2025 WDF World Masters – Day Two

Today kicked off with the youth (open and girls) round-robin groups. When group play was finished, Layla Buntz was the only American to reach the knockout stage. Sadly, Layla’s challenge was to falter at Top 64, where she went down to Swede Engla Rehnlund.

The youths were followed by the early knockout rounds of the senior events (Top 128 open, and Top 64 women). After the first round in the open section, four American men were left; David Fatum, Jason Brandon, Robbie Phillips, and Jeff Springer Jr. Phillips and Springer exited at this stage, which left Fatum and Brandon.

David went out at Top 32 in a heartbreaking last-leg decider against David Pallett, while Jason took down Scotland’s Ryan Hogarth 5-2. At Top 16, the man from Cowan, Tennessee, faced England’s James Beeton, current World #5. The first seven legs all went to the player throwing first, which meant that Brandon was ahead by one. A tidy 15-darter against the darts sealed a fine victory. One match from the stage, the Hungarian Classic Champ was up against Ireland’s Ronan McDonagh. Seven legs later, Jason Brandon was in the semis!

Meanwhile, Aaja Jalbert was the lone American in the women’s knockout. Having given up leads of 3-0 and 4-1, Aaja was taken to a tie-breaker by Iceland’s Brynja Herborg, and in spite of some nervy finishing, Jalbert managed to keep the advantage of the throw, and prevent Herborg from having a shot for the match.

Her next outing against Julia Siek was slightly more comfortable, as Aaja finished off the German before going to a decider! It ended 5-3. At Top 16, she faced the vastly experienced Rachna David. A remarkably consistent five legs saw the Norwegian seal a quarter-final place with some comfort.

So, tomorrow is a Masters “rest day”, as everyone is involved in the 2025 World Open. The Masters resumes on Saturday, withial Jason Brandon up against current World #1 Jimmy van Schie in the first semi-final. The second semi sees Canadian Jeff Smith in action against Cliff Prior (England). The women’s semi-finals feature Deta Hedman and Rachna David in the first, with an all-Scottish clash between Lorraine Hyde and Sophie McKinlay in the second.

Don’t forget, live scoring is available on DartConnect

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