Smith wins first title in two years on day one of Winter Series
Michael Smith took home his first title in two years on day one of the PDC Winter Series.
Bully Boy battled through a tough day, snapping a run of 10 straight losses in finals with an 8-6 victory over Jermaine Wattimena.
It puts Smith top of the PDC Winter Series Order of Merit, while Machine Gun becomes the highest player on the Winter Series Order of Merit to have not qualified for the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts after day one.
Elsewhere, day one of the PDC Winter Series saw:
- stunning averages across the board
- Dimitri Van den Bergh secure his place in the Players Championship Finals
- Good runs from Ryan Murray and Andy Boulton push them into the top 64 in the race for Coventry in two weeks
Bully Boys battles for title
The early stages of day one of the Winter Series for Bully Boy were very comfortable. He won his opening game 6-3 against Callan Rydz, before two straight 6-2 victories over Boris Krcmar and Ryan Murray saw him into the last 16.
There, he produced one of the games of the day with the Rockstar Joe Cullen. He averaged 103.5, while Cullen averaged 108.6, as Bully Boy came out victorious 6-4. After a 6-2 win over Conan Whitehead in the quarter finals, he struggled early on in his semi final against Jose De Sousa.
De Sousa was leading 3-1, but missed five missed darts to win the leg. After a nonchalant 180, Smith cleaned up the 35 remaining to get the game back on throw, and then won four straight legs to take a 6-3 lead. Despite a fightback from the Portuguese number one, Smith held his nerve, taking the win 7-5 to move into the final against Wattimena.
Bully Boy started the final excellently, hitting a 170 checkout to take a 1-0 lead. Machine Gun, competing in his third PDC final, would not lie down, and got the game back to 4-5 with a chance to break and level. There, he bust his scored twice on 16, allowing Smith to eventually clean up 34 and go 6-4 ahead.
That turned out to be the crucial moment of the match. Despite Wattimena making Smith serve it out, the Bully Boy held his nerve, finding tops for a 13 dart hold to take home the Players Championship 19 title.
Third time is not the charm for Wattimena
Before the final, Jermaine Wattimena had also battled hard throughout day one of the Winter Series. He knocked out the seed on his board Ian White 6-5, before beating Jelle Klaasen 6-3 to move into the last 32. That set up a board final against Luke Humphries, where Machine Gun won 6-5 averaging 102.
After a 6-1 victory over Simon Stevenson in the last 16, he produced two stunning performances to reach his third PDC final. He beat fellow Dutchman Vincent van der Voort 6-3, averaging 104.5, before producing the highest average of the day, hitting a 112.2 in his 7-3 victory over Brendan Dolan.
Wattimena will rue his missed opportunities at double eight for 5-5, but after a tough summer, hopefully this will be the start of a good run of form for the Dutchman.
What else happened?
There were solid runs for Brendan Dolan and Jose De Sousa to the semi finals on day one of the Winter Series. De Sousa knocked out Peter Wright in the quarter finals with a 107.6 average, but it was not all doom and gloom for Snakebite. Gerwyn Price was beaten by Martin Schindler in round two, meaning Wright continues to extend his lead in the race to be number one seed at the Players Championship Finals at the end of the month.
Elsewhere, Conan Whitehead put himself in contention for a Players Championship Finals spot with a quarter final run.
Ryan Murray and Andy Boulton’s runs to the last 32 saw them move them into the Players Championship Finals qualification places.
Dimitri Van den Bergh made the last 16, losing out to his lockdown landlord Wright, to all but secure his place in Coventry.
The current cut off is at £7,500, but will continue to increase as the week goes on. £10,000 should see a player into the event from 27-29 November.
Day One Results
Final
Michael Smith 8-6 Jermaine Wattimena
Semi final
Jermaine Wattimena 7-3 Brendan Dolan
Michael Smith 7-5 Jose De Sousa
Quarter final
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Vincent van der Voort
Brendan Dolan 6-0 Damon Heta
Jose De Sousa 6-3 Peter Wright
Michael Smith 6-2 Conan Whitehead
Round four
Vincent van der Voort 6-5 Jim Williams
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Simon Stevenson
Brendan Dolan 6-1 Toni Alcinas
Damon Heta 6-1 Ron Meulenkamp
Peter Wright 6-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Jose De Sousa 6-3 Danny Noppert
Conan Whitehead 6-2 William Borland
Michael Smith 6-4 Joe Cullen
Round three
Vincent van der Voort 6-0 Martin Schindler
Jim Williams 6-2 Gabriel Clemens
Simon Stevenson 6-4 Scott Waites
Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Luke Humphries
Toni Alcinas 6-2 James Wade
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Rob Cross
Damon Heta 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski
Ron Meulenkamp 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Peter Wright 6-2 Adam Hunt
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Gavin Carlin
Jose De Sousa 6-3 Andy Boulton
Danny Noppert 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
William Borland 6-5 Scott Taylor
Conan Whitehead 6-5 Keane Barry
Joe Cullen 6-5 James Wilson
Michael Smith 6-2 Ryan Murray
Round Two
Martin Schindler 6-3 Gerwyn Price
Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Alan Tabern
Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Kevin Doets
Jim Williams 6-4 Steve Beaton
Scott Waites 6-2 Devon Petersen
Simon Stevenson v Mickey Mansell
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Jelle Klaasen
Luke Humphries 6-5 Andy Hamilton
James Wade 6-5 Krzysztof Kciuk
Toni Alcinas 6-4 Simon Whitlock
Rob Cross 6-4 Jason Lowe
Brendan Dolan 6-1 Kirk Shepherd
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 John Henderson
Damon Heta 6-3 Luke Woodhouse
Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 Jan Dekker
Jonny Clayton 6-1 Derk Telenkes
Peter Wright 6-1 Neils Zonneveld
Adam Hunt 6-4 Chris Dobey
Gavin Carlin 6-4 Ricky Evans
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Daryl Gurney
Jose De Sousa 6-3 Keegan Brown
Andy Boulton 6-5 Ross Smith
Danny Noppert 6-5 Steve Lennon
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Christian Bunse
Scott Taylor 6-3 Nathan Aspinall
William Borland 6-5 William O’Connor
Keane Barry 6-5 Ritchie Edhouse
Conan Whitehead 6-4 Mervyn King
Joe Cullen 6-0 Mark McGeeney
James Wilson 6-3 Madars Razma
Michael Smith 6-3 Boris Krcmar
Ryan Murray 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Round One
Gerwyn Price 6-1 Harald Leitinger
Martin Schindler 6-5 David Pallett
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Maikel Verberk
Alan Tabern 6-1 Yordi Meeuwisse
Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Adrian Lewis
Kevin Doets 6-1 Martin Atkins (Wigan)
Steve Beaton 6-2 Ryan Searle
Jim Williams 6-3 Josh Payne
Devon Petersen 6-3 Mike De Decker
Scott Waites 6-4 Darius Labanauskas
Simon Stevenson 6-3 Martijn Kleermaker
Mickey Mansell 6-1 Gary Blades
Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Ian White
Jelle Klaasen 6-5 Matthew Edgar
Andy Hamilton 6-5 Gary Anderson
Luke Humphries 6-1 Darren Penhall
James Wade 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Krzysztof Kciuk 6-1 Jonathan Worsley
Toni Alcinas 6-3 Maik Kuivenhoven
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Richard North
Rob Cross 6-5 Nick Kenny
Jason Lowe 6-1 Matt Clark
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Reece Robinson
Kirk Shepherd 6-0 Lisa Ashton
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-5 Bradley Brooks
John Henderson 6-0 Barrie Bates
Damon Heta 6-2 Justin Pipe
Luke Woodhouse 6-0 Steve Brown
Jan Dekker 6-5 Glen Durrant
Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Max Hopp
Derk Telenkes 6-2 David Evans
Peter Wright 6-2 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Neils Zonneveld 6-3 Kim Huybrechts
Chris Dobey 6-3 Ryan Meikle
Adam Hunt 6-4 Scott Mitchell
Ricky Evans 6-5 Jamie Hughes
Gavin Carlin 6-5 Daniel Larsson
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Steve West
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-2 Aaron Beeney
Jose De Sousa 6-2 Jitse Van der Wal
Keegan Brown 6-3 Marko Kantele
Ross Smith 6-2 Darren Webster
Andy Boulton 6-3 Adrian Gray
Danny Noppert 6-4 Robert Thornton
Steve Lennon 6-4 Jesus Noguera
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Kai Fan Leung
Christian Bunse 6-5 Ted Evetts
Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Ciaran Teehan
Scott Taylor 6-3 Robert Collins
William O’Connor 6-0 Ryan Joyce
William Borland 6-5 Wayne Jones
Ritchie Edhouse 6-3 Dave Chisnall
Keane Barry 6-1 Scott Baker
Mervyn King 6-3 Richie Burnett
Conan Whitehead 6-1 Michael Barnard
Joe Cullen 6-5 Joe Murnan
Mark McGeeney 6-1 Peter Jacques
Madars Razma 6-3 Matthew Dennant
James Wilson 6-2 John Michael
Michael Smith 6-3 Callan Rydz
Boris Krcmar 6-4 Carl Wilkinson
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Jeff Smith
Ryan Murray 6-2 Benito van de Pas
