Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year! Things went very bad at the Bangkok airport a few weeks ago. So Rob Heckman and I were not able to go to the Medalist Asia tournament as planned. It really is a shame, as good times were in the works for that one!! :) Also equally sad about missing hanging out with Johnny from Darts Thailand and the local crowd in the Soi22 area of Bangkok before the event.
Next event for me is the Cricket National during the Las Vegas Open Jan 23rd - 25th. I won the 01 doubles with Eddie Lawrence last year. This year I'm playing with top ranked Canadian Ken "Silverdart" McNeil and mixed with Andrea Taylor (who in 08 was just a few points shy of #1 in ADO). Great job Andrea!!! I mean, Ahndrea LOL!
2009 will have me at even less ADO events than I currently hit. I will try to hit all the PDC PDPA stops on this side of the pond. Along with a few of my favorites (Colorado and USA Classic). Good things also to come on the soft tip front. I have been told I will represent the USA in France again in 09. That was such a fun event, I am really hoping things work out to get back there. Would be even better if we get to keep the same team of Robert, David, Chris and myself. that 2nd place just leaves a nasty taste in my mouth!!!
Thats all for now, talk to you after Vegas!
Thursday, October 22, 2008
Three weeks, three events. Wiped out! Goint to try to avoid that in the future if possible.
Started the trifecta with the Colorado open. Rob and I won the Cricket doubles beating Bill Davis and Donny Joe, and lost the 01 final to local boys Dan Moore and Ruben Blea. Continued my streak of finals in the doubles, followed by poor showing in the singles.
Next up was the San Francisco Open. I won both the 01 and the Cricket singles beating Jason Naert and Frank Hernandez in the finals. I played doubles with a local Sacramento player Drew Swick. Saturday we lost in the semi final. Sunday we made the final but lost to an on fire team of Paolo Cleofe and Nico Depaynos. Drew and I played the mixed trips with Andrea Taylor, and lost the semi final to eventual winners Chris White, Andrew Bennet and Brenda Roush. Saturday night, I paired with a good buddy Ron Colvard in the blind draw, and we took it down fairly easily. Thou we did try our best to give away the final!! :) Full Results here.
Then comes Austin Texas and the World Cup qualifier. First let me say, that 6th street in downtown Austin is fantastic!!! It really is a mini bourbon street. Had a blast there!!!
I made it thru my initial bracket loosing only 2 legs. Which brought us to the top 10. Chris White came out on top with 18 wins. Me, Steve Brown and Ryan Barnette were all 3 tied with 16 wins. I loved my chances going in to the 3 way playoff. I had beat Brownie 2-1 and Ryan 3-0 in the top 10s. We all flipped coins, odd man out sits the first match. I think this really hurt my chances as I was the odd man out. I would really have liked to play the first match. Even if I lost, I am ready for the second match. I placed an incredible amount of pressure on myself. The World Cup being in the United States in 09 and one of my best buddies already in, I wanted this one baaaaaaad. It showed... In my first match, Steve hit a big 133 coming in to make my 93 out even harder. I missed the 93 and steve hit the 70odd out. Playing Ryan, he had nothing to loose and all the pressure was opn me to win and take us into another playoff. Ryan beat me pretty easy and sealed his spot into the World Cup... Congrats...
Chris and I played the doubles, but didn't fair well. Singles 01, I lost a great match to Chris in the 2nd round. I played Joe Chaney in the quatrers of the Cricket. We had a great 3 leg slug fest. Joe hit a great shot to win the last leg. He needed 4 20s and a bull to close me out and hit it like he knew it was going in... I believe he went on to win... Still doesn't make me feel any better :)
So, back home. Confirmed I am going to Thailand in December for the Medalist Soft Tip event. Looking forward to hanging out in Thailand with my good buddy Rob Heckman, and our friend Johnny from Darts Thailand.
See you soon!!!
Friday, September 12, 2008
What a great time at Medalist Worlds this year! They did a fantastic job giving the Grand Masters 3 of the 4 days all Grand Master events. For me, 2 semi finals in the singles, 1 final in doubles, a 1st in trios, a 5th in the Pro AM as well as a 5th in the Trios bring (handicapped event) sealed a good week for me.
First a HUGE CONGRATS to my buddy Robert Heckman for winning his 3rd World Champs singles title this year, and to Rob and Chris White for winning the 01 doubles medley Amigo-style!
Wednesday started off for me the 01 Medley singles. I played Paul Lim in the semi final, best of 7. Paul won every 01 game, I won every cricket game. Sadly, it was an 01 medley! LOL! In the 7th leg I won the bull and started strong missing 2 bulls over 5 rounds to leave 39. Paul played a step better only missing 1 bull in the first 4 rounds leaving him on a 5th round finish. Paull did what he does and took the 154 before I could look at the 39 and he advanced to the final. Had I hit the extra bull Paul did, I would have had a shot in the 5th round as well. You can't give that guy a chance to win. He WILL take it!
Wednesday evening doubles is the only event I feel I did not play well. All appoligies to my partner Robert Dixon. We finished T16 just out of the money round.
Thursday was considered an "off day" for the Grand Masters. But was still able to play in a Trios Bring with my partners Del Stanback and Cindy West with a strong 5th place finish in a tough handicapped event. Thursday I played in the Super Countup challenge. My luck ran out, and I played a 6 Tim (I'm sorry I forgot your last name!!!). Tim shot superb. And after 5 legs I lost by 15 points! OUCH!
Friday started us back with singles again. This time right in my wheelhouse. Cricket Medley. After beating tough players to reach the Semi final again in the singles, my buddy David Fatum got the better of me. If I remember correct we were level at 2-2 going into 5th leg cricket. I underplayed my advantage and decided to point instead of close his 16 with my last dart. I should have played my aggressive. The point difference was small enough at that point I could have justified a dart at it. But I missed my point dart as well. David capitalized and shut me down his next round. And he pretty much whipped me the next 01 beating me 4-2.
Friday doubles I drew Jim Tederman. Jim played VERY well, and we found ourselves in the final after beating several strong teams against Paul Lim and Elmer Acorda. They played well and took us out in a good match.
Saturday Morning was the Grand Master Trios. I was fortunate enough to be paied with my good buddy Chris White, and a new friend Warren Perry from New Zeland. We were nicknamed the "Dream Team" as Chris holds the #1 ranking, I hold the #2 ranking and Warren is NZ #1 player. After a bit of a rocky start from all 3 of us, we managed to bear down and win the final. Winning my first soft tip World Title, hopefully the first of many more to come.
Saturday night was the Pro AM. My terrific draws continued, as my girlfriend Kimberly Heath was not onl;y lucky enough to be drawn as one of the C players but drawn on my team!!!! Rounding out our team was Tom Frost and DJ.
It really was such a good time. I made new friends in Mitsumasa Hoshino from Japan and Warren Perry from New Zeland. And enjoyed good times and lots of laughs with old friends.
It is always nice to see people you only get to see once a year. Peter from Puma Darts, the Darts Live film crew with Tamiko Okawa, my good friends from I&K Darts Mitsuhiro Murata and Manabu Kyutoku, and the Medalist staff (including the Medalist Asia representative Kei Hasegawa) that ran a smooth and problem free event!
A HUGE Thank You to Max at Action Promotions. Without whom, I would dress like a dump truck! Oh he does MUCH more than dress me... :) Seriously Max and Christine, thank you for ALL your love and support.
An added suprise before I left for Vegas, I found I placed 5th in the South West MVP award. It was based on league finals finishes and league performance. And very nice plaque and a check for $100! Sweet! You can view it here Medalist 2008 MVP
A lot of events coming up in the next 2 months. Stay tuned!!!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Back from Connecticut. Overall, the weekend went pretty well. Chris White and I won the 01 doubles beating Steve Panuncialman and Fred Krueger in the final. And 2nd in the Cricket doubles, loosing to Darin Young and Brad Wethington in the final.
I went out in the Cricket Semi's to Steve Brown. Boy he plays some wacky shots. Gets the job done thou. He just sucked me in to trying to counter his strategy, instead of just playing my game. Steve lost to Scott Wollaston in the final.
I would like to say I played well in the National. I would be lying... :) Scoring fantastic. Could not find a finish to save my life. Odd thou, that my other 01 events, I had no problem doubling... Missed the cut by 1 lousy leg. Oh yeah, that could have been the leg that should have been 11 darter, and 12 darts at out later, ended up loosing that leg.... Yup. Thats the one! :)
Had another live interview, this time with the local Fox affiliate at the State Fair. I think it went well. About as good as it could in that setting. Will post video in the next few days.
Off to Vegas for the Medalist World Champs in 2 weeks. Will check back in then!!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
I corrected my description of the final aginst Spain. I thought we won the 2nd leg. In fact we didn't win until the 4th leg. After watching the video I just posted, it all came back. Thank you to Yannick of France Darts for access to this video.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Back from Vegas... VERY long week for me. Friday and Saturday were Medalist Soft Tip league finals at the Riviera, Sunday morning at Mandalay Bay for PDPA Steel Tip, Sunday night back to Riviera for Soft Tip, then Monday and Tuesday back to Mandalay Bay for PDC Desert Classic. Whew. Got tired all over again just typing it. :)
Saturday at the Riv I played in Super A Doubles with my partner Tracey Vitale. We made it to the final and came up against a tough team in Ozzie Ozman and Walton Kaleiwahea. In the last game, Tracey played fantastic! I fell short on the bulls and we finished 2nd.
Sunday morning at Mandalay Bay had me playing American Bobby Peters. I was well on my game and won 3-0 not dropping a leg. The second round I played Kevin Painter. I had a dissapointing loss to Kevin last year in this event... and a dissapointing loss to him again this year. I had him down 2-1 in sets, with 3 darts at 41 to close out the 4th set. Missing the D16 twice, Kevin leveled the match at 2-2 taking out 80. The 5th set had me starting, he broke me fairly easy the first leg. I had a shot at 121 to even the set but my last dart found the 25 instead of the 50 and cost me the match. Kevin poked another 80odd shot for the match. Theres always next year Kevin!!!
Sunday night, I was back at the Riviera to play Super A Trios with my girlfriend Kimberly Heath and Christine Wurzer. Again made it to the final, this time with a better outcome! Kimberly and Christine played brilliant all evening long, and continued it into the final. My soft tip game was sharp this evening and we won the event!
Monday morning back at Mandalay Bay for the Desert Classic Qualifier, I played Danny Llanes. I won this match 5-0 checking out 140 & 116 no leg over 15 darts. My second match I played Paul Lim. I felt a little tight going into this match. A few years ago I beat Paul in this event, only to draw him again the next day and he got me back and went on to qualify for the stage. Paul won the bull and held his darts the first leg. I was overly focused and mis-counted a set up leaving 38 in stead of 40. I put all 3 darts at 38 well below the double, to be broken. Now down 0-2, I could not shake the mental mistake. I scratched a leg in, but all in all Paul had a pretty easy match to get by me 5-1.
Tuesday I started the day with a tough match in Donnie Strode. Sadly for Donnie, my confidence was where it is supposed to be and beat him 5-1, again no leg over 15. My next match was Wayne Atwood. Wayne and I had a slug fest. But I couldn't have had a slug fest with a nicer fellow. He broke me and held his darts. I held my darts and broke him back for 2-2. We each held darts to level it 4-4. My darts in the 9th I opened 140, 100, 81. Wayne faltered a bit. Then I let him back in. 2 scores of 30ish left me at 102. Wayne was on 68ish?. I missed the T20, missed the DB, and hit the 17 to set up 40. I never had the look. Again to Wayne's credit, he was a super nice guy and I look forward to chatting him up again. Next time with him marking my next match. :) (Side note* Next match Wayne got by Allen Wariner-Little without a problem to win the board...) :(
I can sum the PDPA & Desert Classic weekend up in 2 words. Mental Mistakes. I played fantastic to the wire. More consistent in scoring than I have ever been, and more comfortable (Thank you Kimberly!!!) in my personal life than ever. Baby steps friends! Baby steps!!!
Next I'm off to Stamford CT in August to play in the 501 Nationals. See you there!
Friday, June 20, 2008
I had a live broadcast interview with a local news station Tues. 6/16. It went fantastic! Julissa was great! I can't wait to talk to CW31 and the Good Day Sacramento crew again in the future!!!
You can view a portion of the feed under my Video page.
Friday, June 13, 2008
What a fantastic time we had in France. Rob Heckman, Chris White, David Fatum and I all represented the USA and ourselves with class. The ONLY negative of the event is we ran into a very confident and very on form Spain team. Myself, I was surely not prepared for how abnormally humid the climate would be. Oh well. Next year, eh?
Rob and I finished T4 in the opening days doubles event. Chris and Dave to the Quarters.
Day 2 had the open 4 man teams beating each other up in the round robins. The stars had us aligned to extract some revenge on Spain in the final. Chris White started us off with a perfect OI/DO 501 leg. A few breaks later and we are accepting the 2nd place trophy. Great looking trophy thou. :) ish...
Day 3 was the 4 man International Prestige Cup. And again the humidity was set to my favorite radio station back home. (98.5) Badabing, stars align again and we get to see Spain in the Final. Rob and I played the first 501 leg. This leg really came down to who had the first shot at the out. Justi (Spain) and I were basically on the same darts. He had first shot at the out. I didn't play again until leg 4 with David. We won that cricket leg, but we were still down 3-1. Team USA fought the good fight, but Spain pretty easliy beat us again.
I want to give a HUGE thank you to Lee at Medalist for allowing us to represent his company and the USA. Another very large thank you to Yannick (the host of the event) I enjoyed myself VERY much! I look forward to coming back next year! And lastly to Paul. Thank you for driving us around!!!