It was a spirited opening day of Development Tour action from the JDC scholarship players, with two of the three players entered, reaching the last 32.
Both Jakob Kelly and Jarred Cole put in excellent displays as they reached last 32 in the opening tournament of the day.
Following two convincing victories in the opening rounds, Kelly faced Thomas Lovely for a place in the last 16, but after failing to find his scoring form in the latter stage of the match, bowed out 4-2.
Jarred Cole recorded two consecutive whitewash victories in his opening two matches in Wigan and would go on to edge out Andrew Davidson in a last leg decider as he reached the last 32.
Unfortunately for ‘The King of the Castle’, Dutch youngster Geert Nentjes would average just south of 90 to knock out the current JDC tour champion.
Fellow JDC scholarship player Keelan Kay would fly out of the blocks with a 4-0 victory over George Killington before losing out in a last leg decider to Lewis Williams.
In the second tournament of the day Cole would open up the event with a 4-0 thrashing of Richie Ijzermans before Bradley Kirk ended a good day for the youngster.
Jakob Kelly could not reproduce the last 32 run from a couple of hours earlier, as he narrowly lost out to Ben Cheeseman, but Keelan Kay fared better in his opening tie.
Another whitewash for ‘The Lord of the Board’ saw him into the second round where he faced Declan Cox. Kay would be unlucky on the doubles and Cox capitalized on missed opportunities and tied up a 4-1 victory to end the JDC scholars’ hopes of a first PDC title.
All three returned on Sunday for a second stab at the title. Both Keelan Kay and Jakob Kelly breezed through their opening encounters, but Jarred Cole faced stiff competition in the name of Nathan Rafferty.
The Northern Irishman sealed his first PDC title by winning the inaugural event of the season on Saturday, and his fine form continued as an 89 average was enough to beat Cole.
However, ‘The King of the Castle’s’ fortuned would turn on their head as the final tournament of the weekend approached. Cole would fend off Tom Lonsdale in round one but would find his top gear in the second round.
In a star making performance, Cole averaged 101.9 and nailed three maximums as he whitewashed 2018 UK Open qualifier, Harry Ward.
Unfortunately, that would be the peak of Cole’s weekend as he was beaten in a nail-biting deciding leg by Greg Ritchie.
Keelan Kay would hit a 152 finish on route the third round in Wigan, but after dominant display’s in the opening two matches would lose to Reece Colley in round three.
Overall It was a sensational debut weekend for all three JDC scholarship players. With a handful of last 32 appearances, and ton plus average and great darts across the board.
You can read a full report of the tournament here: https://501dartsblog.wordpress.com/
The PDC Development Tour will return on the 24th May in Hildesheim, Germany.