Coleman and Nixon tried forWorld's Richest Darts Purse
Frankie Coleman, Trevor Lloyd(who accompanied the players), Hank Ebanks, John Nixon (l to r)
Two of Cayman's top darts players, Frank Coleman and John Nixon,recently competed in the Nalley Golden Harvest Tournament in Saskatoon,Saskatchewan, Canada. A total purse of approx. US$ 200,000.00makes this event the richest darts tournament in the world.
256 of the world's best were in attendance with the main attractionbeing 8-time world-champion Phil Taylor of England. Others included3 time defending champion Rod Harrington, 2-time world championRay van Barnevard, John Lowe, Dennis Priestley, Peter Manley,Eric Bristow, Jamie Harvey, Cliff Lazarenko, Bob Anderson, PaulLym and the Belgian world Cup team. In addition 128 ladies, includingtop European, American and Canadian players, competed in theirown section.
The first competition of the 4 day event was a "luck of thedraw" doubles tournament. Both Coleman and Nixon drew ladypartners however Coleman was a first round victim whereas Nixonreached the 3rd round before he was eliminated. On the basis ofplay in this "social" event, players were seeded forday 2, a round robin competition.
Players were divided into sections of 10 with each player having9 matches that day. Coleman was seeded 7th in his section andNixon 5th in his section. Each section included at least one worldranked player. Coleman had Scotland's Jamie Harvey whilst Nixon'ssection included the legendary Eric Bristow. At the end of theday, Nixon had won 3 of his matches and Coleman had defeated 6opponents and shot 4 of the 20 180's in his section.
Players were re-seeded for day 3 with Nixon at No. 7 and Coleman3. Nixon's professional was Bob Anderson but Coleman had 2 worldranked players - Steve Raw and Dave Askew (who had won the tourevent in Montreal the previous week-end).
At the end of play Nixon had again won 3 matches but Coleman hadonly been defeated twice with both losses at the hands of thetwo ranked players however he scored 4 of the 21 180's in hissection. Coleman narrowly lost to Raw and only he and Raw tookany legs from Askew who was undefeated.
That night the final 128 players were announced for the moneyround. NIxon missed the cut and was seeded No. 181. Coleman wasseeded No. 73 and was guaranteed prize money.
On day 4 Coleman could not recover the excellent form he had displayedon day 3 and was eliminated in the first round.
The finals were hotly contested by the professionals as each attemptedto take the US$32,500.00 first place prize money. Semi-final competitionpaired Phil Taylor against Ray van Barnevard and John Lowe versusDave Askew.
Taylor and Askew both advanced to the final where Taylor ekedout a 4-3 victory. The ladies' section saw a repeat winner inEngland's Chrissy Howat who had taken the first place money inMontreal the week before.
Both players thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have vowedto get down to some serious practice for next years event whichwill offer over US$260,000.00 in prize money. Coleman and Nixonare both members of the Cayman team which travels to Barbadoslater this month to compete in the 13th Caribbean Championships.