The Grand Slam Of Darts 2009

The 2009 Grand Slam Of Darts started its nine days of competitive games with the following 32 players in 8 groups of 4 hoping to qualify to the knock out rounds and get a share of the £400,000 Prize Fund with £100,000 going to the eventual winner;-

Phil Taylor, Mark Webster, Vincent Van Der Voort, Anastasia Dobromyslova, Tony O'Shea, Colin Osborne, Colin Lloyd, Brian Woods, Mervyn King, Darryl Fitton, Steve Maish, Kirk Shepherd, Raymond Van Barneveld, John Part, Kevin Painter, Francis Hoenselaar, Ted Hankey, Simon Whitlock, Wayne Mardle, Scot Waites, Gary Anderson,Steve Beaton, Co Stompe, Kevin McDine, Terry Jenkins, Adrian Lewis, Darren Young, Dennis Ovens, James Wade, Robert Thornton, Andy Hamilton and Gary Mawson.

The opening games in the heats saw some very interesting matches with one of the best being when the young Russian girl Anastasia Dobromyslova actually beat Dutchman Vincent van der Voort 5-4. She almost did the unthinkable as well by very nearly taking a leg off the incredible darts superstar legend Phil Taylor. Another lady player was in this years competition in the shape of Francis Hoenselaar and she too performed well, because at one stage had a 2-0 lead over John Part, but unfortunately ended up losing the match 5 -2. She also managed to take a leg off fellow Dutch superstar Raymond Barneveld.

Although it was the B.D.O champion Ted Hankey's first appearance he certainly made an impression on the crowd who barracked him terribly. Hankey really had the crowd against him when he played the Australian Simon Whitlock and was 4-1 up at one stage before losing the next 4 legs straight to get knocked out. Whitlock finished his last leg against Hankey with a brilliant 146 to take it and push out Hankey who had earlier finished a magnificent 170. Another player to have a great finish was American Darren Young who had a 147 finish against 24 year old Potteries lad Adrian Lewis.

One of the lighter moments must have been when Kirk Shepherd played against the qualifier Steve Maish. Kirk was so pleased with his victory he jumped in the air and when he landed his ankle gave way leaving him collapsed on the stage. While he walked round the stage to take the applause he was struggling to stay on his feet because of his bad ankle!

Perhaps the most surprising victory in the opening rounds, came from Vincent van Der Voort, who beat Phil Taylor 5-1, only two days after losing to Anastasia. Phil had already assured his place in the next round so some might think he wasn't bothered, but Phil never likes to lose.

As the competition progressed there were some interesting results with one or two more surprising victories. The quarter final matches of Taylor against Tony O'Shea and Barney against Kevin Painter gave the rather one sided, predictable, results of 16 v 7 and 16 v 6 respectively, but the Australian Wizard of Oz, Simon Whitlock against Scot Waites, was a very hard fought, close, game with Waites just taking it 16 v 13. Terry "The Bull" Jenkins had a good result against Robert Thornton with a very worthy 16 v 9.

It was not a good draw for Barney in the following Semis as he was drawn against his main rival in the shape of the formidable Phil Taylor. Barney threw well with an average of around 100, but of course Taylor was just too much for him, as he usually is, with the average of 108 that he had towards the end of the match and the result rather reflected this at 16 v 8. The other Semi final match of Waites and Jenkins match was much closer, with Waites an almost surprised victor on 16 v 11. Scot threw very well in the final and had an average of 101 that was higher than Barneys earlier 99, but Taylor was on form and almost show boated the final leg with a brilliant 9 darter that he missed and got with the 10th on double 6. (180, 180, then T20 + T19 + D12.) Waites still seemed happy with his £50,000 prize for coming second though.