Sunday saw the end of the second weekend of events on the Winmau Pro Tour 2022 across the five events in Australia.
In Queensland both semi finals went to final leg deciders as Team Misfit’s Ray Smith won his third semi final of the weekend over Jamie Rundle. The other semi final saw Robbie King gain revenge on his semi final defeat the night before to Jeremy Fagg, as he saw off Fagg 5-4 in a very tight affair. The Final saw Smith take the first leg in 12 darts before King held his own in 15. Smith then held his own throw before breaking the King throw in the fourth leg. Smith then held throw in 14 darts before King returned the favour in the next leg. King held throw before Smith threw another 14 dart leg to take another break, the match and his third Final of the weekend.
In Victoria Justin Thompson kept up his form of the night before, outlasting Brody Klinge in their semi final in a deciding leg. Mal Cuming defeated Brandon Weening to gain some revenge for their previous matches over the weekend, winning 5-2. In the Final Team Rebel’s Cuming took a while in the first leg but eventually held throw before breaking the Thompson throw after his opponent had failed to convert 60. A 15 dart leg and 116 check out saw Cuming take a 3-0 lead in the match before Thompson held throw in 14 darts, completing a 78 check out of his own. Cuming then held throw in the same amount of darts to lead the match four legs to one. An outstanding 13 dart leg from Thompson was then followed with a hold of throw by Cuming to move the Team Rebel to one leg away from the win. Both players had a shot at Shanghai in the next leg, but Thompson would fail where Cuming succeeded and the match was secured 6-2, giving Cuming his first title win of the weekend.
In South Australia Danny Porter was trying to return to his third final of the weekend and did so after defeating Ryan Lynch 5-0 in the first semi final. The other semi final went the way of Kevin Young, seeing off another man to make three semi final appearance over the weekend, in Adam Leek. The final saw Porter hold throw before losing the next two legs to Young. Porter then failed to secure tops in the next leg and Young found himself 3-1 ahead. Porter held throw to move back within a leg before Young won on throw to lead 4-2. Young then broke the Porter throw to lead 5-2 and move to win one leg of the match. Porter broke straight back and then held throw to move the match to 5-4. His comeback continued as he checked out 92 to win his third leg in a row. It meant he now had the darts in the deciding leg. Attempting a 104 check out Porter left 16 and then had to stand back and watch as Kevin Young checked out 32 with his last dart in hand to secure the Final 6-5.
In NSW Mitchell Clegg defeated local Tony Welland in their first semi final, 5-2. The other semi final was a classic affair as Pat Molloy demonstrated all his tenacity to never say die against Dave Cairns. It went to a deciding leg and having watched Molloy leave 30 when attempting to check out 87 (missing the bull with his last dart) Cairns stepped up and secured the match five legs to four. In the final the heart ache would land in Cairns’ lap. Clegg won the first leg in 14 darts before losing the next two. Clegg then won two of his own to return to the lead before busting a shot at 32 in the sixth leg and watching Cairns take it instead. Yet again Cairns consolidated the break by holding his own throw and then broke the Clegg throw in 15 darts to lead 5-3. On throw Cairns then had nine match darts but Clegg managed to hold on for the leg before Clegg held his own throw in 14 darts to take the match to a deciding leg. Clegg powered ahead in that leg before stumbling at 16, busting twice and halving the total on his next visit. Cairns, meanwhile, had slowly moved toward the target but failed at 28 and then 14 as Clegg finally took a match dart neither played seemed able to put away. It was Clegg’s first win of the NSW season and returned him to the winner’s circle most expected him to be a part of regularly this season. For Cairns it was more heart break but he demonstrated his class throughout the weekend.
In Western Australia youngster Bailey Marsh made his second final of the weekend after defeating Tim Pusey 5-0 in the first semi final. Brenton Lloyd defeated Ricky Pickett 5-2 in the other half of the draw. Thus Marsh and Lloyd met in the last Final of the weekend. After Marsh missed the bull in the opening leg Lloyd pounced to take the break straight away. He was unable to hold his own throw next, and despite Marsh missing multiple check out shots he drew the match back into parity. Marsh then held throw before breaking the Lloyd throw for the second time in the match. He then held throw in 16 darts before some spectacular darts saw him break the Lloyd throw in 13 darts. Lloyd stopped the rot and gained one break back in 15 darts before holding throw in 17 to move the match to 5-3. Bailey Marsh then took the eighth leg of the match with a 56 check out to secure his second final of the weekend, this time 6-3.
Overall the darts have been spectacular over the weekend and a range of names were crowned champions, from known names like Ray Smith, David Platt, Mitchell Clegg, Brandon Weening, Mal Cuming, Rob Modra, Dave Hanel and Bailey Marsh to others that we will hear more about like Brendan Porter, Kevin Young, and Jamie Browne. The Winmau Pro tour 2022 brought to you by Dartplayers Australia returns in April
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