2017 Winmau World Masters – Day One

The first day of the 2017 Winmau World Masters has come and gone, and while there some some superb performances from the American contingent, overall it was a very disappointing day as not one of our players reached Day Two.  Agonisingly, both Lisa Ayers and Tom Sawyer fell at the final hurdle, and “Chanesaw” beat a three-time World Champion first time out, but could not build on that.

Four American men made it to the second round, and of course, Joe Chaney’s 3-1 triumph over Martin Adams was the highlight of the first round.  The New England pairing of Dave Walsh and Jim Fitzsimmons both battled hard, but failed to make it into the third,  That left Chaney (edging out Switzerland’s Luis Camacho 3-2, but then losing to Northern Ireland’s Kyle McKinstry)) and Tom Sawyer.

After beating a trio of Englishmen in his first three matches (which is no mean feat), Sawyer won group 16.  This set up a clash with World #1, Glen Durrant at Top 32, and remember, the Bostonian beat Durrant in the 2015 World Cup Singles.  This time, the reigning World Champ proved one Englishman too many, and all hopes of an American World Master were gone for another year.

Our two entrants in the women’s event were both very capable, and could both be considered serious contenders for the title.  The problem is that they were both drawn in the same group!  While Lisa Ayers was working her way to the group semi-final (which included an impressive defeat of World #11 Paula Jacklin) in the top half of the bracket, Sandy Hudson was scything her way through the bottom half without dropping a leg.  Lisa then marched on with a 4-3 defeat of Northern Ireland’s Gail Mullan, but Sandy ran into a very-much in-form Tricia Wright, and couldn’t quite get the win to join her compatriot.  Lisa was now in the Top 16, and faced #7 seed – and six-time World Master – Trina Gulliver MBE.  Lisa gave it everything she had, but unfortunately, Trina is still on course for a seventh title.

The youth events were just as disappointing for Americans.  With three girls and two boys (including three players ranked in the World’s Top 20), our hopes were high.  Jenna Yazbek (World #7) and National Champion Kaylee Roy both suffered tough first-round losses against English girls, while Rylee Moran (World #32) suffered the same fate against Ireland’s Amy Byrne.  In the boys’ event, Jacob Demers (World #9) went down to Belgium’s Wesley Van De Voorde, and World #14 Tyler Burnett lost out by the off leg in five against Wessel Nijman (Netherlands),  Considering young Wessel currently heads the World Rankings, that is still a great effort from Tyler.

The Americans have a couple of days to recoup, and get ready for the World Championship playoffs on Thursday.  All of them, that is, except Joe Chaney, who has already qualified for Lakeside 2018 courtesy of topping the BDO USA Regional Table.  So, Joe gets Thursday off too!

Meanwhile, the Masters plays down to a conclusion over the next two days, and in both men’s and women’s events, several of the seeds have already fallen, including former World Champs Scott Mitchell, Scott Waites, and Lisa Ashton, and 2015 World Master, Aileen de Graaf.

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