BARNEVELD DEFEATES
THE COUNT AT THE
DOELAND GRAND MASTERS

Doeland Grand Masters
10th -12th December 2004.

Friday the 10th was the first day of 5 th Doeland Grand Masters (7th Grand Masters in total) in “Egmond aan Zee”. All 24 players managed to arrive in time to the in North-Holland based swimming resort.

At 5.00pm the players meeting took place before the start of the event and the organisation finalised their preparations for the event. The room (capacity 700 people) was well and truly full and the people present were all ready for it. With the schedule provided (players in groups of 3 of which only one would qualify for the next round) and the format of play (best or 9 legs) the crowd had been insured some great action. Players need to be in tune right from the start. It is almost certain that one must win both games to be sure of further participation in the knockout phase of the tournament. Friday evening all the eight seeded players were given an evening off. They would play both their matches on Saturday. In spite of no seeded players on stage there was nevertheless some interesting matches scheduled.

The opening match was an encounter between two Englishmen. 2004 Dutch Open finalist Gary Robson was more efficient with his chances on the doubles and therefore he won 5-0 against Martin Atkins. Martin now only had one chance to remain in the event and that would be if he could win 5-0 against Raymond van Barneveld to make it to the knockout’s.

Jarkko Komula from Finland was up against Tony Eccles of England and it was a very tense match which saw the Fin walk away from his opponent in victory in eight legs, 5-3.

The 3 rd match saw two Dutchman playing against each other. Co Stompé always dressed in orange and the ex-tram driver from Lelystad was up against the Coevorden based Albertino Essers. Stompé has more stage experience and Essers has his problems performing on stage. Essers had a 2 - 1 lead and missed the chance for 3-1. Stompé managed to win the next leg with the darts and again broke his opponent in the six leg to take the advantage. That was the deciding leg in the match. Experienced Stompé finished the last leg and won 5-2. Saturday evening he can take on Darryl Fitton.

Match four and another Dutchman in for the game of the evening. Frieslands Rick Hofstra against ex-junior champion Stephen Bunting. Hofstra showed he had left his season slump behind him. Accurate finishing against an opponent who was not able to match him, Hofstra won the match with a 116 finish on his way.

The fourth Dutchman of the evening was up next, André Brantjes started well against Norwegian Robert Wagner. With plenty of concentration he was hitting the trebles and doubles. With a 4-2 lead and he even had the chance on a 5-2 win but he could not manage to hit the winning double and Wagner narrowed the gap. For the first time of the evening there was a decisive leg necessary to designate a winner. Where Brantjes had missed his chance earlier, it was Wagner who won the final leg with a 125 finish.

Shaun Greatbatch and Dave Routledge played the next match. "9-dart the man" Greatbatch booked a regular victory over Routledge 5 - 2.

Martin Adams as an unseeded player was up against Mike Veitch. England v Scotland matches are always interesting matches. It was not a match that hung in balance. Adams who always manages to average 30+ was to good for Mike Veitch. With a 120 finish on his way the English Team Captain was clearly too strong for Veitch (5-2).

Hans Senders - Pers Doeland Grand Masters 2004

DOELAND GRAND MASTERS: DAY 2

The World No.1 and local hero Raymond van Barneveld suffered a surprise defeat in his first Round Robin Group match during the Saturday afternoon session. His 3 - 5 defeat at the hands of England’s Martin Atkins put him in an extremely difficult position going into the evening’s final round of the group matches. Barneveld faced another Englishman in the form of Gary Robson, who defeated Martin Atkins
5 - 0 on Friday evening. This meant that Barneveld must win by a score of 5 - 1 or better over Robson to secure progress to the quarterfinals.

Raymond van Barneveld did exactly what he needed to do to advance to the quarterfinal stages of the Doeland Grand Masters though. He offered England’s Gary Robson few chances and secured advancement with a solid 5 - 1 victory. Tony West showed impressive form and won his group without losing a leg. Co Stompe provided the surprise of the night when he defeated Darryl Fitton comfortably by 5 - 2 to claim a quarterfinal place. In the All England matches Tony O`Shea proved too strong for Martin Adams, while Mervyn King showed disappointing form when edging out rising star Tony Martin by 5 - 4. In the remaining groups Ted Hankey John Walton and Jarkko Komula all secured quarterfinal berths.

Saturday Afternoon:

The quarterfinals saw some one sided action. Barneveld smashed Jarkko Komula in three straight sets with Komula winning just the one leg. Barneveld averaged 100 a throw. Co Stompé in what was considered a surprise result knocked out the No.4 Seed in Tony West 3 – 1. Ted Hankey won in three straight sets to eliminate John Walton. Walton met Hankey in a mean mood and Walton was only able to win one leg in each set. The final quarterfinal was a repeat of the Winmau World Masters final. Tony O’Shea was in control of the match until Mervyn King turned the match around to first bring the match back to 2 – 2 in sets and then go on to win the deciding set 5 – 3. How King won this match is still a puzzle.

An all Dutch affair in the first semi final. Co Stompé and Raymond Barneveld are probably the two biggest names in Dutch darts. On this occasion the public was clearly on the side of Stompé and he won the first leg. From that point on Barneveld reeled off seven straight legs including a 170 pegout. Co Stompé had to show some fight and managed to take the third set 3 – 2 with a 126 finish. All of a sudden it appeared that this could turn in to a close contest, but this was not to be. Barneveld stepped it up another gear and with a 12-darter in the third leg he had won the fourth set and a place in the final.

Hot favourite Raymond van Barneveld made short work of Ted Hankey with a crushing 5 - 1 win. Barney showed excellent form and his 31.37 final average proved that his game is where it should be with the Lakeside World Professional Championships just around the corner.

Another day, another game for Barneveld. He has built an aura of invincible around himself of late, where only occasionally someone gets the better of him.

The first set went the full distance and that was not an omen for the whole game. It was of Barneveld which drew first blood taking the first set 3 – 2. Hankey had appeared distracted and it showed in his game in the next set where he seemed more interested with upsetting his antagonist’s game, rather than his own game. This did not both Barneveld at all though taking set two 3 - 0. Barneveld’s mental ability is one of his strengths and all of a sudden he was up three sets when he did not concede a leg in winning the third set again 3 – 0. Everyone was thinking it was going to be an early night, but Hankey knew he had to dig deep. Before the break he was able to drag a set back including a high finish (161) to take the set 3 – 2. After the break Barneveld still needed to win two sets for the title and he had few problems in winning them 3 - 2 and 3 – 1. Barneveld picked up another trophy and cheque for € 5000.

an Barneveld has had an outstanding finish to the year after losing at Lakeside in Frimley Green where he was defeated by Andy Fordham and saw him lose his title. Convalescence followed winning the Dutch Open title, the Tempus IDL, the Bavaria WDT and the Europe Cup won by the Dutch in Finland, the Northern Ireland Open and now the Doeland Grand Masters.