Head to Cymru, and you’d be hard pressed to find someone with a more sounding Welsh name that David Davies – it would be like meeting an Irishman named Paddy O’Flaherty. And in fairness, once you’d located Davies, it would be a pretty tough task to find a better darts player in his nation too – Gezzy & Ferret aside of course.
And not the usual spam about whether you’d had an accident in the workplace. No. This call was the PDC, as Davies explained to the Weekly Darstcast team recently:
“It was so surreal. I was home for an hour, maybe an hour and a half at the most, and then a number I didn’t know was calling. I don’t usually answer them, but I picked up — and it was the PDC. They were asking if I could play on the Pro Tour tomorrow. My heart just sank. I thought, ‘What’s happening? Everything is coming at once.’”
So, did he calmly accept the honour? Of course not. He panicked like anyone else would, then pretended to be cool as a cucumber.
“So coolly and calmly I said, ‘I’ve just got to sort a couple of things out, I’ll give you a call back in 15 minutes.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, fine, no problem.’ But really, all I did was put the phone down, not say anything to anyone, and just sit here where I am now thinking, ‘It’s happening. All the good things I’m doing are finally paying off. All the hours, all the years I’ve put in. You do want to be mixing it with the big boys.’”
Luckily for Davies, the universe cut him a break. It was a bank holiday. No alarm clock. No boss breathing down his neck. Just darts. He called back and confirmed. And then came the surreal cherry on top:
“Yes, I’d love to. Is it all week?”asked Davies. “No, just for tomorrow. We’re waiting for a call off Gezzy Price about the Tuesday.” was the PDC’s reply. “I never thought my name and Gezzy Price would be in the same sentence, but I’ll take it — I won’t forget that.” (Actually, I did it too and the top of the article Dave!)
So off he went, stepson in tow, on a four-and-a-half-hour road trip. And when he finally walked through those doors, the reality hit him harder than a first-dart Robin Hood.
“Just walking into the room was something else. I’d been to Pro Tours before as a supporter, but you don’t really think about it in the same way. Going there knowing you could be competing against any one of these guys in the next couple of hours – it felt real then.”
Any nerves were quickly calmed when familiar faces rallied around him. Adam Paxton saved him a seat like it was the school cafeteria. Jonny Clayton swung by with praise, and Alan Soutar, Ritchie Edhouse, and Ricky Evans all gave him the nod of approval too.
“They know who I am now, through the Champion of Champions and maybe from the Challenge Tour as well. For players like that to come up and congratulate me — it’s just brilliant.”
The fairy tale didn’t exactly come with a Disney ending. Davies drew Wessel Nijman and went down 6-3. Still, one man’s defeat is another man’s priceless memory.
“It was an amazing experience, even though I lost straight away. No one can take that away from me — and it’s only made me want more in the future.”
Even better, Davies taste in music is as good as his darting ability. Oasis’ Cigarettes & Alcohol being his chosen walk-on. Not for floor events of course although that would be fun. Proper banging tune.
So there you have it. One phone call turned his life upside down, one drive turned him into a Pro Tour player (albeit briefly), and one defeat has left him desperate for another crack. The lesson? Sometimes persistence, timing, and a lucky bank holiday are all you need to turn a local hero into a name the PDC knows.
—–ENDS—–
Images: Red Dragon
