“The Gambler” Goes All-in to Claim Event Three Title

CDC Event 3 concluded a brilliant weekend in Indianapolis with Danny Baggish sealing a 7-5 victory over Leonard Gates in the Final.

Leonard “Soldier” Gates, playing in his second consecutive final, won his five matches in the run-up by beating Tanner Picard, Bob Miske, Steve Warnock, Robbie Phillips, and John Norman Jr in the SemiFinal.  Leonard collected six 180s and thirty-one 140s in his first five games.

For his part, Danny “The Gambler” Baggish prevailed over Ross Snook, Matt Smooke, David Fatum, Kevin Luke, and Chuck Puleo in his SemiFinal. Danny’s route to the Final saw him collect nine 180s and twenty-five 140s.

David Cameron claimed the highest First Round winning average of 92.06 in a 5-2 victory over American Stowe Buntz, which featured a 161 checkout by the Canadian. Cameron went one better in the second round by checking out 170 in a 5-3 loss to Michael Esquibel.

David Fatum, who made his return to the Tour this weekend after a two-year hiatus, acquitted himself well by beating Jim Widmayer in the first round and Event 1 Champion Matt Campbell in the second.  “The Scorpion” trusted his 19 shooting in the last leg decider against the Ninja, throwing 133, 95, 133 in consecutive visits and finishing 40 to conclude a 17-dart break against the PDC player. But the Arizona ace ran into the Baggish buzzsaw in round 3, being on the receiving end of a 96.5 average from the Florida phenom.

Joey Lynaugh continued to make serious waves on the CDC Tour by reaching the Quarterfinal on Sunday, following his last-16 finish in Event One and semifinal loss in Event Two. The youngster collected the scalps of Jason Brandon, Joe Cheney and Ryan Vander Weit before succumbing to John Norman Junior in the quarters.

The Gates/Baggish Final saw the two hottest players of the day face off.  Before the last game of the day, Baggish’s First 9 Darts Average of 101.16 was topped only by Gates’ 101.80.   Baggish was able to keep that standard through the final, while Gates served up a mere First 9 of 93.  Danny gained control of the match by taking the second leg on Leonard’s throw.   He made it 3-0 with a 15-dart hold before Soldier took a leg with a cool 16-darter on his own throw.  The game continued high quality, with each player trading holds in 6 visits or less, aside from a couple of legs in the middle when Baggish experienced some setup/finishing problems and Soldier was able to take them both.  In the end, The Gambler was able to right the ship and won the last two legs to clinch a 7-5 victory.

The races for the Continental Cup and World Championship berths are well and truly on!