Ladders on Tour Saturday 30 April – UK Open qualifier 7

I drew Alan Tabern in the first round and was determined to set off the game well and not drop early legs which I have been doing recently and leaving games too late to turn around with the momentum swinging in the opponent’s direction.

I took the first leg with a 180, 165 and double 18 so I was happy my plan had worked. The plan unfortunately stopped there and Alan threw some fantastic darts and I lost the match 1-6. Alan said after the game that the way I set off had really worried him and because I had pushed him close the last time we played he knew he had to step up a gear. I was pleased with this from Alan but a little annoyed because I was never a million miles away and was sitting on numbers like 60,80,70 etc when he was finishing. If I had lifted my game a little higher I could have caused more issues.

Alan progressed to the quarter finals and the eventual winner was Gary Anderson who beat Phil Taylor in the final.

Sunday 1st May – UK Open qualifier 8

With this being the last qualifier for the UK Open finals I knew I needed a win to take myself out of danger of not qualifying. Winning nothing meant I would have to rely on other results to go my way.

I drew Jamie Caven in the first round. This is not a good draw but I knew I had been playing well in my practice sessions with  Darren Johnson so knew I could cause an upset.

I finished 117 and won the first leg then Jamie hit back and went 2-1 up. I won the 4th leg and missed 3 darts at double 20 to lead 3-2. Jamie stepped on from here and won the match 6-2.

This now meant that my fate was in the hands of other results. Thankfully these results went my way and I can quite gladly say I have qualified for the UK Open finals for the 5th time!

The winner of this event was Phil Taylor who beat Gary Anderson in the final.

Thanks for reading,

Dave Ladley