Clinical Clayton Completes Comeback

Jonny Clayton bounced back from a lacklustre spell to claim his first World Series title of the year.

Putting his recent form behind him the reigning WSoD Finals champion stormed to an 8-1 victory over James Wade in Wollongong. The Ferret found a fantastic 160 checkout on tops to seal the Palmerbet New South Wales Darts Masters crown and £20,000 in prize money.

It’s safe to say, the Welshman did not have it easy in Australia after beating Haupai Puha yesterday claiming victories over Michael Smith and good mate Joe Cullen in the Semi-Finals. Five maximums were found in the Final against the Machine whilst averaging 94.50 over the nine legs played, hitting a Shanghai finish in the sixth leg for a 5-1 lead.

Having lost early last week in Townsville as well as the World Matchplay a month ago, the Red Dragon man will be over the moon to return to the winner’s circle finding his best average of 96.45 in a 7-1 win over the Rockstar breaking three times and racing into a 6-0 lead.

World Number 5 Wade despite losing in the Final again showed the form that he displayed in this year’s Premier League, pouncing when it really mattered including a 7-3 Semi Final victory over World Number 1 Gerwyn Price, including a 140 finish on double ten to break throw early having seen his opponent miss two at the same target entering a 1-0 lead.

The Englishman also opened the final day of action in Wollongong with a whitewash victory over two-time World Series winner Dimitri van den Bergh, including four maximums in front of the 4,000 in attendance.

Gerwyn Price walked away with the highest score of the day despite losing in the Semi-Finals, averaging 109.98 and missing just three darts at the double in beating Fallon Sherrock 6-0 in the second Quarter Final of the day.

The Iceman broke for the second time in the fourth leg with his highest finish of the tungsten tussle, finding a 122 checkout before hitting double ten last dart to seal victory with a 68 finish.

Simon Whitlock Australia’s only hope after a memorable victory over Michael van Gerwen on Friday, could not repeat the trick after being beat 6-2 by Joe Cullen in Wollongong. The battle of the Winmau stars included five maximums with three to the Bradford man who averaged 89.77 over the eight legs.

The Wizard can be proud of his achievements with the support of a huge crowd in his home country, as he looks to kick on and qualify for events such as the Grand Prix and the Grand Slam having missed out on the Matchplay last month.

The TAB New Zealand Masters is the final installment of the triple header down under, set to take place at the Globox Arena in Hamilton next Friday live on PDC TV and ITV Sport.