Lennon & Dragt Secure Cards On Day One Of Q School Final Stage

Steve Lennon and Martijn Dragt emerged victorious as the first day of the final stage of Q School took place in Milton Keynes and Kalkar today.

Scuba Steve Secures Tour Spot

Irishman Lennon only lost his tour card on the back of the recent Paddy Power World Darts Championships and showed his quality from the get go, averaging 101.42 while defeating Leighton Bennett in his first game of the day.

Shaun Wilkinson and Brett Claydon were next to fall to ‘Scuba Steve’, the former World Cup of Darts finalist averaging in the high 90s in the process.

In the last 16, Lennon faced Matthew Dennant and quickly found himself 4-0 down. Indeed, Dennant had chances to extend the lead but Lennon responded, taking the next 5 legs before Dennant set up a decider. With the advantage of throw, Dennant got himself down to a finish after nine darts but couldn’t convert any of his seven match darts before Lennon clinched victory.

More straightforward victories over Justin Hood and George Killington set up a final with Willie Borland, Borland having come through an all Scottish semi final with Andy Boulton.

The final went with throw until the ninth leg when Borland had no answer to a 13 dart break from the Irishman to put himself with a dart of the match, an opportunity he didn’t pass up, winning the leg in 16 darts and getting his tour card back at the first possible opportunity.

Dutchman Dragt Fulfils Darting Destiny

Martijn Dragt was the surprise winner of the first tour card available at European Q School, defeating fellow Dutchman Chris Landman in the final.

Before today, Dragt was perhaps best known for qualifying for the Baltic Sea Darts Open back in February, beating Ricky Evans and former world champion Rob Cross before losing to Ryan Searle.

He started the day by beating Spanish former tour card holder Jesus Noguera before seeing off German Marcel Junk in the last 64.

Victory against Liam Maendl-Lawrence followed, a 6-3 win where the players were separated by just 0.03 in the final averages.

Rusty-Jack Rodriguez, who had beaten Max Hopp in a mouth watering opening round match, was beaten in the last 16, Dragt averaging just shy of 93 while winning 6-4 before Luka Wenig was 5-3 up before Dragt won 3 legs on the spin to set up a semi final with another former card holder in Mario Vandenbogaerde.

The Belgian led 4-2 and 5-4 before Dragt again dug deep to pull through in a last leg decider before unbelievably pulling it out of the fire once again in the final, recovering from 5-2 down against recent Modus Super Series winner Landman to win in another deciding leg and secure his tour card for the first time.

Day One Results

UK Final Stage Day One

Last 16

Justin Hood 6-1 Colin Osborne

Steve Lennon 6-5 Matthew Dennant

George Killington 6-5 Jamie Atkins

Shane McGuirk 6-5 Justin Smith

Patrick Lynskey 6-1 Darren Armstrong

William Borland 6-4 James Hurrell

Cam Crabtree 6-5 Thomas Lovely

Andy Boulton 6-4 Ashley Coleman

Quarter-Finals

Steve Lennon 6-3 Justin Hood

George Killington 6-3 Shane McGuirk

William Borland 6-1 Patrick Lynskey

Andy Boulton 6-5 Cam Crabtree

Semi-Finals

Steve Lennon 6-2 George Killington

William Borland 6-2 Andy Boulton

Final

Steve Lennon 6-4 William Borland

European Final Stage Day One

Last 16

Darius Labanauskas 6-4 Stefan Schroder

Chris Landman 6-4 Laurens Admiraal

Tomas Houdek 6-2 Haupai Puha

Christian Kist 6-5 Radek Szaganski

Martijn Dragt 6-4 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez

Lukas Wenig 6-2 Jules van Dongen

Wesley Plaisier 6-2 Dragutin Horvat

Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-3 Franz Roetzsch

Quarter-Finals

Chris Landman 6-2 Darius Labanauskas

Christian Kist 6-5 Tomas Houdek

Martijn Dragt 6-5 Lukas Wenig

Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-1 Wesley Plaisier

Semi-Finals

Chris Landman 6-3 Christian Kist

Martijn Dragt 6-5 Mario Vandenbogaerde

Final

Martijn Dragt 6-5 Chris Landman