Jamie Caven’s weekend darts diary
Friday 20th June 2008.
Initially I was booked for exhibition with Peter Manley and Wayne Mardle at Grampian Club in Corby.
Unfortunately it was cancelled, but I guess these things happen.
I heard about a KO tournament at ^The Coronation Hotel^ in Derby just a few miles from where I live so I decided to have a go.
A fair few good arrow slingers were there, including Colin Osborne (who is very local to the area) as well as many of Derby^s top players.
I^m not really sure who many of my opponents were but I reached the quarter’s pretty quickly - just dropping 1 leg along the way.
We then stopped for food - which was laid on by the venue and very nice it was too!
Bolognaise and garlic baguettes for all the competitors - all 63 of us, which was a real nice touch by the pub.
Anyhow back to the darts: I won my quarter final 3-0 to set up a tricky semi final against Chris Cooper from Notts. Chris is an excellent player who dispatched Mark Robinson and Daz Horler on the night.
Now with the format set at the best of 7 it gave everyone an extra chance to settle in.
I was very grateful for that - as I went 2-0 down fairly quickly. Luckily for me I managed to turn it around winning 4-2, taking the final leg in 11 darts. 180,132,137 and out on 52 (20,d16).
Onto the final where I played a guy called Andy McCracken.
I had never played him before and I don^t think I had seen him before but he was a tough cookie, who put end to Colin Osborne^s hopes in the last 8.
Anyhow we had the pleasure of Scott Gibling, a PDC marker - to mark and call the final and I took the match winning by 5 legs to 1. Obviously I was happy to get the win and £250 was a very handy pick up.
Looking forward to tomorrow now in Wolverhampton.
Saturday 21st June 2008.
I went to the Wolverhampton Sports Arena on Racecourse Road, as they hold a competition every couple of months paying £500 to the winner and £200 to the runner up.
I jumped on the train because it only takes an hour - one change at Birmingham and only costs £15 return.
My day was quite a short one in Wolverhampton as I was taken out in the second round.
I don^t know who he was but boy - he could throw a dart!
He beat me 3-1 and quite easily too. There were no excuses on my part, nothing wrong - he was simply better than me and that^s that.
I was feeling good as I won my first match 3-0 in 17, 15 and 14 darts so my form was very steady.
Oh well, we go back and try again next time!
Sunday 22nd June 2008.
I went to Leicester, my home town and to the club where I started playing for their annual open. Normally it is just a little one with about 20 entries, but my sponsor ^Mr Tax Ltd^ had put in some cash towards the prize fund and attracted 40+ players.
There was some decent Superleague and county players there and fellow PDC throwers Martin Whatmough, Tony Littleton and Kevin Reade. Mark Hylton from Rugeley had travelled along too with a few of his pals so there was a good standard of player looking at claiming the first prize of £300.
To my joy, I dropped just 2 legs on the day, and claimed the £300 which obviously I was chuffed with, especially as I was on home soil - usually there is a lot of expectancy of me so it was nice to claim it.
Previously I had lost in the semi and was beaten in the first round last year!!!!
It was nice to beat Tony Littleton in the final as he won it last year - and although it was 5-0, it never reflected the game as he did miss a couple of doubles so really, it should of been much closer.