2017 BDO World Trophy – Day One

Joe Chaney’s quest to lift the 2017 BDO World Trophy ended in disappointing fashion as he slipped to a 6-3 defeat against Scotland’s Ross Montgomery.  Not that the Tennessean would make excuses, but a nightmare journey to South Wales can’t have helped our Joe.  I don’t have full details, but storms, cancelled flights, and missed connections caused Chaney’s first round match to be rescheduled for last game on instead of first game.

As it was, “Chanesaw” took the opening leg, but a nice 109 setup to leave tops in the second was wasted as Montgomery leveled with a 40 out.  The Scot then won the next three legs, and actually kicked off the fifth with back-to-back 180’s.  There was no 9-darter, but 4-1 deficit in a best-of-eleven wasn’t what Chaney wanted.

Joe closed the gap with a well-placed D9, only to see the Scot bounce back by taking the seventh.  Had Chaney not wired a 116 check there, it could have been very different, particularly as he found his second D9 of the day to capture the eighth leg.  With Montgomery sitting on 60 for the match, the Las Vegas Open champ had a shot for 170, but unfortunately, the two T20’s he hit weren’t with the first two darts…

A tidy win for Montgomery that include five 180’s and a 177, and Joe Chaney is left to wonder how things might have turned out with a better – and certainly less stressful – preparation.

Elsewhere, there were a few surprises, with the highlight being Jeff Smith’s impressive 6-2 victory over #3 seed Jamie Hughes.  Both reigning champions fell at the first hurdle, with Darryl Fitton going down against Conan Whitehead, and Lisa Ashton tumbling out at the hands of Anca Zijlstra.

The first round concludes tomorrow (Saturday).

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