At the Warilla Bowls and Recreation club Sunday’s first event of the Winmau Pro Tour saw top seed Darren Penhall, fourth seed Brenton Lloyd and the unseeded Shane Wolter and Bailey Marsh made it through to the semi-finals.
Penhall opened his bid to make a third consecutive final of the weekend by breaking the Lloyd throw in 13 darts before holding in 15, including a 156 check out. Lloyd then held in 18 darts before Penhall did the same in 16. Lloyd then held throw before breaking his opponent’s throw to return the match to an even scoreline. Holding throw then put Lloyd ahead for the first time in the match before Penhall held his own in 14 darts. Thus, the position in the final came down to a final leg decider in which Lloyd had the throw. He opened with 100 but it was to be his only triple score visit of the leg and despite a slow start visits of 135 and 171 put Penhall well ahead and he converted at his next visit to take the match 5-4 and consign Lloyd to another near miss. Marsh was much clearer with his victory, quickly going up 3-0 before Wolter held his throw. Marsh then held and broke once more to take the match 5-1.
The final saw Penhall repeat the opening he had against another WA player in the semi final as he broke the Marsh throw straight up. Marsh then broke straight back in 14 darts before taking the lead with a 15 dart hold of throw. Marsh missed the bull in the next leg which gave his opponent to return to the oche and hold throw, which Penhall did. The fifth leg looked critical as both players spurned multiple chances before Penhall broke the Marsh throw. He backed that up with a 12 dart hold of throw, including visits of 180, 120 and 100 before a 101 check out. Marsh then held throw to move back within a leg of his opponent and when Penhall missed multiple chances at the next leg Marsh eventually pounced to move the match into a deciding leg. He opened the leg poorly and Penhall soon had a good lead with a 134 visit but visits of 180 and 129 left Marsh requiring 16 and with Penhall not at a check out, the West Australian star was able to return to the oche and check out with his 18th dart to take out the event.
The second event of the day saw Tic Bridge stop the train that was Darren Penhall with a 5-3 win in the quarter finals. Brenton Lloyd and Shane Wolter were back in the quarters but this time only one could progress beyond this as Lloyd defeated Wolter 5-3. Having made the quarters on Friday night Ben Clark also returned to that stage but fell to veteran David Platt 5-1 in a warning of what was to come. Bailey Marsh was victorious 5-0 over Scott Johnson in the final match of that round. The semi finals saw Brenton Lloyd try and avoid another semi-final loss and he held throw against Bridge straight away. On throw after three legs Lloyd broke the Bridge throw and then held throw in 12 darts, including a 124 check out. Bridge held throw but with 17 darts in the seventh leg Lloyd had secured a place in the final. The other match had two West Australians as David Platt broke Bailey Marsh’s throw immediately. Both players then held throw across the next four legs before Marsh pounced after Platt failed to secure 78 for a hold of throw. Marsh instead took the leg and then held throw to move a leg away from the match. He failed to get a check out dart from 82 in the next leg and Platt secured the 60 he required on his next visit to the oche to keep the match alive. Marsh had the throw in the next leg but both players stuttered until a 133 gave Marsh a slight ascendancy. He failed to put away 72, however, leaving himself requiring 20 only for Platt to deny him the opportunity as he checked out 94 for the final win of the weekend, one crowning him the winner of Winmau Pro Tour event 17 of season 2023.
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