Lewis travelled to Milton Keynes to participate PDC Q School’s first phase. The final eight players on each of the 3 stage 1 events would advance stage 2. Then, 80 more players would advance from the OoM.
Lewis, and the rest of the field arrived early to begin their preparations. It didn’t take long for the draw to be announced. Lewis was fortunate to be given a bye into the first round. A win here would earn him a point in the OoM. Lewis unfortunately lost to a well-prepared Jamie Lewis. Hitting a 92.05 average against Lewis’ 84.38 and a score line of 5-3 in Jamie Lewis’ favour.
The score did not accurately reflect the match since Jamie Lewis averaged over 109 for his first 9 darts which set up in most legs. Lewis needed 2 darts for D20 to tie the match at 4-4, but missed chances won that leg and won the match. Jamie Lewis managed to get to the last 8 for that day which advanced him to stage 2 on this first day.
With no leg lasting longer than 20 darts, his game statistics were 9x 100+ 1x 140 and 1x 180, which are impressive darts for stage 1 of Q School. Despite the outcome not being what Lewis had hoped for, where were some excellent lesion to learn from his game to apply to the next two days.
Lewis earned his first OoM point on day two by making it to round 2, where he was defeated by the Matthew Dennant. Lewis did record his best average of the day against Matthew, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Dennant’s average of 92.78. Lewis, though, defeated Thomas Smith and Killian McCormack in earlier rounds, respectively, 5-3 and 5-1. Lewis had 19x 100 and 8x 140 at the end of the day.
With only 1 point, stage 2 advancement required a big day on the last day. It turns out that he can advance with just 2 points and a very favourable leg difference. Unfortunately, he received a pre-liminary draw and was unable to advance without winning at least three matches.
Lewis was drawn against Aaron Dwyer. Lewis had a strong morning focus, and preparation proceeded smoothly. He had a solid start by hitting the bull to have the darts, he then started the first leg with 180. Throughout this match Lewis hit hitting two 180s, four 140s, and four 100s. Both players had trouble keeping their throw, but Lewis’ terrific pressured 84 finish in 2 but the game into a deciding leg, with Lewis throwing first.
Lewis once more threw 180 to start the final leg and after 9 darts left 170, but both players struggled massively towards the end of the leg, but sadly Aaron Dwyer struck D20 after 4 match darts to win the tie.
Lewis could learn a lot from these three days and had a lot of takeaways to help prepare himself for the challenge tour next week. Lewis had trouble finding his initial dart, so he frequently employed cover shots. Keep checking back for next week’s update on this.
We at Dartbox are proud of Lewis and the way he represented himself and our company on one of the biggest stages. Trust me when we say that this is just the beginning – there will be more! Bring on the rest of 2023 .
