The first weekend of the 2026 Winmau Championship South came to a close, and Alan Slater and Callum Francis took the two titles on offer in Aylesbury.
Slater, who was attending his first ADC weekend of events, impressed in taking the Event Three crown, overcoming Lloyd Pennell 5-2 in the final at Bradmoor Farm.
Slater opened his day with successive 4-1 wins, before whitewashing Mitchell Leeming to make the last 64. Back-to-back 4-2 successes against Kelvin O’Keefe and Connor Levett followed, and Slater then kept his nerve to make the quarter finals, edging past James Richardson 5-4.
A 91.69 average was enough for Slater to make the last four at the expense of Ashley Coleman, 5-3, and a win by the same scoreline accounted for Dan Perry as Slater made his maiden Championship final.
Pennell had made the final with a comfortable 5-1 win against Steve West, and that was after West had put out the talented Archie Self, fresh from a MODUS Super Series semi-final berth, with ‘The Archer’ posted three ton-plus averages in the event, including one over 110, but found West too experienced in their last eight meeting.
The final itself saw Slater pegged back from 2-0 up as Pennell levelled, but he proved a worthy winner in the end, reeling off three straight legs to take the £1,000 first prize.
The weekend was rounded off in dramatic fashion, as Callum Francis took a nervy 5-4 win in the final against Birmingham’s Matt Gallett.
Francis had qualified for the UK Open a day earlier, and he came through no less than five last-leg shootouts to take the title, starting with a 4-3 win against Arron Monk.
After thrillers against Michael Wiles and Nigel Prior, Francis averaged nearly 90 in a 5-3 last 16 win against Sean Holley, before having to go through the wringer once more to take a 5-4 victory against Phil Johnson-Hale.
Francis, an experienced winner on the WDF circuit, then made the final by getting past Vault National Finals winner Chas Barstow, coming through 5-3 to set up a final with Gallett.
Gallett himself was involved in five deciders, but came up just short in his bid to take the winners’ cheque in Buckinghamshire.
Francis could have made life a lot easier for himself, as he left 40 after 12 darts for a 5-3 win, but he would miss 11 darts in total to win the match, eventually needing the final leg to clinch a deserved win that sees him sit in the top four of the early standings.
Graham Hall leads the way in the standings, after he took the Event Two spoils a day earlier.
Next up sees the North edition of the competition get underway, with four events scheduled for Middlesborough in April.
Picture: Tip Top Pics
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