German false start and Ryan Searle‘s darts demonstration
His 115 average was the icing on the cake: Englishman Ryan Searle
Quelle: dpa/Zac Goodwin
The German darts players had nothing to do with the outcome of the Pro Tour season opener. Gabriel Clemens and Co. all dropped out early. Luke Humphries secured the tournament victory. But man of the day was Ryan Searle.
Dhe Pro-Tour is the darts pro’s bread-and-butter business. If you want to go to the big TV tournaments, you have to be consistently successful in the small events that are closed to spectators.
From a German point of view, the 28-tournament series has another exciting component in addition to the struggle for qualification for the major events this year: With Florian Hempel, Max Hopp and Martin Schindler, three players are fighting for the status as German number two .
Before the start, the three separated just £3,500 in prize money. Hempel, who overtook his two opponents when he reached the third round of the World Cup at the end of December, ranked 62nd in the Order of Merit (49,000 pounds) after his first year as a professional, with Hopp two places behind with 48,000 pounds. Schindler was in 65th place (45,500).
Goal World Cup of Darts: Florian Hempel the number two means a lot
What: Getty Images/Tom Dulat
And that has hardly changed after the first tournament on Saturday. Only Schindler was able to top up his account. His 6-5 win over Wales’ Jonathan Worsley was worth £750. Hempel, on the other hand, lost his start 2:6 against the reinvigorated Northern Irishman Daryl Gurney, despite an average of 92.71, 2:6. Hopp even played a 94.08, but lost to Belgian Kim Huybrechts 4:6.
Since the German number one also gave up in the 4: 6 against tour debutant Danny Jansen from the Netherlands and only brought an average of 83.4 on board, there were only two Germans in the round of 64 with Schindler and newcomer Ricardo Pietreczko After beating Damian Mol (Netherlands) 6-0, the Franconian by choice met Jonny Clayton and had no chance against the top Welsh player (2-6).
After an unnecessary defeat at the Masters, Gabriel Clemens suffered another defeat at the start
Quelle: Getty Images/Luke Walker
And Schindler was also eliminated in the second match of the day. A 97.56 was not enough to make it to the third round over Rowby-John Rodriguez. The Austrian ended up with an average of 103.2 points. The fight for the country’s number two, who will represent Germany with Gabriel Clemens at the World Cup in front of their home crowd in Frankfurt am Main from June 16th to 19th, continues almost unchanged.
Here darts professional Martin Schindler imitates his colleagues
Martin Schindler is not only one of the best German darts professionals. He is also an excellent impersonator. Here he recreates six world-class players. Do you recognize these players?
Others made the headlines at the Pro Tour opener in Barnsley. Luke Humphries celebrated his first tournament victory. The man of the day, however, was Ryan Searle, who lost 4:8 to “Cool Hand Luke” in the final, but consistently showed excellent performances throughout the day.
After seven matches he had an average of 101.36 points, even though he started Players Championship 1 with a 94.43 against Geert de Vos from Belgium. The Englishman improved to a 102.08 in a 6-2 win against Dutchman Niels Zonneveld, followed by a 100.9 on the same score against Scotland’s Cameron Menzies before compatriot Jason Lowe was dispatched 6-1 on a points average of 106.31 . In the Quarterfinals, “Heavy Metal” shifted up a gear and defeated the unfortunate Pole Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1 thanks to an average of 115.02.
Even World Champion Peter Wright, who had played a 108 and a 107 in the previous two rounds, couldn’t stop Searle. The 34-year-old beat “Snakebite” 7-5 (103.82) before Humphries stopped the world number 16’s fabulous run in the final. The second tournament continues in Barnsley on Sunday.
