PDC William Hill World Championship Day 4

Posted: 16.12.19 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

What a weekend at the palace!

What a mind-boggling couple of days at the palace we have had! It has been very much a case of out with the old and in with the new! On Saturday a calm and measured Luke Woodhouse dispatched 65-year-old legend Paul Lim. Surely this is the last time we will see Lim on the Ally Pally stage.

The Youth World Champion produced a stunning performance to beat Wattimena in one of the finest games I can remember at the Worlds. Then the big one, Barney forced into “early retirement” by Darin Young.

The end of an era. pic.twitter.com/iyOKFmccQf

— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 14, 2019

It was a sad end to a great career. Part of me wonders if Barney knew it was time to go in what turned out to be a premature announcement of the end of his career a few months ago. Maybe some outside agencies were at work that assisted in the almost immediate U turn which saw him carry on and that ended in the mental turmoil we saw the other night? With hindsight it is obvious that he should never have been up on that stage.

Last night we had 37 year old Japanese star Mikuru Suzuki on stage and she came within a double or two of beating the experienced James Richardson. With a female marker on stage too the memories of the walk on girls is fading fast.

Luke Woodhouse, another newish face then rounded off a memorable couple of days by beating the “Bully Boy” 3:1.

We go again tonight!

Monday December 16
Evening Session (1900GMT) - 3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Steve Lennon (8/13) v Callan Rydz (6/4) (First Round)
William O'Connor (1/3) v Marko Kantele (5/2) (First Round)
Vincent van der Voort (1/3) v Keane Barry (13/5) (First Round)
Gary Anderson (2/5) v Brendan Dolan (2/1) (Second Round)