The final block of events in the 2026 Australian Darts Association took place over the weekend in South Australia, with spots still up for grabs at the World Championships and the ANZ Premier League.
Going into the weekend, Brody Klinge had a $1,550 lead over Raymond Smith in the race for the World Championship, with only those two being in contention. While it was a somewhat comfortable lead for Klinge, with $1,600 on the line in each of the four events, it was far from unassailable.
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Meanwhile, Joe Comito sat in the fourth and final spot for the ANZ Premier League. With Klinge, Smith and Pusey already confirmed, it was Comito’s fight to take on, with a $2,000 lead over Michael Bajowski before the first event got under way.
Australian Darts Association Tour 2026
Event 21
The first event of the weekend kicked off on Friday evening, and the start of the drama wasn’t much later. With Comito and Bajowski both losing early, no ground was made up in the ANZ PL Race, which suited Comito down to the ground.
The more intriguing drama came at the Quarter-Final stage, with Raymond Smith falling short to Mal Cuming, having lost to him in the Trans-Tasman Championship Final just a week prior.
Having whitewashed Mal Cuming in the Semi-Finals, Danny Porter went on to make his first appearance in a Final on the ADA Tour, but Klinge was in no mood to mess around. A 6-3 win for the ADA #1 saw him increase his lead over Raymond Smith to $2,950, one that would be very difficult to overcome in three events!
The performance of the event came from Mal Cuming, averaging 102.48 to beat Bailey Marsh in the Last 32
Quarter-Finals
Brody Klinge (92.0) 6-0 Jordan Ford (68.8)
Karl Schaefer (84.1) 6-5 Howard Jones (83.0)
Mal Cuming (95.2) 6-2 Raymond Smith (87.4)
Danny Porter (96.5) 6-3 Gordon Mathers (88.2)
Semi-Finals
Brody Klinge (94.1) 6-1 Karl Schaefer (81.8)
Danny Porter (90.2) 6-0 Mal Cuming (79.8)
Final
Brody Klinge (91.8) 6-3 Danny Porter (85.4)
Event 22
The second event of the weekend took place on Saturday morning, with Brody Klinge knowing another title would secure his spot at the World Championships.
The Quarter-Finals saw six of the top nine seeds, with the higher ranked Klinge, Smith, Comito and Cuming coming out on top. A run to the Semi-Finals meant that Joe Comito was almost certainly confirmed for the ANZ Premier league.
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Raymond Smith was forced to survive multiple match darts in his win over Mal Cuming in the Semi-Finals, winning 6-5 from 5-3 down, before taking on Brody Klinge in the Final. Klinge knew a win would secure him top spot and the World Championship invite, while a win for Smith would continue the battle into another event.
Raymond Smith produced a brilliant 98.28 average to see off Klinge, reducing the gap to $2,150 with two events to go!
Once again, Mal Cuming produced the performance of the event, averaging 103.26 in a 6-2 win over Howard Jones in the Last 16.
Quarter-Finals
Brody Klinge (101.5) 6-1 Stuart Coburn (78.7)
Joe Comito (84.6) 6-1 Gordon Mathers (78.6)
Raymond Smith (87.2) 6-1 Jeremy Fagg (78.5)
Mal Cuming (87.0) 6-5 Michael Cassar (78.5)
Semi-Finals
Brody Klinge (94.9) 6-1 Joe Comito (83.4)
Raymond Smith (97.1) 6-5 Mal Cuming (96.9)
Final
Raymond Smith (98.3) 6-3 Brody Klinge (93.4)
Event 22
The second event of the day took place on Saturday afternoon, with Brody Klinge once again knowing a title would secure a spot at the World Championships, regardless of how Raymond Smith does.
Another run to the Quarter-Finals meant that Joe Comito had done enough to wrap up the final spot for the ANZ Premier League, confirming his return after finishing in bottom spot last season.
Harley Kemp made a run to the Semi-Finals for the first time since February, but once again, it was Brody Klinge and Raymond Smith who saw their way through to the final.
For the second time in the same day, Klinge knew a win would be enough to secure a spot at the World Championships, while a loss would push the fight into the final event of the season. This time it was much closer. Klinge led 4-1 and 5-3, missing five match darts to win it before Raymond Smith came back to take the title again! The result meant the gap was cut down to $1,350, with one event to go.
Quarter-Finals
Brody Klinge (99.5) 6-3 Stuart Coburn (91.2)
Harley Kemp (84.1) 6-3 Joe Comito (80.1)
Raymond Smith (87.1) 6-4 Sam Ballinger (83.7)
Mal Cuming (92.2) 6-3 Michael Cassar (85.5)
Semi-Finals
Brody Klinge (85.1) 6-0 Harley Kemp (78.9)
Raymond Smith (90.7) 6-5 Mal Cuming (91.0)
Final
Raymond Smith (90.2) 6-5 Brody Klinge (92.5)
Event 24
The final event of the 2026 ADA season took place on Sunday morning, with the format of set-play being used as usual with the final event of the weekend. Brody Klinge knew a Semi-Final would be enough to take it out of Smith’s hands, who needed to win the title but also rely on Klinge losing before the Semi-Finals to overtake him.
Raymond Smith’s wishes were answered instantly. Brody Klinge lost 2-0 in his Last 64 encounter with David Boyle, putting his spot at the World Championships in serious doubt.
This cued the start of a very nervous few hours for Brody Klinge, as he saw Smith take out the likes of Declan Bailey and Bill Aitken, chasing down top spot. Two hours after Klinge’s exit, Raymond Smith took on Braidon Charlton in the Last 16, and the fairytale was over. Charlton nicked the first set, and then won the second to nil, taking Raymond Smith out of the event!
This result meant that Brody Klinge had finally secured his spot at Alexandra Palace, where he will make his highly anticipated debut in December.
While the drama was over, there was still a title to be won, and Braidon Charlton wasn’t done. He went all the way to claim victory, beating Stuart Coburn in the final to win his very first title on the ADA Tour.
The performance of the event came from Mal Cuming for the third time in four events, averaging 101.40 in his Last 32 win over Jayden Wedemeyer.
Quarter-Finals
Stuart Coburn (84.0) 2-0 David Boyle (77.4)
Joe Comito (81.6) 2-1 Karl Schaefer (78.0)
Braidon Charlton (74.8) 2-1 Jeremy Fagg (79.0)
Mal Cuming (86.9) 2-1 Tim Pusey (82.6)
Semi-Finals
Stuart Coburn (88.9) 2-0 Joe Comito (83.2)
Braidon Charlton (78.7) 2-1 Mal Cuming (85.7)
Final
Braidon Charlton (78.5) 2-0 Stuart Coburn (71.2)
What this all means?
Having reached the Australian Masters Final, Brody Klinge will make his first appearance at a World Championship in December and will certainly have a lot of eyes on him.
Meanwhile, the line-up for the ANZ Premier League is complete, with just one change from last year:
Simon Whitlock, Mal Cuming, Brody Klinge, Raymond Smith, Tim Pusey, Joe Comito, Ben Robb and Jonny Tata.
The winner of the ANZ Premier League qualifies for both the World Championship and the Grand Slam. If Klinge was to take the title, Smith would take the World Championship spot, and likewise of Robb was to win the title, Tata would claim the spot at Ally Pally.
The ANZ Premier League gets underway at the end of September, with the five weeks of action coming to an end with the play-offs on Halloween.
The top eight on the ADA Tour also qualify for the preliminary rounds of the 2027 Winmau World Masters. This is the five ANZ Premier League players, plus Michael Bajowski, Darren Penhall and Jeremy Fagg.
Finally, Brody Klinge finishing as #1 on the tour secures him free entry into the second Stage of Q-School in January, he would certainly be a brilliant addition to the PDC Tour should he chose to take the opportunity.
Images: PDC (unless further labelled)
