Hong Kong Darts Masters went according to plan right up to the final match of this top level competition, played last Friday and Saturday evenings September 4-5.
No.1 seed Phil Taylor knocked out fellow England professional, Wes Newton 8-5 in the Quarter Finals on Friday evening while Raymond Van Barneveld of Holland beat Hong Kong’s Scott MacKenzie 8-1 to book his place in the Semi-finals. Stephen Bunting of England beat American Isen Veljic (currently living and playing darts in Hong Kong) 8-4, and Andy Hamilton also of England beat Royden Lam of Hong Kong 8-1.
In the first Semi-finals played as the first two matches on Finals night, Van Barneveld played Bunting with Van Barneveld progressing to the final with a solid 10-7 win, in the best of 19 legs match. In the other Semi-final Taylor, cruised to a 6-0 lead against Hamilton taking them to the short break but on returning to the Hockey (throw line) Taylor seemed to lose his touch with Hamilton winning the next 6-games to draw level before Taylor finally pushed ahead again to win the match 10-6.
The first half of the final also produced some low scoring throws with both players struggling to find form. The match stayed on throw, to 3-3. But as Taylor continued to miss his trebles and doubles targets, Van Barneveld became more confident, picked up his game and started hammering in the big numbers taking the next 6-games. With the game at 9-3, Taylor finally got a good break to make it 9-4, but he knew it was all over.
