PDC
Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig
Challenge Tour
Events 10, 11 + 12
10
Event 10
Ben Ward started his event with excellent whitewash victories over Rainer Hofweber and Josh Payne, before producing two battling performances to defeat Jan Dekker and Adam Hunt, reaching the semi-finals of a Challenge Tour event for the first time. In the semi-final the Dorset based youngster ended the challenge of Richard Baillie with a 4-1 victory before securing the £500 first prize with a thrilling 4-3 win over Josh Jones in the final. Jones too had enjoyed his best Challenge Tour performance to date, the 23-year-old having dropped only one leg in reaching the last eight. In a thrilling quarter final Jones ended the run of Challenge Tour Order of Merit leader Ross Smith in a deciding leg, before another close encounter saw him defeat Rowby John Rodriguez to reach his first Challenge Tour Final
Saturday 13th July saw the return of the Unicorn/PDC Challenge Tour as the top up and coming players headed to the Barnsley Metrodome for a triple header of tournaments that would go a long way towards shaping the final standings. Saturday kicked off with a victory from Ben Ward, with the 24-year-old from Dorset claiming his maiden Challenge Tour title, before Bolton’s Ross Smith claimed a third Challenge Tour victory of the season in the second of the days events. Sunday saw the players return to action for the weekend’s final event, with Jan Dekker securing a maiden Challenge Tour Victory.
Challenge Tour Order Of Merit 1 2 3 4 4 6 7 7 9 10 10 Ross Smith Adam Hunt Ricky Evans Kurt Parry Rowby John Rodriquez Benito van de Pas Alan Bell Jan Dekker Jamie Lewis Josh Payne Ben Ward £2,125 £1,300 £1,275 £1,200 £1,200 £1,000 £925 £925 £900 £875 £875 Quarter-Finals
Richard Baillie 4-1 Max Hopp Ben Ward 4-3 Adam Hunt Rowby John Rodriguez 4-3 Jeffrey De Graaf Josh Jones 4-3 Ross Smith
Semi-Finals
Ben Ward 4-1 Richard Baillie Josh Jones 4-3 Rowby John Rodriguez
Final
Ben Ward 4-3 Josh Jones