The 2015 Winmau Men’s World Masters is well underway, and so far, the American contingent have experienced mixed fortunes.

Doug Boehm, Larry Butler, and Tim Nicoll  were the first three to play, all scheduled at 10.30am.  Boehm’s Group 2 opener was against a veteran of major tournaments, John Ferrell.  Boehm gave another great account of himself, but the Englishman it was who headed to the next round after a tense 3-2 victory.  Boehm hasn’t grabbed the results this week that his efforts have merited, but he will be back for sure.

Butler meanwhile continued his excellent run of form by sending Norway’s Rohit David packing with a superb straight-sets victory.  Butler followed that with a tidy 3-1 victory over Dutchman Barry Zander.  The American’s next contest is against Northern Ireland’s Davy Glenn.

In Group 12, Nicoll couldn’t emulate Butler’s feats, and fell at the first hurdle.  In a tight match, Nicoll lost to New Zealander Cody Harris by a scoreline of 3-1.

Joe Chaney and Jim Widmayer both kicked off their day at noon (local time).  After four sets, Chaney was into Round 2, courtesy of a four set win over Paul Telford.  Now he faces a second Englishman, John Mann. The bad news is that Widmayer was unable to join him.  Switzerland’s Thomas Junghans – who just missed out yesterday on qualification for Lakeside – advanced with a 3-1 scoreline.

Of the quintet that started the day, Chattanooga’s Chaney was the next to go.  A five-setter went the wrong way for American hopes, and John Mann reached the group semi-final.  Great news though, as Larry Butler negotiated the final two hurdles on his way to the stage finals!  A 3-1 victory against Davy Glenn (Northern Ireland) was followed by a 3-2 win over Cambridgeshire’s Dennis Harbour, and “The Eagle” now has a nice rest before playing tomorrow!

The women and youth had a later start than the men.  Apparently, the draws I had given you  for the women were incorrect, and the new brackets are completely different.  However, this made little difference to Lisa Ayers, who opened her account with a fabulous 4-0 win against Stacie Pinnuck.  Now Lisa awaits either Anna Madigan (Northern Ireland) or Hana Belobradkova (Czech Republic).  Sandy Hudson’s redraw unfortunately pitted her against nine-times World Champion, Trina Gulliver MBE.  On current form, it would have been no surprise to see Sandy emerge unscathed, but it wasn’t to be, and Trina remains in with a chance of pocketing her sixth World Masters title.

The news from the Boys’ event is also very disappointing, with both Americans going out at the first attempt.  Dan Robbins could muster just the one leg in his best-of-7 tussle with Oskar Lainpelto-Lovgren, while 2015 US National Champion Carl Di Cicco went only one leg better.  Still, at their young ages, and with the ability and potential they have shown, there will other opportunities for them on the world stage.

Back to the women, and Lisa Ayers continued her run with a six-leg triumph over Hana Belobradkova, but fell at the group semi-final stage.  England’s Sue Gulliver saw off Lisa’s challenge by a score of 4 legs to 1.

Updates from tomorrow (Friday) will be posted here.

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