Las Vegas Desert Classic

The Rooster

This gets underway on Wednesday. The top 12 in the PDC rankings automatically qualfied along with 3 yanks and a Canadian. The remaining 16 places up for grabs on Monday and Tuesday.

And the good news is that Mick McGowan and John Magowan both qualfied on Monday. Mick beating Richie Burnett, Colin Monk and then Adrian Lewis in his final. John beat Bob Anderson and James Wade. Barney got through too which is good to see. The other qualfiers were Andy Smith, Steven Smith, Andy Hamilton, Matt Clark and American Bill Davis.

8 more qualifiers to come through on Tuesday, and among those looking for a place are Lewis, Part, Mason, Walsh, Warriner, Bates, Tabern, Kuczynski.

MBC

Yeah great news for Mick McGowan and John Magown they seem to be hitting really good form at the moment.
Its great to an Irish Interest in the PDC.

Kingp35

Yeah Im delighted that the Irish lads managed to get through. Irish darts seems to be on a bit of a high at the moment with Irish players doing well. Lets just hope that they can have a good run in the tournament proper now.

NeoRox

Qualifers from Tuesday are:

Chris Mason
Wes Newton
Bob Anderson
Barrie Bates
John Part
Steve Beaton
Dennis Smith
Adrian Lewis

Looks to be a good field this year, so it could be a good tournament.

The Rooster

First round draw:

Darin Young (USA) v Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)
Colin Lloyd v Chris Mason
Ronnie Baxter v John Part (Canada)
Phil Taylor v Adrian Lewis
Peter Manley v Steve Beaton
Roland Scholten (Netherlands) v Bob Anderson
Ray Carver (USA) v Mick McGowan (Ireland)
Dennis Priestley v Dennis Smith
Andy Jenkins v Andy Smith
Kevin Painter v Andy Hamilton
Wayne Mardle v Wes Newton
Mark Dudbridge v Barrie Bates (Wales)
Gerry Convery (Canada) v John MaGowan (N Ireland)
Brad Wethington (USA) v Matt Clark
Denis Ovens v Steven Smith
Terry Jenkins v Bill Davis (USA)

Short format - best of 11 legs I think. Starts on Sky Sports at 7pm tonight. There's an open draw held after each round from now on. Some cracking games in prospect, notably Taylor v Lewis and Lloyd v Mason. Both Irish lads avoided the real big guns so have a chance of progression, albeit both Carver and Convery have taken scalps at recent world championships.

MBC

Great wins for the 2 Irish lads last night.

I watched the Mick McGowan game Vs Ray Carver. Carver started really well taking the 1st two legs and looked like he was throwing for fun.......but fair play to Mick McGowan he never looked rattled and won the next 2 legs, but Carver regained his form and won the 3rd......but that was it, McGowan took the next leg finishing a 92 in great fashion and then in the next leg his Shanghai'd the 20's to go to 5-3. He then was on top form and finished Carver off with a 13 dart leg.

I then turned off as I couldn't bear to watch Smiffy and Priestly......don't get me wrong the 2 of these players are excellant dart players but are very slow!

John Magown now plays a rejuvinated Chris Mason. While Mick McGowan plays a tricky tie againist Wes Newton. Best of luck to the lads.

Kingp35

Yeah great win for the Irsih lads. Its great to see them doing so well this season. Its been a while since we had a few Irish lads doing well in tournaments. I was fairly shocked at Mason destroying Colin Lloyd 6-1. I was expecting a much closer game than that. Same goes for Taylor and Lewis. Lewis just never showed up and it was exhibition stuff for Taylor. Im beginning to think that this hype around Lewis is unjustified and he is over rated.

Anyway here are the results from last nights darts:

First Round (Eng unless stated)
Darin Young (USA) 2-6 Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)
Colin Lloyd 1-6 Chris Mason
Ronnie Baxter 3-6 John Part (Canada)
Phil Taylor 6-0 Adrian Lewis
Peter Manley 6-4 Steve Beaton
Roland Scholten (Netherlands) 6-4 Bob Anderson
Ray Carver (USA) 3-6 Mick McGowan (Ireland)
Dennis Priestley 6-2 Dennis Smith
Andy Jenkins 6-3 Andy Smith
Kevin Painter 4-6 Andy Hamilton
Wayne Mardle 3-6 Wes Newton
Mark Dudbridge 2-6 Barrie Bates (Wales)
Gerry Convery (Canada) 2-6 John MaGowan (N Ireland)
Brad Wethington (USA) 3-6 Matt Clark
Denis Ovens 2-6 Steven Smith
Terry Jenkins 6-1 Bill Davis (USA)

Carrickman

Second Round Results:
A Hamilton 3-0 M Clark
T Jenkins 3-1 B Bates
W Newton 3-1 M McGowan (3-2, 0-3, 3-1, 3-2)
C Mason 3-0 J MaGowan (3-2, 3-0, 3-0)
R van Barneveld 3-0 S Smith
P Taylor 3-0 A Jenkins
J Part 3-0 R Scholten
D Priestley 3-1 P Manley

Phil Taylor powered to a 3-0 victory over Andy Jenkins in the second round of the Las Vegas Desert Classic, despite the latter going close to a nine-dart finish in the opening set.

Jenkins lost that leg as Taylor maintained his peerless consistency, and the result was never in doubt.

An average of 105 ensured Taylor kept a smile on his face throughout the evening, and even Jenkins was forced to grab his opponent in good-hearted disbelief.

The current world champion finished things off with a trademark double-tops, sending out a stark message out to his rivals.

"I thought Andy played really well tonight and I knew I had to play well to beat him," said Taylor. "I won 3-0 but sometimes the scoreline doesn't reflect the match.

"I've known Andy for a lot of years and I think he's more dedicated now - I think we'll see a lot more of him in the future.

"I'm probably practising harder than ever before now - it's a sign of respect for not just the British players, but players from all over the world. It's a tough game these days."

Taylor now faces a last-eight match against old rival Dennis Priestley, after the 'Menace' recorded an impressive 3-1 win over Peter Manley.

Priestley was two legs down in the opening set, but he fought back to steal the initiative, before Manley rallied to level at 1-1.

Both players traded blows in Las Vegas in a fascinating contest, but Priestley had the edge, and snatched the next two sets for the win.

Dutch master Raymond van Barneveld also progressed, notching up a straight sets win over Steve Smith on a high class night of darts at the Mandalay Bay Casino.

Smith's average of 99 was testament to the fact that the bar has been raised during the Las Vegas tournament, but van Barneveld found an extra gear when it mattered and faces a quarter-final against Andy Hamilton.

John Part also displayed a clinical edge to knock out "The Tripod" Roland Scholten, winning 9-6 on legs but 3-0 on sets.

The 40-year-old Canadian plays Terry Jenkins next, while the final last-eight clash sees Chris Mason take on Wes Newton.

Mason beat John MaGowan in straight sets in his second-round match, while Newton overcame Mick McGowan 3-1.

Quarter-finals
T Jenkins v J Part
A Hamilton v R van Barneveld
P Taylor v D Priestley
C Mason v W Newton

MBC

Robbery in Vegas............

Thought Mick McGowan played really well last night but for his finishing.......it just deserted him at the wrong stage! Wes Newton new on a couple of times that he was let of the hook when McGowan couldn't find the double. McGowan was firing some great darts!

Hopefully he will recover from this and will become a regular on the PDC TV Events as its great to have an Irish man in the mix.

Also a well done to John Magown......he just found an on form Mason last night and put a good scrap.

kong501

some great games for the qtrs..........id love to see mason win it

Mr Moon

The TV guys are loving it, they want a Taylor v Barney final!

MBC

Yeah would like to see Part or Mason win it although its hard to look beyond Taylor and Barney they are both on form!

NeoRox

Terry Jenkins 2-3 John Part
Andy Hamilton 1-3 Raymond van Barneveld
Phil Taylor 3-0 Dennis Priestley
Chris Mason 2-3 Wes Newton

Good games tonight enjoyed the Hamilton-Barneveld game. Dissapointed for Chris Mason but if you cant keep it together at his age with his experience, unfortunately I cant see him ever winning a major tournament if he keeps on getting on his own back.

Thought Jenkins was unlucky too against Part, he had chances but could'nt get the job done, but he seems to be getting better on the tv and his ranking is improving all the time.

The other two games went the way we all knew they would but was glad to see Hamilton push Barney.

Taylor beat Priestley 3 set to 0 (3-1) (3-1) (3-1)

Semi Final Draw

Part vs Newton
Barneveld vs Taylor

Another clash of the titans. Should be interesting!!

NeoRox

Well after two brilliant semi finals, Part beating Newton and Barneveld pipping Taylor, John Part has won the Desert Classic with a well deserved 6-3 victory over Ray Barneveld.

Really enjoyed this match. Was delighted for Part he upped his game to the standard we all know that he can play at.

Kingp35

John Part is my favourite player and im absolutely delighted for him that he has managed to capture his first majr since beating Taylor to win the 2003 World Championships. He has been in many finals and beating Taylor in many of the major events but he just couldnt get over the final hurdle. You could see the determination in his face last night and he played some great darts and fully deserved to beat Barney.

Im delighted for Part and I hope he can bring this form into the World Matchplay.

mchurl

Great win for Part and made all the sweeter because i backed him! He really threw great darts and he seemed supremly confident. I hope now he can carry his form on and really challenge Barney and The Power on a regular basis.