Sadly, no Americans were able to advance to the Lakeside stage in January, but Sandy Hudson came oh-so-close! Sandy made it all the way to the final before going down 3-1 to Poland’s Karolina Podgorska.  Karolina clinched the match with a third-dart check from 37 while Sandy was waiting for a shot at 40 to make it 2-2.  The South Carolinan had been showing some great form all day, and didn’t lose a leg until the Group Final.

Debbie Ivey and Lisa Ayers both reached the Group Quarter-Final, with Lisa giving former World Master Linda Ithurralde all she could handle before losing in the deciding leg.

Podgorska will be joined at Lakeside by Japan’s Mikuru Suzuki.

Tom Sawyer came closest to capturing a spot in the Men’s World Championship, losing the semi-final of his bracket to England’s Nigel Heydon in a tight three-setter.  Heydon then won the final, and will be at Lakeside in January.

Larry Butler and Robbie Phillips lost in their respective quarter-finals, with Butler beaten by Keith Geraghty (Ireland) and Phillips by German Ricardo Pietreczko.  If only Robbie hadn’t wired that D18 on his checkout attempt from 150…

The four men to reach Lakeside were the aforementioned Heydon, Ryan Hogarth (who had earlier edged out Tyler Burnett), former PDC star Andy Hamilton, and Poland’s Krzysztof Kciuk (who had ended Joe Chaney’s day).  So, a total of four American players went down to eventual qualifiers…

Our four youth players battled bravely, but all slipped to early defeats.  Still, it’s great experience for them (particularly with the Masters coming up tomorrow), and of course, young Aaja Jalbert will only have to face girls tomorrow (today was an open event).  Qualifiers were Scotland’s Nathan Girvan, and yet another Dutch up-and-comer, Jurjen van de Velde.

Full brackets/results are available from the links below:

Youth

Women

Men

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