By Alex Moss
12 MARCH 2017 • 7:31PM
Jonathan Hirst was crowned BDDA Winmau Open champion after beating Ricky Chilton 3-1 in the final earlier today.
The Road to the Winmau Tour began this weekend with the first event of the 2017 season, as players competed for the title and also ranking points towards qualifying for the Winmau WDDA World Masters later this year.
Hirst took the plaudits at the Weoley Castle Working Men’s Club, in Birmingham, today, as he came through a field of almost 40 players to win the Open title.
After recording a 3-1 win over Derek Meakins in the last 32, Hirst reeled off whitewash wins against Paul McMahon, Ben Beardmore and Paul Gelder to reach the final.
In the final he took on Chilton, who himself had also dropped just leg on his way to the decider, beating John Greensmith (3-0), David Gill (3-0), Pete Bramley (3-1) and Kevin Stringer (3-0).
Hirst saw off Chilton 3-1 in the final to win the title and make a fine start to his bid to qualify for the WDDA World Masters at the end of the season.
It was Hirst’s second triumph of the weekend, having beaten Kevin Turner 3-1 in the final of the standing darters category of the BDDA Winmau Classic the day before.
Meanwhile, Stringer edged past Darren Brook 3-1 to win the wheelchair category of the BDDA Winmau Classic.
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