U.S. Open and NADC Part One

Here is my first report of several on the PDC's U.S. Open and NADC. I arrived Friday early and checked into my hotel in Niantic, Connecticut. After wandering around a bit in town I drove in to the Mohegan Sun Casino, which hosts both events.

First, the good dart gossip. As soon as I found the registration area, I bumped into Laurett Meddis, Buddy Bartoletta, and Joe Hogan and his wife. We had lunch together and I was excited to get confirmation that the World Cup of Darts is slated to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, in September 2009. I have already volunteered to help out the event. For those of you who don't know Laurett, Buddy and Joe, they work tirelessly in organizing and putting on big dart events in the U.S.A. They are very dedicated to the success of darts in the U.S.A. and they deserve a lot of thanks.

Back to the darts. The first event was the U.S. Open. Because I was not competing, I was free to roam around, watch some great floor matches, and visit with friends. I quickly ran into George Silberzahn and Jay Tomlinson, with whom I renewed my Bullseye News subscription. Once the action got underway I watched some great matches with Phil Taylor, Ray Van Barneveld, and many other stars of the PDC circuit. I enjoy watching these guys throw. Their form and technique are so good, it makes you want to watch and absorb as much as you can. After awhile though I wanted to see how my friends were faring.

Scott Wollaston won his first round match with Stacy Stevens (no $5 bets this time:)). Scott crashed out the next round though. His mom and brother Jimmy had made the trip up from New Orleans and it was good to visit with them.

Fellow Corner Bar teammate Tom Waterman pressed John Part and won a set, but John turned up his game and won the rest. I watched John later in some board matches and American Roger Carter shot a remarkable game to defeat John and win the board. Roger plays out of Georgia, and I've seen him at dart tournaments since I started playing down in New Orleans.

Other Americans played very well. Gary Mawson picked off Ray Van Barneveld, and Johnny K defeated Vincent VanDerVoort in a thriller that went down to the last leg. Texan Davis Snider defeated Darin Young and Englishman Steve Beaton. New Jersey Darter Buddy Lessig was red hot, winning his board with a victory over Andy "The Hammer" Hamilton. Ray Carver won over Alex Roy to win his board and then beat Buddy Lessig to make it through to the top 16. Roger Carter defeated Mark Walsh to book a place in the last 16. Philadelphia's Bill Davis won his board and then defeated Tony Eccles to make the last 16 (all top 16 matches to be played Saturday). David Fatum made the top 16 cut with wins over Davis Snider and Steve Panuncialman. That means five Americans in the top 16, which shows good improvement considering the top level of competition. I witnessed a lot of 11 to 15 dart games, and quite a few matches came down to a double or two determining the outcome.

The field was so big that the NADC was delayed in starting by almost an hour. I will follow up with accounts of the NADC floor matches, and then day two of the U.S. Open. Until then, good darts!