‘EXCALIBUR’ Outlasts ‘The TRUTH’ In Moncton

The road to the PDC World Championship continues, as the first weekend of the 2021 Canada Championship Darts Circuit season kicked off in Moncton, New Brunswick yesterday evening. David Cameron, the 2019 Matchplay champion and 7-time veteran of the Lakeside World Championships, used his experience to come back from 5-2 down and take the title from Jacob Taylor 6- 5. For Cameron, it’s his first victory on the CDC Main Tour, to go with his 2019 Matchplay title. Cameron’s day started with convincing wins over Brady Noble (5-0) and Keith Way (5-1). He then took out an in-form Matt Campbell, the number 2 seed, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Campbell averaged 95.7 in the match, but couldn’t secure the win. Cameron would go on to bead Dave Richardson 6-3 in the semis to reach the finals.

Jacob Taylor, making his CDC in-person debut, after putting up remarkable results in the online series during the pandemic, stormed past Steve Foster 5-2, and number 5 seed Shawn Brenneman 5-0, to set up a match with PDC tour card holder Jeff Smith in the quarterfinals. Smith averaged 97.8 and hit two 180s in the match, but Taylor matched him all the way and secured the 6-4 victory in the match of the day. Taylor defeated Cory Tkach (who had already beaten top seed Jim Long and former World Cup competitor, John Norman Jr) 6-0 in the semifinals to reach his first final.

The highest average for Event 1 was Matt Campbell (94.3), followed closely by Jeff Smith (93.5), Jacob Taylor (92.3), and champion David Cameron (87.9). Jacob Taylor connected on 45% of his checkouts to top the day, while Matt Campbell secured the top out of the day, with a spectacular 160 vs David Cameron. David Cameron led the way with eight 180s. The players will meet again today for Event 2. #1 seed Jim Long (top 16) and #2 seed Matt Campbell (top 8 ) will look to bounce back, as they not only hope to return to the Professional Darts Corporation’s William Hill World Darts Championship but also look to secure points in the race to join Jeff Smith on team Canada at this year’s Cazoo World Cup of Darts.

Article by Brian Fraser
August 13, 2021