There had been some mumblings about Phil Taylor not being in great form ahead of the Darts Grand Prix in Dublin last night. Those whispers now seem well wide of the mark.
Like Mark Twain or Margaret Thatcher, it seems that reports of Phil Taylor’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. The greatest darts player we have ever seen has had a bumpy few months and some were suggesting that he might be more vulnerable than usual in the very tricky Grand Prix format.
However, last night Taylor blew away Michael Smith in straight sets, averaging 100.7 in the process. Considering you have to start on a double, that is a remarkable statistic and would probably translate into a 110+ three-dart average in normal play. The Power has come fully charged to Dublin.
“It’s the first time in a few weeks that I’m actually enjoying it,” Taylor says on the Sky Sports website.
“I’ve had a really rough couple of months but I’m trying to get back on top. I wasn’t quite ready the last couple of tournaments.”
From an Irish perspective there was good and bad news last night. Brendan Dolan, who went all the way to the final last year, beat fourth seed Gary Anderson 2-0 in his first match to provide the good news. We dearly hope the Fermanagh man can go all the way this year.
The bad news came via Limerick’s William O’Connor, who was in control of his match with Vincent van der Voort on numerous occasions and even had a shot at a double to win the match. Sadly his dart slipped the wrong side of the wire in the deciding leg and the Dutchman swooped, robbing us of an all-Irish second round match. Van der Voort will now meet Dolan in round two.
