Important notice to the following counties Clackmannanshire, Lanarkshire, Borders, Lothian, Central, and Perthshire who all invoked the opportunity to take a year out from the Scottish County Championships. The Counties now have 10 days (20/06/2022) to indicate if they wish to enter the Scottish County Championship 2022-23 a no response will be deemed that the county no longer wishes to be a member of the Scottish County Championship. Any county that does not wish to play in the Scottish County Championship 2022-23 can still apply for SDA membership The following rule will be invoked if any area does not take out SDA membership.
“The Association shall be divided into Area Associations, each Area Association shall be responsible to the Scottish Darts Association for the control of darts within its Area. Any Area Association, its boundaries, and members under its control to be decided at the AGM should it be in addition to the Areas as previously originated”
Any enquires or responses regarding this statement email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The inaugural Men's and Ladies SDA Tour continues this month with the second event in the series taking place at the Bannockburn Social Club on Sunday 3rd July, register at 10.00 am.
This second event in the series will be played on the Darts Connect system which will be available to follow remotely on the day. It’s some time since the SDA has moved events around the country in this way so it is an ideal chance for those who don’t favour travel to compete against the top players from around Scotland.
There will be a prize pot of £2000 for this event which could eventually lead to the Grand Finals on 22nd October when there will be a prize fund of £3000. This will involve the top 32 players after the four events which each cost £20 to enter and includes SDA Day Tour Membership.
Events three and four have been scheduled and will see darts move to Aberdeen on Saturday 27th August at the Dee Swimming Club, Gerrard Street and then finally to Inverness for the fourth event which is being held at SoBar, Castle Street.
Continuing the efforts of the SDA to further darts in Scotland and following on from the SDA Men's and Ladies Tour events, the SDA is introducing a new event for 18-30-year-old players. The opening event is to be held at Players Sports Bar, Grahams Road, Falkirk on Sunday 12th June, register at 10.30. Further information can be obtained from Sharon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Prize money on the day will depend on entries but the big incentive here will be the prize on the finals day.
The top 32 players in the 18-30 rankings will be playing for free entry to the PDC Q-School with up to £400 expenses and would be an ideal opportunity for a young player to make a start on the professional trail. All players must be between 18 and 30 on the finals day on October 22nd 2022.
Darts Corner SDA County Darts Championship – 14th May 2022
As the county championship in Scotland is nearing the finish line Grampian have swept the board in the North section winning all three sections at a canter, Highland currently lie second in the three sections but Fife have still to play Angus and that could change the result.
In the South, East Stirlingshire lead the Mens division and Renfrewshire are tops in the Ladies league. There are still two fixtures outstanding in the South, East Stirlingshire v Ayrshire and Greater Glasgow v Renfrewshire.
Greater Glasgow v Ayrshire 18-6 (13-3, 5-3)
This November match was finally completed resulting in an overall victory for Greater Glasgow.
Neil Campbell (81.52) notched the top set for the winners whilst best for Ayrshire was David Miller (66.40). The ladies set of the match was completed by Glasgow’s Susanna McGimpsey (67.30) with fellow Scotland player Lorraine Hyde (63.51) the best for Ayrshire.
Ayrshire v Greater Glasgow 6-18 (3-13, 3-5)
This month’s return fixture between the two sides resulted in exactly the same scores as the November match. John Miller (77.08) notched the top set for Ayrshire with Brian Maley (76.44) coming out best for Greater Glasgow.
In the best ladies performance of the weekend Lorraine Hyde (71.57) took the player of the match with Glasgow’s Sophie McKinlay (56.36) their best.
East Stirlingshire v Renfrewshire 15-9 (13-3, 2-6)
A 13-3 victory in the mens match took East Stirlingshire to the top of the South section while Renfrewshire’s 6-2 win in the Ladies match did the same for them in the corresponding table. East Stirling’s William Stallard (81.05) had the best mens match with Jim Russell Jr (73.10) taking Renfrewshire’s award. Louise Hepburn (54.60) took the ladies award for Renfrewshire and Vikki Swann (42.86) was best for East Stirlingshire.
Highland v Moray 19-5 (12-4, 7-1)
In the biggest win of the weekend Highland defeated close neighbours Moray, 19-5 and moved into second place in both mens and ladies sections.Hi ghland’s Sandy Morrison (80.16) was man of the match with George Smith (75.70) the main man for Moray. The ladies award went to Lynn Shearer (61.77) with Brenda Turner (25.13) the best set for Moray.
Fife v Tay Valley 15-9 (13-3, 2-6)
With the best average of the weekend Dean Carr (94.44) took the mens player award for Fife with Tay Valley’s Glen Parsons (84.45) their best.Chel Rennie (54.33) from Tay Valley had the top ladies set with best for Fife coming from Sarah Binnie (44.71).
The 28th Scottish Open, this year sponsored by Darts Corner, finally got underway last weekend at the Normandy Hotel, Renfrew. The tournament had been in abeyance for the last two years and made a welcome return to the darting calendar. The much-coveted Golden Tickets, direct qualification for the 2023 World Championships, was achieved by the new Scottish Open champions, Deta Hedman and James Hurrell. Both players came through fields of 75 players and 453 players respectively.
The weekend started with 70 teams contesting the Mixed Triples title.
The final ended up being an England versus Wales confrontation with the England squad running out victors 4-2. The winning trio comprised England youth captain Luke Littler, England International captain James Hurrell and Buckinghamshire’s Suzanne Smith. The defeated Welsh team were John Roberts, Sarah Roberts and Evonne Taylor. The top Scottish performance came from Jordan Soutar, Owen O’Neill and Lynn Torrance who lost out in the semi-final to the second-placed Welsh team. Making up the last four was an Italian trio represented by Aurora Fochesato, Dario Fochesato and Francesco Raschini.
Ladies Singles
The lady's quarter-finals produced four tremendous matches starting with a 4-3 victory for Deta Hedman over Dutch star Ailleen De Graaf. The Netherlands will have to wait another year for a ladies champion to join 2007 champion Karen Krappen in the record books as their last hope Anca Zijlstra lost 4-2 to England’s Suzanne Smith, who was part of the winning triples team on Friday. The third quarter-final produced a brilliant effort from Jo Clements to take out the world champion Beau Greaves, 4-3 followed by the runners-up at Lakeside, Kirsty Hutchison beating Scotland’s top player Lorraine Hyde 4-3.
Deta Hedman 4-3 Aileen De Graaf
Suzanne Smith 4-2 Anca Zijlstra
Jo Clements 4-3 Beau Greaves
Kirsty Hutchison 4-3 Lorraine Hyde
Men's Singles
Scotland did very well this year with 13 players in the Last 32 compared to 10 from England, 6 from Wales, 2 from Northern Ireland and one from Italy. At the quarter-final stage, Edinburgh’s Ryan Murray qualified as Scotland’s last surviving player gaining his semi-final spot with a 4-3 victory over Aaron Monk from England. The second spot in the last four went to Welshman Jamie Lewis as he defeated Dave Prins 4-2 and he plays Murray. England’s new International captain James Hurrell had a 4-2 victory over Ayrshire’s Jim McEwan and he will meet James Beeton from England who defeated fellow Englishman David Pallett 4-1.
Ryan Murray 4-3 Aaron Monk
Dave Prins 2-4 Jamie Lewis
James Hurrell 4-2 Jim McEwan
David Pallett 1-4 James Beeton
Men's Pairs
Rhys Hayden & Neil Duff 3-0 Lee Williams & Mark Blandford
Kai Fan Leung & David Pallett 3-1 Francesco Raschini & Dario Fochesato
William Kirkwood & William Stallard 1-3 Andy Davidson & Ryan Murray
In the first semi-final, the Edinburgh duo of Andy Davidson and Ryan Murray defeated fellow Scots C. Robertson and A. Murray 3-1 and were joined in the final by Kai Fan Leung from Hong Kong and Shropshire’s David Pallett who defeated World Champion Neil Duff and Bradford’s Rhys Hayden 3-1.
Ladies Pairs
Talita Biagetti & Aurora Fochesato 3-2 Ann Marie Potts & Linda Hindmarch
There will be new champions this year as defending champions Deta Hedman and Beau Greaves, going for their third consecutive title, lost 3-2 to Natalie Gilbert and Kirsty Hutchison. In the final, they would play Italian duo Talita Biagetti and Aurora Fochesata who put out Scotland’s Lorraine Hyde and Denise Cassidy from Northern Ireland.
The Finals
First on stage was Deta Hedman against Buckinghamshire’s Suzanne Smith. Although the score went 4-0 in favour of the five-times champion Deta Hedman it was a lot closer than that. Deta would be joined in the final by Jo Clements as she defeated Kirsty Hutchison 4-3, in their semi-final. Kirsty took the opening leg with the aid of a 180 and then doubled her lead before Jo hit back, taking three consecutive legs to go within one leg of the final. But Kirsty was not finished yet as she took leg six in 18 darts to send the match into a deciding game. Kirsty missed a chance to win allowing Jo to check on 70 and take her place in the final. The first men’s semi-final pitted Scotland’s own Ryan Murray against Welshman Jamie Lewis. Murray lost the opening leg but then reeled off four in a row to win the match 4-1. Next up was an all-England clash between new England captain James Hurrell and 19-year-old teenager, James Beeton. This match was very close with Beeton taking the first leg only to see Hurrell draw level. Beeton then went 3-1 ahead before Hurrell replied with two consecutive legs to tie up the match at 3-3. The players shared the next two legs to take the match to a decider with Hurrell having the throw and 19 darts later he checked out on 20 to win but not before Beeton had a throw at 115 for the match.
The Men's Pairs final created a piece of history before it started as partnering England’s David Pallett was Hong Kong darter Kai Fan Leung, the first Asian player ever to play on the Scottish Open finals stage. Their opponents were Edinburgh duo Ryan Murray and Andy Davidson. Leung and Pallett took the opening two legs before the Scots pulled one back in reply. It was not to be two consecutive Scottish winning pairs following the last event won by Cameron Menzies and Ryan Hogarth, as Pallett successfully checked out on 40 to take the title 3-1.
The Ladies Pairs was also to create a piece of Scottish Open history as Talita Biagetti and Aurora Fochesato were the first Italians to play in a Scottish Open final. Their task was to beat the English duo of Kirsty Hutchison and Natalie Gilbert which they came close to achieving as they led 2-1. But back came Gilbert and Hutchison to level the match in the fourth leg before going on to win 3-2 in 20 darts. And so to the final two matches at this year’s Scottish Open, played at the Normandy Hotel, Renfrew. Could Deta make it 228 WDF ranked titles and her sixth Scottish Open win or would “Twinkle”, Jo Clements deny her this piece of record-breaking achievement
Hedman won the opening leg before Clements roared back, taking three in a row to hold a good lead in the match. Hedman then reversed the match-winning three legs to go within one of the titles. Clements replied strongly in the eighth leg, taking it in 18 darts to set up yet another deciding leg play-off. It was to be Deta’s day as she hit three tons and checked on 32 to lift her sixth title and be crowned Scottish Open champion.
The men’s final was to prove just as exciting as it too went to a ninth and deciding leg with Ryan Murray bidding to be the fifth Scottish champion at the Open. James won the opening leg before Ryan squared the match at 1-1. Hurrell then edged ahead by winning legs three and four. It was Murray’s turn then to win a couple of legs to level the match at 3-3. Hurrell edged ahead winning the seventh leg before Murray produced a brilliant 110 checkout to level the match. Murray then went 5-4 up only to see his lead cut back as Hurrell took the tenth leg in 14 darts. Understandably nerves played a part in the final leg with both players having a chance to win the title but it was James Hurrell who threw the winning dart at double four to become the 2022 Scottish Open Champion, the 26th different men’s player and the fifteenth Englishman to do so.
The final provided seven maximums, 3 to James and 4 to Ryan and incredibly only one dart used separated the two players with the champion having used 196 darts to Ryan’s 197.
After consultation with the WDF the 2022 Darts Corner Scottish Open will now take place at the Normandy Cosmopolitan Hotel, Inchinnan Road, Renfrew from Friday 22nd April to Sunday 24th April 2022. This is a WDF Gold event for both men and ladies. This event is open to all players who are eligible to play in the World Masters and the World Professional Championships and carries a place at Lakeside for both champions. The Scottish Darts Association are inviting players to enter the annual Scottish darts-fest that is the Scottish Open. This is one of the hardest open tournaments to win as illustrated by the history of the event showing only two players that have ever won the men’s title twice, Robbie Green, in 2011 and 2014 and Wesley Harms who won in 2013 and 2019.
Will there be another Scottish winner to follow in the footsteps of Peter Johnstone (1998), Mike Veitch (2004), Gary Anderson (2007) and Cameron Menzies (2017)?
The Scottish Open was first contested in 1983, held on the same weekend as the World Cup in Edinburgh and was won by 23 year old Australian star Russell Stewart who defeated his fellow Australian Terry O’Dea in the final. The ladies title went to Pat Connaughton from England who defeated Welsh ladies team captain Sandra Lee in the final.
The tournament was then moth-balled for twelve years and revived in 1995 when England’s Chris Mason took the title along with ladies singles champion Deta Hedman, who currently leads the way in the Ladies Open with five titles. Others to watch out for include Anastasia Dobromyslova with four wins and Lorraine Winstanley with three titles. Ann Kirk has been Scotland’s sole victor in the Ladies event winning twice in1996 and 1999. Fallon Sherrock has been in five out of the last six ladies finals and finally took her maiden SDA Open title in 2017.
This year’s event will kick off on the Friday night with the traditional ice-breaker tournament, the Mixed Triples, followed by two sessions of Singles play on the Saturday and finishing on the Sunday with the Open Doubles competitions. The Mens winner will take away £3000 while the Ladies champion wins £1500 and of course valuable ranking points can be accrued to take into the Ranking Tables. The current champions are Jim Williams from Wales and England’s Beau Greaves. Winning duo in the mens pairs were Scottish duo Cameron Menzies & Ryan Hogarth, the first time an all-Scottish pair had won the title while the ladies champions were Deta Hedman and Beau Greaves, who successfully defended their 2019 title, also giving Deta three in a row.
The Friday night triples competition was won by the Cleveland trio of Carla Boyes, Cameron Anderson and Simon McKenner, calling themselves Stampers Crew. Online entries will be accepted by the end of February on the SDA website and full entry details and accommodation offers will be available, please check in regularly. For special accommodation rates please phone the Normandy Hotel and remember to mention it’s for the darts weekend.
Entry fee will be £20 for the Mens Open Singles and £20 for the Ladies Open Singles. online entry will be accepted soon
