Auckland's Tina Osborne, currently ranked second on the New Zealand Darts Council rankings, was a tough opponent for eventual winner, Judy Fenton. Photo / John Stone
Auckland's Tina Osborne, currently ranked second on the New Zealand Darts Council rankings, was a tough opponent for eventual winner, Judy Fenton. Photo / John Stone
Auckland's Ken Moir and Whangamata's Judy Fenton are the big winners from the weekend's annual Northland Darts Open in Whangārei.
Moir, who had unsuccessfully competed in the previous two event singles finals, pipped Taranaki's Mark Cleaver at the post, winning six legs to five in a best of 11 legsgame on Saturday at the Kamo Rugby Club, the home of the Taniwha Darts Association.
Mark Cleaver, seen here playing at last year's Northland winter tournament, had darts to win the final on Saturday but he couldn't nail the double. Photo / John Stone
"I ended up winning it, but it was a struggle to get there," the 65-year-old Aucklander said.
"I had to steal a few games but I was hitting the doubles at the right time, so I just managed to sneak through."
Moir lost the 2018 final to renowned New Zealand darts player Craig Caldwell and perished last year to Auckland's Monty Tuhua.
Whangārei's Dave 'The Raven' Andrews cocks his arm before release. Photo / John Stone
However, Moir was in a strong position against Cleaver, leading four legs to one. When the Taranaki arrowsmith fought back to take the game to a last leg decider, he couldn't convert his match dart and Moir hit double-five to win the title.
"There's always that little bit of finals pressure, which makes you miss things and the opposition puts pressure on you which makes it harder," he said.
"I think it was just hitting the doubles at the right times and scoring well to get down to the doubles."
Moir also took out the men's pairs competition held yesterday with Taniwha Darts Association president Paul Baker, winning 5-2 over Cleaver and Stu Irwin.
In the women's competition, Judy Fenton - ranked third on the New Zealand Darts Council rankings - claimed a commanding 6-3 win in the final over Kaitaia's Jo Steed.
Kaitaia's Jo Steed couldn't overcome Whangamata's Judy Fenton in the women's singles final on Saturday night. Photo / John Stone
Fenton won the Northland title in 2018, but finished runner-up last year to the then 14-year-old Auckland prodigy Taylor-Marsh Kahaki.
Fenton said she was glad to win the title after recently changing darts to ones with a smaller barrel.
Kaitaia's Brian Steed (left) and renowned NZ arrowsmith Haupai Puha compete side by side. Photo / John Stone
"I'm using new darts this year so I'm still trying to train them in, I've still got a lot more work to do with them but I'm happy so far," she said.
"They won me the North Island ladies singles competition last week so I suppose that's a good sign."
Auckland's Stefan Yagmich 'chalks' up the score. Photo / John Stone
After making it through the qualifying round, Fenton had to face Tina Osborne, who was second on the rankings, and only beat her in the last leg.
With the women's final finishing at 9:30pm and the men's final finishing at 11:30pm, Fenton said the Northland tournament needed better time management in the future.
