Treble For Nijman On The Development Tour

Recap – Treble For Nijman On The Development Tour

Wessel Nijman opened up a big lead at the top of the Development Tour Order of Merit after winning three titles in Milton Keynes at the weekend.

The 24-year-old went into the penultimate weekend of the Development Tour season occupying second place in the rankings behind Ireland’s Keane Barry.

Nijman climbed to the top of the Order of Merit after winning both tournaments on the Friday, beating first-time finalist Tavis Dudeney 5-4 in an all-Mission final of Event 16 and Germany’s Niko Springer 5-3 in the Event 17 decider.

The pair of titles on Friday saw Nijman become only the fourth player in history to win two Development Tour events on the same day, following in the footsteps of Dean Reynolds, Martin Schindler and Josh Rock.

The Dutchman went on a superb 23-match winning run on the Development Tour before losing 5-4 to Springer in the final of Event 18 on Saturday.

But Nijman was soon back in the winners’ circle, defeating Jack Male 5-2 to win Event 19 and his third title in just two days.

It was Nijman’s fifth tournament success of the season and the 10th Development Tour event win of his career, moving him up to fifth on the all-time list for most Development Tour titles.

On Sunday, the new Order of Merit leader saw his bid for a fourth title of the weekend fall short in the semi-finals, losing 5-1 to Springer who would go on to win Event 20.

With four events of the season left to go, Nijman has a £5,550 lead at the summit of the Development Tour rankings. The player who finishes top of the Order of Merit will earn a spot in the Grand Slam of Darts in November.

Friday saw Dudeney break new ground with a run to his first ever Development Tour final. The Englishman reeled off seven straight wins to reach the decider, where he battled back from 3-0 down before losing out 5-4 to Nijman.

Teenager Thomas Banks, 17, continues to make an impression with a run to the quarter-finals of Event 16, whilst Dylan Slevin and Dominik Gruellich enjoyed runs to the semi-finals of Events 18 and 19 respectively.

On Sunday, there was two all-Mission quarter-finals in Event 20 with Gruellich beating Slevin and Nijman getting past Llew Bevan, before they both lost out in the semi-finals.

Elsewhere, Connor Scutt booked his spot in the MODUS Super Series Champions Week after winning the Week 8 final on Saturday.

‘The Sniper’ caught the eye with a stunning 120.24 average during his Group A campaign at the start of the week – the second highest ever match average in the history of the Super Series.

After finishing top of Group A to qualify for Saturday’s finals night, Scutt defeated Colin Osborne 4-3 in the final to secure his place in Champions Week at the end of August.

Oskar Lukasiak won his first title on the PDC Nordic & Baltic Tour with a victory in Denmark on Sunday.

The Swede had lost out in two finals earlier in the year but went one better at the weekend, reeling off four straight legs from 3-2 behind to beat Marko Kantele 6-3 in the Event 8 finale.

The victory for Lukasiak has moved him up to third place on the Nordic & Baltic Order of Merit, and within €450 of Johan Engstrom in second.

The top two players on the Order of Merit at the end of the season will qualify for the PDC World Darts Championship. The 2024 campaign concludes with Events 9 and 10 in Iceland next month.

Picture: Jonas Hunold/PDC Europe

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