Soulga Secures Opening Day Title at CDC Cosmo Darts Classic

The 2024 Championship Darts Corporation (CDC) season kicked off with a bang in Indianapolis, Indiana, where North America’s finest talent gathered for the Cosmo Darts Classic.

In what may be one of the highest-quality finals in CDC history, Leonard Gates claimed his 7th career CDC Main Event title (and 13th CDC-related overall win) with a 7-3 victory over Doug Boehm. Both players averaged 102 in the finals, with no leg exceeding 16 darts.

The top five ranked players all advanced to the quarterfinals, but competition was fierce and Gates, seeded fourth, was the only one to survive, edging out 2023 CDC Continental Cup champion Stowe Buntz with a hard-fought 6-4 win. Gates then averaged 98.4 in a commanding semifinal victory over Danny Baggish, following earlier wins over Jake MacMillan (6-2) and a pair of whitewash victories over Jared Leedy and Paul Jones.

Doug Boehm started his campaign with victories over Matthew Thompson, Jason Roker, and Shane Meeks, going 16-5 in legs over those three matches despite some lower-than-normal scoring averages. Boehm then found his rhythm, erasing a 5-3 deficit against 2024 Cross Border champion Alex Spellman to book a semifinal tie against Jeff Smith where shook off a 3-0 deficit by running off seven of the final eight legs to earn his first trip to a CDC event final.

Top seed David Cameron, who secured his spot in the 2024 US Darts Masters last night, fell at the quarterfinal stage against Danny Baggish despite averaging seven points higher than his opponent.

Statistically, Jake Womack ended the event with the highest average (95.55) which came in a losing effort in his first-round match against Dave Richardson. Womack was followed closely by Gates’ 93.64 average over six matches on the day. Gates checked out 48% of his finishes, and both he and Doug Boehm led the way with 13 maximums each.

Finals
Leonard Gates (4) 7-3 Doug Boehm (10)

Semifinals
Leonard Gates (4) 7-3 Danny Baggish (8)
Doug Boehm (10) 7-4 Jeff Smith

Quarterfinals
Danny Baggish (8) 6-3 David Cameron (1)
Leonard Gates (4) 6-4 Stowe Buntz (5)
Doug Boehm (10) 6-5 Alex Spellman (2)
Jeff Smith 6-4 Jacob Taylor (3)

Today’s event kicked off the 2024 season, which will feature 14 events. Points earned will qualify the top American and Canadian players for the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship in London, as well as the 2024 tour championship, the CDC Continental Cup, in New York City. Event #2 kicks off on Sunday at 11:00 am Eastern time.

Article by Brian Fraser