50-year-old Scotsman John Henderson has been crowned the new World Senior Darts Champion after a gripping weekend of action at the legendary Circus Tavern in Essex. Henderson, a former PDC World Cup winner alongside 'Snakebite' Peter Wright, defeated the unseeded Northern Irishman Colin McGarry 5-0 in Sunday night's final to scoop his first ever major tournament as an individual.
Henderson, the pre-tournament favourite having only just exited from the PDC circuit, self-admittedly started off slowly in the tournament, most notably beating Andy Hamilton en-route to the final. But the Highlander was immense in Sunday night's action, cruising past Canadian Jim Long 3-1 in the semi final and whitewashing McGarry in the final.
Having only just met the age threshold to qualify for the tournament, and being an invitee to the event, the 2024 WSDC could be the catalyst for a mini career resurgence for Henderson, who narrowly missed out on qualifying for the most recent PDC World Championship.
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Two time and defending champion Robert Thornton saw his hopes of a third consecutive final dashed in the second round, letting a 2-0 lead slip against former PDC World Championship finalist Hamilton to crash out 3-2. Amongst the other early exits was Leonard Gates, with the American 'Soulger' and no.2 seed crashing out in the very first round to eventual runner up McGarry.
Lisa Ashton, widely heralded as one of if not the best female player the game has ever produced, produced a memorable run to the semi-finals, including a whitewash win over former BDO World Champion Scott Mitchell. Where Beau Greaves is making mammoth strides in the PDC and WDF for her form and quality of darts, Ashton is reminding many that the likes of her, and Mikuru Suzuki are among the very best across both organisations.
And the event will likely be the final time we ever see Phil 'The Power' Taylor step up to the oche at the Circus Tavern. In a far from vintage performance however, Taylor was sent home by unseeded German Manfred Bilderl, with only Gulliver (70.47) recording a lower average than Taylor (74.53) across the entire first round
Likewise, former World Champion and Senior Tour stalwart John Part also failed to make it past the first round, losing to former WSDC runner up Richie 'The Owl' Howson.
Just look at that grin 😁
— World Seniors Darts (@SeniorsDarts) February 18, 2024
Trophy time with the new @jenningsbetinfo World Seniors Darts Champion pic.twitter.com/5syF0Vrk9O
By Jaspar Shepherdson
(@jasparshepmedia on X/Twitter and Instagram)
Image Credit: Sven Mandel on Wikipedia
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