Matthew McLennan defeated Heath Daley 6-0 in the semi-finals.
The final saw Willmott hold throw in thirteen darts before breaking his opponents throw in 20 (having busted 40 on the previous visit.)
McLennan then struck back as four triple figure visits moved him to within and he only needed two more darts to grab the break back.
He then held in eighteen darts to tie the match up. McLennan then broke the Willmott throw for a second successive leg, this time in fourteen darts.
The game then swung again as Willmott broke the McLennan throw in sixteen darts before holding throw in eighteen darts to return to the lead at 4-3.
McLennan responded to two opening visits of 139 and 134 from his opponent on his own throw in the eighth leg and secured 134 and 140 for himself but could not convert 52 that would have put the match back into parity.
Instead, Willmott secured the required 40 with last dart in hand to move to within one leg of the match. Whilst the final leg was far from a classic affair Willmott did enough to hold throw, win 6-3, and secure the event win.
On Saturday Leedie returned to the semi final stage, but this time was eliminated by Bill Aitken who won the match 5-3. Willmott and McLennan resumed the contest from the final the previous night but this time the result was different as McLennan prevailed 5-3.
The final saw McLennan hold throw and then broke his opponents to jump to a two-leg lead. As he had done to his opponent the night before, McLennan then watched as Aitken broke in the third leg and held throw in fifteen darts in the fourth leg to have the match back to 2-2.
McLennan and Aitken then held throw, although both players had darts at a break over those two legs. A 14-dart break of throw to Aitken in the seventh leg was then backed up by a hold of throw to move to within a leg of the match. With McLennan unable to convert 72, Aitken threw the double sixteen to win the leg, the match 6-3 and the second event of the weekend.
On Sunday Leedie made his third semi final of the weekend but the same thing happened as he fell in the semi-finals, this time to Matthew McLennan 5-2. In the other semi final Bill Aitken made his way to the second final of the weekend by defeating Jonathon Kabay 5-1 in the other semi. The final started differently from the previous two as both players held their opening throw of the match.
Aitken then held throw before a fourth leg where neither player seemed to want to win as dart after dart missed the target until a double five finally went in for Aitken to go 3-1 up. After all that effort he then failed to hold throw and McLennan then held throw to move the match back to 3-3. Aitken then held throw in thirteen darts before McLennan missed out on Shanghai after missing a dart at tops. Aitken stepped up and secured 35 with his next three darts to move a leg from his second successive event win.
The ninth game saw three big visits out of four from each of the players but it was Aitken who landed his dart in the double bed for the final time to hold throw and win the final 6-3.
Thus the season’s events around Australia has come to an end with the best players from around the country now meeting at Warilla Bowls and Recreation Club in July to determine Dartplayers Australia’s number one player.
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