2011 Granite City Open
04-07-2011
|
Antony Dundas
Greetings everyone! Poison Arrow reporting from the North of Scotland! We’re in Aberdeen this weekend for the 9th annual Granite City Open. There have been some big names on both singles trophies over the years and with record entries, the 9th edition of this wonderful tournament was not going to disappoint. The agenda for the weekend was: Friday Night – Mixed Pairs, Saturday – Singles and Sunday – Pairs and Stage Finals.
Friday evening saw the Station Hotel get rather busy for the Mixed Pairs competition. There were plenty of interesting pairings as the tournament got underway. One of the favourites for the title had to be the team of Alan Norris and Irina Armstrong, who sailed through Group 1, dropping only one leg. Group two’s winners were Brian Woods and Lorraine Elrick, who overcame a couple of scares. Linda Ithurralde and Stuart Keith won Group three, defeating Andy Boulton and Kaileigh Brown en route. Graham Begbie and Natascha Daws were victorious in Group 4. Group 5 was won by Ian Gleeson and Maureen Woodroffe. Stephen and Angela Mann were the victors in Group 6. Neil McDougall and Karen Cruickshanks won Group 7, defeating Frances Lawson and husband Asa on the way. Lynn Cowan and Colin Hepplewhite defeated Cameron Menzies and Agnes Lawrie in Group 8’s final. Ross Parsons and Rone Mollison strolled through to the Last 16 after winning Group 9. Stevie Taylor and Nicola Todd were 3-0 victors over Louise Hepburn and Tony Dundas in Group 10’s final, having also beaten Steve Falconer and Dee Bateman earlier. Keith Stephen and Laura Duncan took Group 11 after a very close final. Ronnie Johnson and Iris Anderson were winners on Group 12. Bryan Whyte and Marian Ogg claimed the win in Group 13. Eric Laing and Sharon Leslie did the business to win Group 14. Group 15 was won by Sandy Stephen and Angela Ingram. The last 16 was completed when John Walton and Christine Hyde came out Group 16 as winners. The Final line up was possibly not what we were expecting, as the partnerships of Hepplewhite/Cowan and Whyte/Ogg reached Sunday’s final. The standard of darts was very high and set the weekend off in the right vein. After the late finish, it was off to bed for the singles on Saturday.
It was a 12noon start for the Singles, and 42 boards hosted both singles tournaments. The tournament started near enough on time and ran to a reasonable time for the whole day. Credit must be given to the people who sat at their control desks all day and kept the tournament running smoothly. The early stages of the Men’s offered up nearly no shocks, with all the big names progressing through. In the Last 32, the fireworks began! One or two well known named had been defeated by then, but the first major shock occurred in this round when Jason Hogg defeated Robert Thornton 4-2. The Last 16 offered some very tasty ties. Colin Feeley came out a 4-2 winner over Michael Sheehan. Derek Cunningham progressed with a 4-1 win over Dean Fitch. Mike Veitch was a 4-1 winner over Alan Soutar. Pecker Woods came out top in an all PDC match, getting the better of Big Hendo, John Henderson 4-1. Andy Boulton was a 4-1 winner over Sandy Stephen. Jason Hogg kept his amazing run going with a 4-1 win and Ian “Diamond” White was a 4-1 winner over Alex Lister. In the Quarters, Colin Feeley progressed, Derek Cunningham defeated Mike Veitch, Andy Boulton defeated Pecker and Ian White ended Jason Hogg’s run. The semis would see Colin Feeley take on Derek Cunningham and Andy Boulton take on his former pairs partner Ian White. Feeley was too good for Derek, and came out on top with a 5-0 win. Ian White won through to the final with a nail biting 5-4 win over Boulton. That meant the Men’s Final would be Colin Feeley v Ian White.
In the Ladies draw, the field was packed with some of the best lady players in the world. Looking at some of the early matches, I knew we would be treated to an excellent tournament and the girls did not disappoint. Scotland International Kate Smith suffered an early exit at the hands of Sue Gulliver and Sharon McKinnon also went out early. The Last 32 contained a lot of well known names, with Lorraine Hyde and Louise Hepburn playing one of the best matches, Hyde winning 3-2. The Last 16 saw Susanna Young knock out Sue Gulliver 3-0, Irina Armstrong ended Frances Lawson’s challenge with a 3-0 victory and Linda Ithurralde defeated Anne Kirk 3-1. We moved into the Quarter Finals and were treated to four excellent matches. Irina Armstrong played very well to knock out young Emily Davidson 3-0. Lynn Shearer was desparately unlucky to be on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline, defeated by Linda Ithurralde. Kelly Pirie started strongly but was unable to keep the momentum going, and lost 3-0 to the World Champion Trina Gulliver. Christine Hyde and Susanna Young treated the onlookers to a nail biter! Both girls missed match darts in the final leg before Christine scored the winning double to progress to the Semis 3-2. The Semi Finals saw Gulliver reach Sunday’s final with a 4-0 win over Hyde. She would face off against Irina after she got the better of Ithurralde in a 4-1 victory. With those matches complete we were all set for Sunday’s finals. However, before that we had the Saturday Disco/Karaoke to contend with. As per usual, everyone had a great time and the dancing and singing was interesting to say the least! For some it was a couple of drinks and bed... for others, it was daylight before their heads hit the pillow!
Sunday began with the Men’s and Ladies pairs. I’m sure there were plenty of sore heads on the oches of the Station Hotel, but they all soldiered on! The Men’s pairs saw roughly 200 pairs turn out to try and win the titles but the two teams who came through the draw were Mike Veitch and George Dalglish, and Davey Dodds and Ian Gleeson. Veitch and Dalglish also beat John Henderson and Ian White en route to the final with Dodds and Gleeson defeating Andy Boulton and Andy Murray. It was four familiar faces that would contest the final of the Ladies Pairs. The team of Sue and Trina Gulliver would take on Linda Ithurralde and Irina Armstrong. The stage crew then had a few minutes to prepare everything for the finals. Chairs and tables were moved, and after a while we were all set for the five finals to begin.
First up was the Mixed Pairs Final. A very good match that went all the way. In the end it was Colin Hepplewhite and Lynn Cowan who came through as winners over Bryan Whyte and Marian Ogg. This was followed by the Ladies Pairs and the team of Gulliver and Gulliver were just unable to defeat Irina Armstrong and Linda Ithurralde. The Men’s Pairs final was a more one sided affair. Mike Veitch and George Dalglish were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline and Ian Gleeson and Davey Dodds were the new champions. In the Ladies final, Trina Gulliver was able to extract a bit of revenge as she defeated Irina Armstrong 5-3 in the final. Fantastic stuff from the Golden Girl as she became the 2011 Granite City Open Ladies Champion. The final match of the weekend was the Men’s Final. Colin Feeley must have gone in as underdog as he took on Ian White. Anyone who had a similar opinion would be left shocked as missed doubles cost White, who found himself 2-0 down in sets. The third set was amazing, with both men hitting 180’s for fun. However it would be the Fife man who would close out a 3-0 victory, making him the 2011 Granite City Open Men’s Champion. There was also prizes for the highest checkouts of the tournament. Kelly Pirie would claim the Ladies Prize after checking out 132 and Ian Gunion’s 170 out gave him the Men’s prize.
That was it, then! The ninth Granite City Open had come to an end. It is easy to see why this tournament keeps going from strength to strength. Derek Weston and his team ran the tournament superbly and next year will see the tenth edition of this brilliant tournament. It was also brilliant to see players from the PDC entering. As this tournament didn’t have any Grand Prix points attached to it this year they were able to enter. It was also fantastic to see young players do well, with players like Colin Feeley playing superbly. Personally, I can not wait to return to the Granite City Open next year, where i’m sure the entries will reach new records! Well that’s all from me! I shall be back very soon to report from wherever I end up next. Until then, stay safe and let your darts fly true!
Poison Arrow.