Darts ace Ayres in nine darter agony

BILLINGSHURST ace Tony Ayres just missed out on the holy grail of darts, the nine dart finish, when playing in the UK Open last week.

PDC ranked player Ayres, backed by Andy Mason, was competing in front of the Sky Sports cameras for the first time at Bolton^s Reebok Stadium and went close to the feat in the third round against Paul Whitworth, before going down 9-0 against Dutch former World Champion Ray Barneveld.

Two maximum throws of 180 with Ayres^ first six darts set him up perfectly, but an attempt at a treble 15 on his third visit narrowly missed.

He was still able to check out with a double 18 to register a ten darter however.

Ayres said: "It would have been something if I did get it. I knew it was on after the 180s – I just had to do what I could after the dart missed.

"Barneveld was really good, we had a nice chat after our match, talking to me about some of the doubles I missed."

Story By: West Sussex County Times