Report - Dave Ladley

Dave Ladley - Barnsley Players Championship 10th April 2010

I travelled to this event on the train with my son Daniel setting off at 8am so I had enough time to practice at the venue. The venue at Barnsley is one of the best on the pro tour and also one of the closest to me so it makes things much easier.

Preparing for this week I have been meeting up with my travelling buddies Darren Johnson and Mark Lawrence and have been playing some very high standard games which would best replicate a PDC Players Championship.

I avoided a preliminary game and drew Andy Hamilton in the first round. Andy is one of the top 10 players in the world and he had hit a 9 darter at Crawley so I knew the task I had on my hands was large but felt reasonably confident.

I won the bull and set off well hitting 85,125,135,140 and double 8 for a 13 dart leg. The second leg was a bad leg for both of us but Andy won it to level at 1-1. The game ended up going in Andy’s favour by 6-1 and sounds like I was beaten easy but that is not the case – one dart at double 20 for an 80 finish, one dart at double 18 for 103 finish, sitting on 80 when he finished 112 and sitting on 40 in the last leg when he checked 130! I was a bit disappointed but only in my own performance because I have been playing better but still did not disgrace myself and as I mentioned earlier – Andy is a top 10 player and is throwing well at the moment.

The winner of the event was Simon Whitlock – well done to him!!!!

Barnsley UK Open Qualifier 11th April 2010

I travelled here with Daz Mawer, my wife and my daughter as my son Daniel was playing county youth for Humberside against Derbyshire.

I drew Jason Clark in the first round and lost the first 3 legs in no time at all. The 4th and 5th legs were mine and I was quickly improving and starting to play like I had been practicing recently. The game was eventually won by Jason 6-3 and I was left thinking that if only I had started at the start of the game maybe things would have been different? I had missed a couple of single dart shots at the double so the score line could have been different still. I had played better on Sunday and have things to work on in my practice this week.

The event was won by Mark Walsh who beat John Part in the final – well done mate!

Daniel won his county youth game at Derbyshire and has won 5 out of 8 games in the under 18’s and considering he is just 13 years old that is quite impressive – well done son!

Photo-shoot

With the help of excellent work by Dave Holland of Dave Holland Management I have been fortunate enough to pick up a sponsorship deal off Daily Sport national newspaper. They are doing a profile on me and are going to follow my pro tour results and publish reports as and when I play.

I am having a photo-shoot with some of the newspapers models on Thursday 15th April at my friends pub in Lincolnshire and am going to follow this up with an exhibition where I will practice the things I need to put right for this coming weekend in Derby!

Thanks for reading,

Dave Ladley