Twice is Nice for Norman, JR.

John Norman, Jr. continued his strong play this weekend, securing his second consecutive title in Cambridge, Ontario. Norman followed up his win in Event #4 with a 6-5 victory over Ross Snook to hoist the trophy on Saturday.

Norman jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Snook rallied, winning five of the next 6 legs to force a last-leg decider. Visibly rattled, Norman reached deep to produce a brilliant 13-darter, including back-to-back 180s to put himself in the driver’s seat for the Canada CDC spot in the William Hill World Darts Championship.

Just as in Event 4, Norman survived a last-leg decider in round one before catching fire, dispatching the second-seeded Jim Long (5-2) then seven-seed David Cameron (6-2) and Alberta’s Shaun Narain 6-0 in the semi-finals. Ross Snook, who breezed through the first two rounds, eliminated World Championship hopefuls Jacob Taylor (6-3) in the quarterfinals and Dave Richardson (6-5) in the semi-finals. Top-seeded Matt Campbell struggled to find his form and was eliminated in the last 16 by Jacob Taylor 5-1.

Snook and Norman, Jr. both connected on eight 180s, while David Cameron led the way with a 92.23 average. Snook converted a tournament-high 40% of his checkouts and Shaun Narain, who came through the qualifier earlier in the day with an 86 average, hit a 161 out, which was the highest on the day.

The sixth and final event on the Canada Championship Darts Circuit kicks off on Sunday, October 24 at 3:00 PM, Eastern. At the end of the weekend, the Canadian representative for the 2022 William Hill World Darts Championship will be decided, as well as the 8 Canadians who will receive an invite to the Continental Cup tournament next month.

~ By Brian Fraser