USA Dart Classic / 510 National Championships
Aug 11-13 2006

Friday morning I decide to head down to the barbershop inside of the Marriott. While waiting and reading the local newspaper I noticed a nice article about the tournament. Apparently great minds think alike, as sitting in the next chair is Davis Snider. Davis wins the haircut race wrapping up his trim slightly before me, but I am determined to throw faster darts downstairs.

My goal for the weekend was simple, to win the National Championship. After a light breakfast and pictures it was time to start the matches. My day starts off smoothly enough sweeping the first two matches to stand at 6-0. Then the Brownie monster jumped up and bit me once again blasting me in 3 straight legs. Its not like I was playing poorly, scoring 180 -81- 140 to leave a 100 finish in the second leg. But Steve's brilliant 171 setup to leave 36 pressured my out and when I fell short he scooped up yet another "W" at my expense.

This year the players advancing to the knockout portion were determined by win/loss ratio. Standing at 6-3 I knew I needed to kick it up a notch. It wasn't to be though as while Brownie remained my sole match loss my overall ratio was only 2-1 or 66.7%. As it came down to the wire my doubles partner Steve Hertzfeld needed just 2 wins in his final match to claim the last spot in the knockout rounds. He fell short taking only one leg in the match and forcing a 4-way playoff for the final slot.

So for the second year in a row I am in a dogfight to keep my National Championship dreams alive. And my competition couldn't be much more difficult. Steve Hertzfeld, Gordon Dixon, Johnny Kuczynski, and myself will now toe the line with the first gentleman to 3 wins advancing.

In a multi-person playoff the start is absolutely crucial. Johnny outlasts me on the first cork and after failing my finish he claims the first leg. Steve and I then go on to alternate wins in the next 4 legs. So the score stands Johnny 1, Steve 2, Gordon 0, and me on the hill with 2 wins. In the sixth leg I earn the right to start and never look back finishing from 44 to keep the day alive.

So its time to play the brackets and I know while I am playing solid I need to up my game if I am to claim the National Championship. The round of 16 my opponent was Adam Leger and again with some solid but certainly not spectacular darts I come out one game ahead at 3-2. Not the performance I was looking for out of myself at this point.

In the quarterfinals I come across Tim Grossman. We split the first 4 legs to push a deciding leg. We come down smooth and I leave 44 with Tim back on 105. And then with a T20, S13, and D16 Tim erased my hopes this year. It was a clutch shot by a truly quality player. Tim eventually went on to outlast the rest of the field and claim the event. Congrats Tim!