Connor Scutt booked a Lakeside return and Beau Greaves continued her dominance of the women’s game as the WDF tour returned to Esbjerg for the Gold-ranked Denmark Open.
Super Scutt downs van Schie to win first WDF title
With a top prize of 24,000 DKK and a guaranteed place at the 2024 WDF World Championship on the line, just shy of 300 men travelled to Esbjerg to contest the 2024 edition of the Denmark Open.
In the end, it was England’s Connor Scutt that emerged top of the pile after recording a barnstorming 6-1 win over tall Dutchman Jimmy van Schie in the final.
Van Schie won the opening leg of the final but didn’t get another look in, Scutt levelling the scores with a 10-darter before winning the next five in 14, 18, 16, 15 and 15 darts to run out a 6-1 winner with a 98.97 average.
That was Scutt’s highest average of the day but he’d laid down markers earlier on, firing in a 96.97 against Ole Jorgensen and then a 96.24 in a high-quality semi-final win over Wales’ Mark Graham.
The day’s toughest test for ‘The Sniper’ had come in the quarter-finals, had come in the quarter-finals when he had to survive a match dart against Brian Raman before pinning double eight to win their clash 4-3.
As for van Schie, he’d come through a couple of early last-leg deciders with Shane Hayward and Mike Gillet before moving through the gears, seeing off Dennis Nilsson in the last eight and then David Davies in the semi-finals to reach his second WDF ranking final of the year.
Denmark Open | Men’s Quarter-Finals
Connor Scutt 4-3 Brian Raman
Mark Graham 4-3 Darren Johnson
David Davies 4-1 Liam Maendl-Lawrance
Jimmy van Schie 4-1 Dennis Nilsson
Semi-Finals
Scutt 5-3 Graham
van Schie 5-2 Davies
Final
Scutt 6-1 van Schie
Golden Greaves dominates in Denmark
Beau Greaves has added yet another title to her impressive collection after dominating the field to win the Women’s Denmark Open.
The two-time World Champion kicked off her campaign with a 4-0 win over Merete Kjaer and didn’t drop a leg until the final, recording averages of 95.43, 101.9, 92.49 and 91.09 as she beat Janni Larsen, Anna Forsmark, Adriana van Wijgerden-Vermaat and Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
Up against Greaves in the title decider was Scotland’s Lorraine Hyde, who’d beaten the likes of Anca Zijlstra, Lerena Rietbergen and Laura Turner to reach her second final of the year.
Hyde took an early 2-0 lead after producing legs in 17 and 16 darts but the two-time Lakeside qualifier wouldn’t get another dart at a double as Greaves won the next five legs.
That run from Greaves included a 13-darter and a 160 checkout as she eventually ran out a 5-2 winner with a 93.57 average.
Denmark Open | Women’s Quarter-Finals
Beau Greaves 4-0 Adriana van Wijgerden-Vermaat
Noa-Lynn van Leuven W-F Deta Hedman
Lorraine Hyde 4-1 Lerena Rietbergen
Laura Turner 4-3 Rhian O’Sullivan
Semi-Finals
Greaves 4-0 van Leuven
Hyde 4-2 Turner
Final
Greaves 5-2 Hyde
A new star emerges in the Denmark Open Youth
Nikolaj Jorgensen had won the last two Denmark Open Youth titles but as he’s now a senior, there was an opportunity for a new champion to emerge. That new winner ended up being German teenager Janne Eriksson.
Eriksson trailed Denmark’s Nikolas Wirtz 3-2 in the final before producing legs in 17 and 19 darts to take it 4-3 and claim his first WDF Youth title in the process.
Photos: Chris Sargeant / Tip Top Pics
