Kay rises in Order of Merit with another solid showing

KEELAN Kay continued his good form on day two of the PDC Development Tour at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, when he had a run to the last 16 in Tour 11 and at the end of Tour 12, had earned himself a rise of three places up to 24 from 27 in the new Order of Merit.

He laid down the gauntlet in his opening match of Tour 11 when he scored 177 with his first three darts of the day before taking the leg in 13 against Henk Snijder following up with the next three legs for a confident-boosting 4-0 victory.

Keelan carried that form into the round of 64 against Oliver King and hit two maximums, scoring 180-46-180 before checking out from 95 for a 12-darter.

King pulled one leg back but Keelan won it 4-1 to set up a last 32 meeting with Ciaran Teehan, a semi-finalist of Tours 3 and 5,

Keelan took the opener in 18 with a kill of 115 and then finished a 15-darter with an outshot of 160 to go 2-0 up.

The 17-year-old then won the third leg in 16 before the Irishman showed his own finishing prowess by winning the next game in 18 when checking out from 134 before Keelan wrapped up a 4-1 victory in the next.

William Borland was Keelan’s opponent in the last 16, a player who has played in both codes and won through to the last 16 of the BDO World Darts Trophy only last year.

The Scotsman began well and went 2-0 up in 13 and 18 before Keelan reduced the deficit with a win in 14.

The next two legs were shared when both were secured in 15 but any hopes of Keelan forcing a deciding seventh leg were dashed when the 22-year-old checked out from 111 for a win in 15.

George Gardner was Keelan’s first opponent in Tour 12 and it was well contested as it went to 3-3 with Kay taking legs in 17, 14 and 14.

Both players had chances to win the decider, but it went to Keelan who emerged a 4-3 winner, boasting a 90.00 average.

Owen Maiden, a team-mate of Keelan’s that represented England in the British Internationals was up next and he won the early exchanges to go 3-0 up.

Keelan pulled it back with the help of two 21-darters but it was not to be, and Maiden took the sixth leg in 19 for a 4-2 victory.

Over the two days, Keelan put up a very good performance and will be hoping to replicate that form when the PDC Development Tour moves to Germany over the weekend of August 17-18 for Tour events 13-16 which will be contested at Halle 39, Hildesheim.