Moving onto Lennon's 6-5 loss to Michael van Gerwen now, and Steve once again showed his quality. He averaged a lowly (only joking) 96.4 this time around compared to Michael's 95.2. Steve hit 36% (5/14) of his doubles and 2 180s. This game only proved again Steve can more than compete with the big boys (his game against Michael Smith in the World Championship also comes to mind). Over the 2 games, Steve had a 3 Dart Average of 98, hit 39.3% of his doubles and also hit 5 180s. You would have to say that if Steve can play like this next weekend in Players Championships 7&8, there's a good chance he will continue to rise the Pro Tour Order of Merit, and potentially qualify for the World Matchplay and more big TV events.
Speaking of the Pro Tour Order of Merit, Steve has jumped 2 places up to 44th with the £2000 he earned, taking his total up to £22500. As I said, let's hope he can keep climbing the ladder and we'll see how far he gets. On the PDC Order of Merit, Steve has also jumped 2 places, now up to 57th, which @bsd987 says is 'a likely career high'. He is now only 1 place behind Willie O'Connor and will surely jump him next weekend with Willie set to skip the 2 Players Championships. To comment, coming into this weekend, Steve would have probably expected to win his Last 48 game, and maybe could have hoped to get through to the Last 16. However, when he saw the draw, Steve would have thought it very unlikely he could get much out of Michael van Gerwen, so he had to give it all in Round 1. And so it turned out that against van Gerwen, he gave an excellent account of himself. How long will it be before he makes a huge run? Why not next weekend, he certainly has the form to do it!
Daryl Gurney
I also want to mention Daryl Gurney, as he had a massive week. It started on Thursday in the Premier League when he put in a huge performance against Rob Cross. The huge Belfast crowd certainly helped but his darts in the final leg summed up the effort. It confirmed he is safe from relegation and now can focus on pushing for the Top 4. Then, he flew over to Munich where he safely defeated Ryan Meikle 6-3 in the Last 32 to get into the final day. In the Last 16, he beat on form Ian White with a 102 average 6-4 before dispatching of World Champion Rob Cross 6-3 in the quarter finals. He could never quite get going in his semi final against Michael van Gerwen, but still, plenty (understatement) of positives to take from the week.
'Player of the Week'
Finally, my Player of the Week. Daryl Gurney was without doubt the best player, beating Rob Cross twice this week while also reaching the semi finals of the German Darts Grand Prix. However, due to Daryl's hugely superior ranking, I feel it would be harsh on the other players to give it to Daryl. He would win it every week!! So I will give this week's award to Steve Lennon who showed some really excellent form. Congrats both Daryl and Steve! Thanks for reading this week's report. Is it unfair not to give Daryl the Player of the Week? Any other queries? Just contact me on Twitter @irishdartsfan .
Thanks again to High Roller Radio. I'll be back next week with my report on European Tour qualifiers 5&6 as well as Players Championships 7&8.
But for now...
Matt
MVG in Munich!
MVG in Munich!
For the second straight weekend, the world #1 Michael van Gerwyn squared off with world #2 in a European Tour final. This time, ET2 & the German Darts Grand Prix!
@irishdartsfan
Loving the Darts on the Emerald Isle!
Matt, the 'Irish Darts Fan,' is an avid follower of the tungsten pays particular attention to his fellow countrymen. News, statistics and player quotes. From O'Connor to Lennon to Dolan, darts in Ireland has nothing to do with luck, it's about the Skill of the Irish baby!
Steve Lennon v MVG at German Darts Grand Prix
High Roller Radio
2-to-1 you'll LOVE it!
#TheCurseOfRossSmith
What is 'The Curse of Ross Smith?' When was the last perfect 9-dart leg registered on the European Tour!
William O'Connor
I'll start this report by talking about 'The Magpie' Willie O'Connor who was also playing his first European Tour event of the year in the German Darts Grand Prix over the last few days. He did brilliantly to qualify for the event with some excellent results in the UK Qualifier on the 16th February, the pick of these performances surely being when he beat Kevin Painter 6-4 with a 101 average in the final round.
Unfortunately, he could not replicate this showing this weekend, as he fell 6-2 to Luke Humphries in the Last 48. It was disappointing for Willie, but Luke played an excellent match and ultimately deserved to win. In his match against Humphries, Willie could only average 88.2, which come compared to Luke's 95, was never going to be sufficient. A lot of the blame could also be put down to his doubling. He only hit 18% of his doubles during the match, a disappointing 2/9. However, he did hit an impressive 3 180s in the match, despite his low average (compared to what we know he can do). Just a quick word on the PDC Order of Merit, Willie is now 56th, having earned another £1000 bringing his total to £53250 and moving closer to Zoran Lerchbacher ahead of him.
On the Pro Tour Order of Merit, Willie has jumped 3 places to 54th with the £1000 he earned. Finally, just to comment, I was surprised that Willie was unable to run Luke Humphries a lot closer than he did. Admittedly, Humphries won his next match 6-1 against Gerwyn Price, and followed this up by bringing World Champion Rob Cross to a deciding leg in the Last 16. However, Willie could only show glimpses of his true form, one for example would be an excellent 144 checkout at 3-0 down. Willie is taking next weekend off, meaning he will not qualify for European Tours 5&6 and will probably drop below Steve Lennon in the PDC Order of Merit for he first time. However, this weekend off could prove beneficial to Willie, as hopefully, he can come back with a clear head and a refreshed mind.
Matt the @IrishDartsFan
The German Darts Grand Prix in Munich
Another week, another stop on the PDC road trip, this time again in Germany. After the highs of Leverkusen last week, we had another awesome time in Munich, where the crowd were brilliant, especially noisy after Max Hopp's brilliant run to the quarter finals. However, the Germans were not the only ones cheering this week, as I was here in Ireland. With Steve Lennon putting in a couple of super performances this weekend in his first European Tour of 2018, we had plenty reasons to be cheerful. Here's my round-up of the weekend's action.
(Above: Steve Lennon's 3-Dart Average for Weekend)
Steve Lennon
Moving onto Steve Lennon now, and once again, Steve impressed everyone with his performances over the weekend. As I said before, the German Darts Grand Prix was Steve's first European Tour of 2018, but the big crowds and TV cameras certainly didn't faze him. Steve also impressed when coming through the UK Qualifier, winning 2 games, against Dawson Murschell and John Bowles, throwing a 104 average when beating Bowles.
Steve was the 4th game on Saturday, and he put in a truly brilliant performance, sweeping aside a rejuvenated Nathan Aspinall 6-4. He came up against Michael van Gerwen in the Last 32, only to fall short 6-5 in a great game. Steve Lennon is becoming more renowned and recognised in the darting world every time he steps up to the oche. In his Last 48 defeat of Nathan Aspinall, Steve averaged a brilliant 99.95 (we'll round it to 100!). He needed every point of it as Nathan averaged an unreal 102.15, which is the 3rd highest losing average in Round 1 of the European Tour since it's inception (stat by @ochepedia). This just proves how hard Nathan made Steve work for the win. Steve hit an excellent 43% (6/14) of his doubles and also hit 3 180s.
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