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Smith Seals Last Premier League Play-Off Spot

Smith Seals Last Premier League Play-Off Spot

Alex Moss |

A WEEK IN DARTS – MAY 20, 2024 – SMITH BOOKS PLACE IN PLAY-OFFS AFTER WINNING FINAL NIGHT SHOOTOUT

The Premier League’s league phase reached its thrilling conclusion in Sheffield on Thursday, as Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall battled it out for the last spot in the play-offs. Here’s our round-up of all things darts over the last seven days…

SMITH SNEAKS IN TO THE PLAY-OFFS

Michael Smith booked his spot in the Premier League play-offs in style with his second nightly win of the season in Sheffield.

The 2023 PDC World champion went into night 16 of the darting roadshow sitting in fifth place in the table, just one point behind fourth placed Nathan Aspinall.

It was a straight shootout between the two players as they met in the quarter-finals at the Utilita Arena, with Smith prevailing 6-3 to overhaul Aspinall and into fourth spot.

‘Bully Boy’ produced a devastating display of finishing to get the better of Aspinall, with back-to-back checkouts of 136 and 132 helping him to victory in the winner-takes-all tie.

With his place in Thursday’s finale at London’s O2 now confirmed, Smith signed off the league phase in style with further victories over Luke Littler (6-5) and Luke Humphries (6-3) to pick up the full five points available.

“To qualify and end the season with a win, it feels great,” Smith said. “I was literally drained after beating Nathan.

“I was really emotional because he’s one of my best friends, but I had a job to do tonight.

“I’m really looking forward to next week now. This is a different atmosphere, and it feels like a different tournament almost.

“You have to bring your best game, and hopefully I can bring some good form into next week.”

Smith joins Littler, Humphries and Michael van Gerwen in the play-offs, with the Sheffield nightly winner to face Littler in the semi-finals and Humphries and van Gerwen then locking horns in the other semi-final tie.

The final league night in Sheffield began with Littler beating Peter Wright 6-4 to clinch top spot and the number one seeding for the play-offs.

The 17-year-old delighted the crowd with a 120 checkout which saw him hit three double tops, a flashback to Jose De Sousa’s memorable finish via the same route in the 2021 Premier League.

SMITH EARNS RETURN TO MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Jeff Smith will get the chance to defend his North American Darts Championship title after winning through the US Darts Masters Qualifiers at the weekend.

‘The Silencer’ won the title for a second time at New York’s Madison Square Garden last year, beating his fellow Canadian Matt Campbell 6-5 in the final.

After losing his PDC tour card at the end of the 2023-24 season, and electing not to enter Q-School in January, Smith made his return to the CDC circuit in North America when the season got under way in Brownsburg, Indiana this past weekend.

The weekend of action saw two qualifiers take place for the US Darts Masters, the upcoming World Series event in New York, with spots also up for grabs in the North American Darts Championship.

Canada’s David Cameron won the first qualifier with a 5-1 win over Leonard Gates in the final, before Smith secured his spot in the field with a 5-4 triumph against Adam Sevada in the second qualifier.

The third and final place went to the next best performer over the two qualifiers, with Sevada earning a debut in New York with a last 16 and a final across the two events.

The CDC’s opening weekend saw the first two main tour events of the season take place, with Gates and Cameron claiming a title each.

An all-American final of the Cosmo Darts Classic between Gates and Doug Boehm saw both players average 102, with Gates winning 7-3.

Sunday saw the Indianapolis 501 contested with Cameron coming out on top 7-5 against Smith in the final with the aid of 140, 120 and 101 finishes.

MARSHALL DOES THE DOUBLE ON JDC TOUR

Jack Marshall opened his title account on the JDC Advanced Tour by winning back-to-back titles on Sunday.

The 13-year-old, who is signed to the darts manufacturer Mission, won Event 11 of the season with a 6-4 victory against Jack Nankervis in the final.

And the youngster doubled up a few hours later as he edged past Order of Merit leader Archie Self 6-5 in the Event 12 decider.

The penultimate weekend of the season started with Nankervis beating Marshall 6-2 in the Event 9 final, before Self bagged his fourth title of the campaign after whitewashing Ryan Branley 6-0 in the final of Event 10.

The 2024 season concludes with Events 13-16 on June 1-2, when the Advanced Tour champion will be crowned and also receive a spot in the PDC World Youth Championship.

Pictures: PDC

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