Jonny Be Good in Graz
Jonny Clayton won his first PDC European Tour title and now has his sights on a Welsh World Cup place.
The ‘Ferret’ was on fire as he beat fellow countryman Gerwyn Price 8-5 to win the Austrian Darts Open in Graz.
It was Clayton’s second tournament win and scooped £25,000 with an excellent run to the final, including defeating home favourite Mensur Suljovic in the semi-finals.
Clayton, though, denied the Champions League of Darts winner with a gutsy 7-6 triumph in their last four meeting, before following up earlier wins over James Wade and Ian White by overcoming Price in an all-Welsh final.
He is now set to partner Price in the Betway World Cup of Darts, and is also in line to qualify for the BetVictor World Matchplay, Unibet World Grand Prix and Unibet European Championship.
Clayton said: “It's my first European Tour title and I'm chuffed to bits. It’s been a great weekend for me.
“It's been a brilliant crowd - I had to play against them all against Mensur but I got through it.
“It's nice to see Welsh darts back on stage. There are some brilliant players and we're all there to do a job.”
It’s another fine performance for The Ferret after his run to the final of the Players Championship at the back end of last year, eventually losing to Michael van Gerwen.
With the £25,000 moving Clayton further ahead of Jamie Lewis in the race to partner Price in the World Cup, the Pontyberem ace added: “It's something I would really like to do, so this is a big step towards that.”
Price's run to the final continued his resurgence since his elimination from the Unibet Premier League recently, as he enjoyed his best-ever finish on the European Tour.
The Iceman overcame Wayne Jones in Sunday afternoon's third round before hitting six doubles from seven attempts in a superb 6-3 quarter-final defeat of World Champion Rob Cross.
Price then edged out Joe Cullen 7-6 in a tight semi-final, but was unable to complete his bid for a third ranking title.
He said: “I'm thrilled for Jonny, it's brilliant for him. Winning’s always good but I just wanted to perform well.
“I think this weekend I performed well in patches, not all the way through, but I'll take a lot of positives out of this weekend. I'm looking forward to what the up and coming weeks are going to bring."
Price led the final in the early stages but a 120 checkout from Clayton in leg ten was followed by a key hold in the next as he punished his rival's two misses at tops to lead 6-5.
Clayton then fired in two 180s in an 11-darter to move to the brink of victory, and sealed the title in style by ending a 14-darter on double ten.
By Phil Lanning (@lannomedia)
Photography courtesy of Lawrence Lustig / PDC
Price then edged out Joe Cullen 7-6 in a tight semi-final, but was unable to complete his bid for a third ranking title.
He said: “I'm thrilled for Jonny, it's brilliant for him. Winning’s always good but I just wanted to perform well.
“I think this weekend I performed well in patches, not all the way through, but I'll take a lot of positives out of this weekend. I'm looking forward to what the up and coming weeks are going to bring."
Price led the final in the early stages but a 120 checkout from Clayton in leg ten was followed by a key hold in the next as he punished his rival's two misses at tops to lead 6-5.
Clayton then fired in two 180s in an 11-darter to move to the brink of victory, and sealed the title in style by ending a 14-darter on double ten.
By Phil Lanning (@lannomedia)
Photography courtesy of Lawrence Lustig / PDC