Kevin McDine hit a nine-dart finish as he won one of the final Tour Cards at the 2013 PDC Qualifying School alongside Hong Kong’s Royden Lam, English pair Steve Coote and Joey Palfreyman and nine players from the Q School Order of Merit.
McDine, a former Grand Slam of Darts semi-finalist, had lost his Tour Card at the end of last year but ensured his place on the full-time PDC ProTour this year by completing a consistent four days with victory yesterday.
The Northamptonshire-based ace, 27, had lost in the deciding match to win a Tour Card on Day One of Qualifying School to Charl Pietersen, who hit a nine-dart finish in their game.
McDine matched that achievement in his decider against Martyn Turner on Sunday at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan, as he hit the THIRD perfect leg in four days as he overcame the York thrower 6-3.
He also defeated Joshua Carter, Matthew Dennant, Ryan Harrington, Kirk Shepherd and Steve Haggerty on the day, and admitted that he was relieved to win back his Tour Card.
“I’m over the moon,” admitted McDine. “The standard has gone so high in the last few years and that’s shown by the number of nine-darters you’re seeing.
“It didn’t happen that often when I started playing back in 2006 but everyone’s so dedicated now that you’re getting them in pretty much every event, and it’s great that I’ve hit one too.
“I’ve had ten or 15 attempts at a nine-darter before on the circuit and missed out, but this time it went straight in and that’s brilliant – to have one hit against me and then to hit one in the space of a couple of days is pretty rare!
“I expected to get through on the first day but Charl was unreal in our final, his nine-darter was great and I was pleased for him.
“I felt confident all day today though, and I’m really glad to have won my Tour Card. I’ve played quite steady in every game and when I needed to, I found another gear.”
McDine added: “I’ve had a bit of a struggle for the last couple of years but I’m feeling confident and ready to play again now.
“After the World Championship Qualifiers I had a bit of a break and since I started practising again I’ve been a different player – I’ve had my head right, I’ve picked up a new sponsor and am using some new darts and it’s a new start for me.
“My aim’s to get back into the top 50 in the first year and then progress from there.”
Hong Kong’s Royden Lam – another player to have lost in a deciding game this week – earned his place as the first Asian-based player to win a Tour Card with a 6-3 victory over Terry Temple in his final match in Wigan.
Lam, who lost 6-1 to Ronny Huybrechts in the deciding games on Saturday and impressed throughout the event, dropped only four legs in defeats of Matthew Waddoups, Dyson Parody and Chris Hartrey before edging out Lee Bryant and then seeing off Paul Amos in his run on the day.
“It feels really good,” said Lam. “These few days have been very tiring and every player is very good, and I’m very happy that today I got my Tour Card.
“I’m planning to come to more PDC tournaments in the future, and hopefully I can qualify to play in the World Championship too.
“It’s a very exciting time for me to able to play in the PDC. There are so many strong players but I will get better the more times I play against these players.”
Liverpool’s Palfreyman, who has competed part-time on the PDC circuit in recent years alongside brother Lee, defeated Dan Russell in a deciding leg to secure his automatic Tour Card.
Palfreyman, 38, also saw off Adrian Bolitho, Glen Miller, Steve Hine, Martin Murphy and Matthew Dicken on the day
“I’m really happy but it’s been a hard few days,” said Palfreyman, a two-time UK Open Qualifier.
“The standard of darts now is unbelievable and it’s brilliant for me to win a Tour Card. To have Lee playing too has been good and we always support each other – I’d have loved him to have won a Tour Card too, but it wasn’t to be for him.”
Bolton’s Steve Coote ended a six-year absence from the PDC circuit by whitewashing Gibraltar’s Dylan Duo 6-0 in their decider, following up earlier wins over Brett Claydon, Jake Patchett, Jamie Guilfoyle, Chris Thompson and Alex Roy on the day.
“It’s been a while and it’s great to be back,” said Coote, a 42-year-old fireman.
“I always said that I’d come back to playing darts when my little lad started school – he’s eight now, so I’ve probably left it a bit longer than I thought I would, but my family have supported me to start playing again.
“I feel like I can still compete and I’d like to see what I can do. It’s been very tough at Q School and the first couple of days was an eye-opener because I knew I had to improve my game because the standard was so high.
“I know I can play at that level but you have to do it leg-after-leg and I did that today. The standard has always been really good, but there’s so much depth now and I take my hat off to the young players now who are all playing really well.”
Coote previously played twice in the UK Open on home soil, in 2005 and 2006, and admitted that securing a return to that event in the eight Speedy Services UK Open Qualifiers this Spring will be his immediate target.
“I know what my first goal is and I’m hoping to be back at the Reebok Stadium in June for the UK Open,” added Coote. “I’d love to play back in front of my home town crowd again.
“After that, who knows what will happen but I’ll make some goals, write them down and put them in an envelope and open them again in 12 months to see how I’ve done!”who won his place at Qualifying School through the Redtooth Darts/Team Taylor competition.
A further nine players joined the 16 automatic Tour Card winners in completing the field of 128 PDC Tour Card Holders for 2013 following four days of intense competition in Wigan.
They were headed by York left-hander Martyn Turner, with Telford’s David Pallett, Dutch pair Edwin Max and Ryan De Vreede, Dan Russell and Paul Amos, an amateur qualifier for the UK Open last year who won his place at Qualifying School through the Redtooth Darts/Team Taylor competition.
Former World Championship finalist Kirk Shepherd, who could only play in two of the four days due to work commitments, picked up 12 points to win back his Tour Card, alongside Kevin Dowling and Darren Johnson, with Finland’s Veijo Viinikka missing out on a Tour Card on count-back.