Steve Brown won his very first Winmau ADC Championship in Thornbury on Saturday after beating Dan Read 6-2 in the Final of Tour 3 coming through a 137-man field. The Bomber is up to third in the rankings after earning 256 ranking points, 12 points ahead of Tony Wood in fourth.
The Winmau star spoke to Darts World after his win and said: “Surprised is the main emotion I think, I wasn’t going to play today, its just dawned on me the players I beat today and in the last part of the afternoon I felt like my old self again”. Brown beat the likes of Kevin Garcia as well as the conqueror of ADC Number 1 Matt Jackson in Adam Smith Neale.
“I know I’m capable of winning these events but sometimes its just your confidence and I’ve been lacking that recently, so to go and win today with my little girl here it means a lot”. The Bristol thrower moves onto 556 points, 110 points behind second placed Adam Atkinson.
When asked about a potential push for the ADC Number 1, the 41-year-old said: “I would love that, Matt Jackson is a good friend of mine and a fantastic darts player, and I know how much time and effort he puts into this. It would be nice and credit to Matt because he’s temporarily lost it for a week or two and he’s got it back.
James Richardson played his first ADC event as he made it all the way to the Semi Finals in Thornsbury, losing to runner up Dan Read who enjoyed a fantastic debut tournament himself. Ruthless has played on the Ally Pally stage on multiple occasions but was not going to let himself get carried away going into the Third Winmau Championship Tour.
“I walked in today and thought wow, this is good what they (ADC) are doing and a good venue, so I knuckled down. I’m really impressed with what Scott and Steve Brown have put together here and its only going to grow.”
Richardson will also play in the Undisputed Series later this month against Kevin Painter and is looking forward to the challenge of The Artist on the 22nd of July. “I’m ready for Kev, you know its going to be a good match and its what people want, they want to see a good game of darts. We know what Kev’s achieved over the years; I’ve not achieved as much but my profile in the game is as good as his.”
Recent Darts World Amateur Award winner Chris Wickenden enjoyed a run to the Quarter Finals in Bristol as he earned 32 points for his spot in the last 8.
A memorable Last 16 game against Winmau Championship 2 runner up Gary Blades, saw Pugs hit a score of 140 before an 83 finish with his last dart at the bullseye to seal victory against the former PDC tour card holder.
“It was nice, I will be honest I’m not the best on the bull, but to chip the bull against a player like Gary was amazing in a tense game a fantastic game, I played my best stuff of the day in that match so fantastic, happy with that.”
Wickenden was also full of praise for the new ADC system saying “It’s fantastic, someone like myself you know everyone’s trying to push into the professional setup and theirs nothing to bridge the gap in between.
Obviously, the ADC have come in and are bridging that gap and its good because it’s a professional setup and it gives the players something to play for”
Adam Atkinson the ADC Number 2 opted not to play this weekend and for players like Tony Wood and Graham Hall, the chance to close the gap presented itself.
Winmau man Hall reached the Quarter Finals, losing on the main stage to Ryan Palmer in the Quarter Finals 5-2. G Man won an all Winmau match with Andy Jenkins in the Last 32 4-2 averaging 94.62, with both having played in the Live League this year.
Wood won in Bar501 yesterday before going onto the Last 32 today where he lost 4-1 to Gary Blades. The 52-year-old was 3-2 down in his Third-Round match with Marcus Knapman but found consecutive legs to survive, finding an 80 checkout to seal the deciding seventh leg on double five.
ADC Winmau Championship Tour 4 takes place tomorrow with the winner of the event qualifying for the Champion of Champions set to take place in August with another £1000 on the line as well as 256 ADC Ranking points.
Winmau Championship Tour 4: Quarter Final Results
Ryan Palmer 5-4 Chris Wickenden
Steve Brown 5-3 Adam Smith-Neale
Dan Read 5-2 Graham Hall
James Richardson 5-4 Callum Goffin
Semi Finals:
Steve Brown 5-2 Ryan Palmer
Dan Read 5-2 James Richardson
Final:
Steve Brown 6-2 Dan Read
ADC Overall Rankings:
Matt Jackson: 698pts
Adam Atkinson: 666pts
Steve Brown: 556pts
Tony Wood: 544pts
Lloyd Pennell: 504pts
Graham Hall: 480pts
Adam Warner: 375pts
Geoff Murray: 369pts
Graham Usher: 316pts
Lee Budgen: 308pts
Ricky King: 278pts
Tony Newell: 272pts
Paul Nesbitt: 257pts
Adam Mould: 251pts
Kevin McDine: 251pts
Shaun Rutter: 245pts
—-ENDS—-
Images: Harry Masterson
