LONDON — Canadian David (Excalibur) Cameron, winning nine of the last 10 legs in a remarkable comeback, defeated England’s Ritchie (Madhouse) Edhouse in first-round play Monday at the Cazoo World Darts Championship.
The 53-year-old from Fall River, N.S., was one leg away from defeat and had survived six match darts, down two sets and two legs to none, when he rallied. He won the next six legs to even the match at two sets apiece and led 2-0 in the fifth set before Edhouse finally won a leg.
Cameron made no mistake in the next leg, completing the comeback.
Cameron is the reigning world senior darts masters champion, defeating darts icon Phil (The Power) Taylor in May. He will face ninth seed Danny Noppert of the Netherlands in the second round.
The 96-player tournament has prize money of 2.5 million pounds ($4.15 million) with 500,000 pounds ($829,515) going to the winner.
The two other Canadians in the field lost their first-round matches Sunday
Belgian Mike (The Real Deal) De Decker held off a comeback by Jeff (The Silencer) Smith of Hampton, N.B., to win 3-1 while American Danny (The Gambler) Baggish blanked Hamilton's Matt (The Ginga Ninja) Campbell 3-0.
Smith is No. 63 in the Professional Darts Corp. (PDC) rankings while Campbell is No. 80. They each won 7,500 pounds ($12,435) as first-round losers.
Cameron assured himself of at least a cheque for 15,000 pounds ($24,870) having made it to the second round.
He qualified for the world championship by finishing as the top-ranked Canadian on the Championship Darts Corporation ProTour season.
Edhouse, ranked 49th, dominated the opening set Monday, winning 3-0. Cameron had a chance to take the third leg when Edhouse hit one of his darts on the board and failed to score the double-20 needed for victory. But Cameron failed to take advantage, missing three attempts at double-20 and Edhouse made no mistake given a second chance.
Cameron raised his game in the second set but failed to capitalize.
Edhouse had a chance to win four legs in a row but was unable to finish, allowing Cameron to take the opener in the second set. Edhouse rebounded to take the second leg, making triple-20s with his first six darts.
Cameron won the third leg and had a chance to take the set but missed with five darts, allowing Edhouse to even the set at 2-2. The Canadian had a chance to take the set but again failed to find his target with the fifth leg on the line.
Down 2-0 in the third set, Cameron won the next three legs to win the set and extend the match. Both players flubbed chances to win the final leg before Cameron finally found the target.
Cameron kept rolling, winning the fourth set in three straight legs.
Up 2-0 in the final set, he had a chance to win the match but miscounted his 92 checkout, coming up 10 short and allowing Edhouse to end the run at eight legs.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2022
The Canadian Press
