7th October 2011

Hi everyone, and welcome to my new website.

2011 has been a year of mixed fortunes.   I am currently based in Holland, but I am looking to move back to the UK at some point in the foreseeable future.  I am in the process of tying things up to that end, which has made keeping up with the tour hard at times.

As always, like any year, the focus is on the major tournaments,  - the Winmau World Masters, The Zuiderduin Masters and the big one - the World Championships at the lakeside.   Qualifying first and foremost, but then of course doing my best if and when I can get there.

The 2011 Masters could have gone better to be honest.  The draw wasn’t awfully kind as I met Paul Jennings, who will be at this years World championship in the first round of this huge field.  Paul was the better player on the day and played well to beat me.

This was quickly followed by the Lakeside qualifiers.   There are a couple of ways to get into the World Champs - and whilst I was doing okay in the table qualifiers, without it being certain I was hoping to secure one of the spots from the one-off qualifiers.

I had a great run early one with a couple of early wins.   I then met Alan Soutar in the last 32.   A good win for me in that game took me onto the last 16 and it was Sandy Stephen.   It was another solid win for me here to go within just one game of securing a guarranteed place at the worlds.   Sadly, i fell at the last hurdle to Gary Stone, who played superbly.

Hoping to then make sure I got to the Lakeside through the other method - the rankings, I was sat in the mid-twenties in the rankings (top 27 getting in through the table - I travelled to Bridlington to play in the BDO British Open.  My first round went great, with a 170 out in a 3-0 win.   However things went a little sour in round 2, as I was timed out.   I was disappointed to say the least!

This meant I had slipped to 26th in the rankings and my lakeside place was starting to look in real jeopardy.   So I headed to the England Classic last weekend knowing I needed to make things happen.   A few nervy encounters early on (3-2 in my favour) but I made it to the quarter finals and played a good friend of mine in Joe Murnan.  Joe was 28th in the table and one of the people who could harm my chances of making the world’s though so there was no love lost in the game and down to business.  This was streamed live by the EDO (England darts organisation), and I played very well to run out a 4-1 winner and march on to the semi finals.   I feel for Joe, but obviously this was a massive win for me.   Coming back the next day, I couldn’t repeat the same form in the semi final and lost to Jamie Robinson, who then lost to Stephen Bunting in the final.

So with only a few days to go before the Lakeside cut off, I am sat in 22nd place and now am keeping my fingers crossed for no surprises!   Would be great to make the final stages for the 5th year running!   I

The Zuiderduin masters is in early December, but I have not made the top 16 this time out.   I am hopeful of a wildcard yet though!

Thanks for reading, more soon!

Steve!