UK Open Qualifier 1

So, my first foray into proper competitive darts! 

My day started with a hearty breakfast to provide me with some inner steel, or should I say tungsten! I didn’t know what to expect from the venue so made sure I was well stocked before I left the house - I think this warrants my first tip for those following my advice! 

Arriving in Somercotes in good time, which was useful as the snooker club wasn’t particularly easy to park by, I made my way in to the venue to register. First impressions were; yeah, looks great, loads of boards, iPad scoring, only downside - no real ales, but I wasn’t there for the beer. 

I took up a spot in a queue on the first board I could find, by this time I’m starting to feel the nerves, I’m trying to sus out who is my level, glancing at practice darts flying in, I panic after what feels like a plethora of T20s land around me, or am I just being dramatic?

I practiced for around 15 minutes, didn’t really find my groove but it was just enough to settle to some extent. I headed to the bar to get some water and take some fresh air, the room was boiling hot but I guess that’s good practice for when I’m under the lights on stage 😂  

Before I knew it the draw was complete and I was straight into the last 64 with a bye, handy but not really what I wanted, my whole day was around gaining experience so I had been robbed of an early match - damn. I took the chance to watch a few games and realised those T20s had dried up once ‘game on’ sounded across the boards, how often do we see that, hey?

After what seemed like an age I was up, a race to 4 with a spot in the last 32 the prize. To be honest I was so nervous I don’t even remember who won the bull, I somehow won the first leg, with a 27 darter. After losing the 2nd leg I then found some reasonable form but still somewhat below my target of 20 darts per leg; winning the next 2 in 23 and 25 darts.

At 3-1 up I just need to hold throw and the job was done, I managed to get over the line but I was really not happy with the dart count, coming in at 32. Over the match I recorded a 54.8 average - disappointing but not unexpected, I do suffer from a loss of around 15 pts in match conditions vs practice.

So, on to the last 32, this was an experience, I was whitewashed by an 80+ average, a top player who on his day could beat anyone. However, I was much happier with my darts in this match, I found the T19 well and scored really well in patches, much more so that the first match - granted, I didn’t get to a double in any leg but I didn’t expect to against this player. 

In summary, if you’re looking to gain experience and are used to just playing pub league or similar, then I can’t recommend this enough. You will gain so much in terms of understanding your game in tournament play, you cannot recreate that in practice. 

I’m heading back this weekend and I will look to build on my first outing so please come back for the next instalment - thanks for reading! 

For those interested, here is the darts connect link - DartsConnect

Dan Schofield Derby.