The Simon Whitlock Trophy continued on Saturday morning at the Geelong greyhound club. The first competition of the day saw six of the top eight seeds make the quarter finals. Darren Penhall eliminated Bailey Marsh (who had knocked out eighth seed Mick Lacey in the previous round) 5-1. Joe Comito continued his good form with a 5-0 win over Harley Kemp.
Mal Cuming repeated that scoreline in his quarter final over Rowan Dodd. The last match in that round was a tight affair with Brandon Weening eliminating GG Mathers in the deciding leg 5-4. The semi finals saw Penhall win another match convincingly, this time 5-1 over Joe Comito, whilst Weening eliminated fellow Victorian Cuming by 5 legs to 3.
The final saw both players hold throw before a 12 dart leg saw Brandon Weening take the first break of the match and lead 2-1. Penhall broke straight back in 12 darts of his own before holding throw to return back to the lead at 3-2. Both players then held throw to leave Penhall just a leg away from the title. He would gain that leg against the throw with his 13th dart in the eighth leg to secure a 5-3 lead.
These results left Penhall and Cuming tied up in the race for the Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock trophy.
Event 11 was also played on Saturday and saw Darren Penhall and Brody Klinge come face to face in the quarter finals with Penhall progressing 5-3. Joe Comito lost his second quarter final of the day, this time to local Tic Bridge 5-4.
Brandon Weening continue his good run on the day by defeating Dean Gibbs 5-2 in the quarters whilst the last match of that stage was Mal Cuming defeat GG Mathers 5-1 in a Team Rebel shoot out. Penhall and Cuming both defeated their (very) local opponents in Tic Bridge and Brandon Weening five legs to three.
Thus the final was a shoot out for first place across the weekend. Cuming immediately broke the Penhall throw before surviving arrows at a check out to lead 2-0. Penhall held throw in 15 darts before Cuming did the same in the same amount of darts. Penhall then threw three successive 140s and checked out 81 with his 11th dart. He then broke the Cuming throw with a 101 check out before both players blew multiple opportunities in the seventh leg until a double one gave Penhall the hold of throw.
Cuming then held throw in in the eighth leg but it was only delaying the inevitable because Penhall threw the match dart in the ninth leg with his 19th throw from the oche for that leg, thus securing a 5-3 win over Cuming and a clear position at the front of the chase for the “Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock” Trophy.
Thus before the final day of play Darren Penhall is ahead in the race for the trophy with Mal Cuming a fair way behind but still in the hunt
About Author
