Jackson Asserts No.1 Position With Victory Over Brown
Matt Jackson came out on top at the Albert Nelson Gainey Memorial Cup at Bar501 Saturday, after beating former World Finalist Mark Dudbridge 4-1 in the Final. The Action moves onto 1113 points in the rankings having picked up 32 points including a 3-1 win over ADC Number 2 Steve Brown in the Semis.
The 38-year-old averaged just shy of a ton in the Final at 99.57 and included two ton-plus checkouts of 100 and 118 to hold his throw twice in the first three legs. He also beat Winmau Championship Tour 4 Plate Knockout winner Jenson Walker 3-1 in the Last 16, on route to picking up his 20th ADC Sanctioned title of 2022.
Winmau star Brown picked up a further 8 points to move 104 points ahead now of third-placed Adam Atkinson, with the top two in the rankings guaranteed seeded spots for the World Darts Open at the start of December.
The Bomber whitewashed Jamie Vadasz in the Last 16 before beating recent Bar501 Kingswood Round Robin winner Robbie Long in the Quarter Finals 3-1. His son and PDC Tour card holder John also took part reaching the Last 4 like his dad, losing 3-1 to Dudbridge despite breaking the 49-year-old with an 85 finish in the third leg.
Geoff Murray returned to the winner’s circle in the ADC moving just 19 points of 8th placed Graham Hall, after winning the South Gosforth Club August Knockout in Newcastle. The 31-year-old came through a field that included Raymond Marshall, Kevin McDine and former Ally Pally Quarter Finalist Ryan Joyce.
The new ADC Number 9 moved above Phil Borthwick with victory in the Northeast on Sunday after beating Windy Miller 4-3 in the Final with an average of 88.71, despite his opponent finding a fantastic 126 finish to break throw in the second leg.
The Englishman included victories over Niki Langston, Brad Aldous and Paul Nesbitt following on from reaching the Quarter Finals at the McClurg Scaffolding LTD Darts Open on Saturday.
Murray was beaten by eventual winner Chris Dobey who came through a tough field to claim victory in Washington, with ADC Number 4 Tony Wood and Number 10 Phil Borthwick also involved in the action.
The 56-year-old (Borthwick) went on to reach the Semi Finals at the Winmau Sky Lounge coming through matches against Paul Dinning and Darren Melderis, before exiting the competition in the same fashion as Wood and Murray after losing 5-2 in the Last 4 to Hollywood.
Dobey beat Paul Nesbitt 5-1 in the Final with an average just shy of 88 in Washington but because of him being a PDC tour card holder he was ineligible for any ranking points. Nezzy was eligible however and managed 64 points to add to his tally which returns him into the top 16 in the rankings once again.
More competitions are set to commence again next weekend with a return to Riley’s in Chorlton for an August GSoD as well as another Albert Nelson Gainey Memorial Cup at Bar501 in Bristol next Saturday.
ADC Rankings:
Matt Jackson: 1113pts
Steve Brown: 860pts
Adam Atkinson: 756pts
Tony Wood: 711pts
Adam Warner: 572pts
Lloyd Pennell: 543pts
Lee Budgen: 501pts
Graham Hall: 484pts
Geoff Murray: 465pts
Phil Borthwick: 431pts
Paul Nesbitt: 405pts
Kevin McDine: 346pts
Tony Newell: 343pts
Kevin Garcia: 340pts
Ricky King: 334pts
Simon Preston: 334pts