Martijn Kleermaker

Darts results: Michael Smith crashes out as Martijn Kleermaker snatches top spot

By Sporting Life

Darts

Sat April 25, 2020 · 5y ago

Michael Smith suffered a surprise exit in the PDC Home Tour as Martijn Kleermaker snatched top spot in Group Nine on Saturday.

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Bully Boy was hot favourite to progress to the next stage of the online tournament having reached five major finals over the past two years, including the 2020 Masters, and earlier this season raised the roof with a nine-darter in the Premier League.

However, he joined Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price on the list of high profile casualties despite averaging close to 100 in all three of his matches from his own home.

The St Helens star, who also hit a tournament record 11 maximums on the ninth night of action, started brightly enough as he stormed into a 3-0 lead over our Chris Hammer's 9/2 tip Kleermaker but the Dutchman stormed back to win five legs on the trot in a high-class affair in which both players averaged 98.

Smith bounced back with a 5-3 victory over Harry Ward, averaging 98 in the process, but had it all to do in the final match of the night against veteran Matt Clark.

Prior to this encounter, Clark had edged out both Kleermaker and winless Ward by 5-3 scorelines to take top spot on legs difference, but the Dutchman kept himself in the hunt with a 5-2 triumph over 'Big H'.

Smith therefore needed to beat Clark either 5-0 or 5-1 while a 5-4 defeat would have been enough for 'Superman' to qualify for the second round next month.

Clark sensationally ended Bully Boy's chances with a stunning 161 checkout in the fourth leg to make it 2-2 but his eventual 5-3 loss sent Kleermaker through by just one leg.

The Dutchman, who earned his Tour Card at Q School after an impressive BDO World Championship, joins Jonny Clayton, Jamie Lewis, Nick Kenny, Luke Woodhouse, Geert Nentjes, Dave Chisnall, Ryan Searle and Jelle Klaasen in the next round.

The result was also good news for followers of Chris Hammer's daily tips as he nailed both his best bets for the second day running. Firstly he tipped Kleermaker to go through at 9/2 while he also said his match with Smith would feature over 7.5 legs, a high checkout over 88.5 and more than 3.5 total 180s at 5/2

Each night’s action begins at 1930 BST, and will include webcam footage of each player and their dart board, live score graphics and commentary from Dan Dawson. All PDC Home Tour action will be broadcast live on PDCTV for FREE to ALL registered PDCTV users, regardless of whether you have a paid or free membership