The 2026 ADC Winmau Championship concluded in fitting fashion in Middlesbrough, with players one and two in the standings, Daniel Ayres and Steve Lennon, lifting the final winners’ cheques of the season at the Sports Village.
Ayres ran a tough gauntlet to take the Event 11 title, holding off the immensely-talented Lewis Cook in a 5-4 win in the final.
Ayres posted a 92.49 average in an opening 4-0 win against Shaun Galloway, and then dropped one leg in wins against Daniel Stephenson and Benjamin Smith.
After defeating Jack Drayton 5-3, Ayres then got the better of his closest rival Lennon, ousting the Irishman 5-4 in the quarter finals, and he powered into the final, a 102.84 average too much for Jamie Owens in a 5-2 success.
Cook joined Ayres in the title match, and was looking for a second title of the season after starting with wins against James Wright and Joshua Savage.
He then took a last-leg win against Jordan Matthews, averaging 102.36, and an average north of 90 sealed a 5-0 win against Lewis Pride in the last 16, before accounting for Willie Borland in a rematch of their Event Nine final a day earlier. Cook made the final by averaging 96.39 in a 5-4 win against Ryan Hogarth.
Cook missed several doubles early on that could have seen him surge ahead, but Ayres kept pace, defying six 180s from Cook and finding double two to take his third title of the season.
That win guaranteed Ayres top spot in the standings, and Lennon cemented second place by taking Event 12, winning 5-2 against Ryan Hogarth in the final.
Lennon had to get past no less than three 2026 event winners on the tour, starting with a 4-1 win against Scott Winder, before having to eliminate Ayres in a high-quality 4-3 win.
A 103.04 average saw Jamie Owens blown away in the last 32, and further wins over Davie Kirwan and James Buckby saw Lennon into the semi-finals, where Event Ten winner Jack Main was beaten 5-2.
Hogarth had been consistent all weekend, and started with wins over Joe Turner, Lucas Grantham and Lee Bradshaw.
After a 5-4 win against Billy Leonard, then backed that up with two whitewash wins, with Ellis Hadfield vanquished in the last eight, and a 95-plus average taking out surprise package Jacob Cooksey.
Finishes of 67 and 75 were the highlights in the final for Lennon, and he found tops to end with an average of over 91, and his third title of the 2026 season.
All that was left to confirm were the qualifiers for the ADC Global Championship and tour Grand Finals, and with Lennon already qualified through his efforts in the ADC Ireland events, Ayres, Lewis Pride, Lewis Cook and Hogarth all qualified.
Those five also secure Grand Finals spots, alongside Jack Main, David Sumner, Willie Borland and Jamie Owens at the end of November.
–ENDS–
