1st Gauteng Open - Dinwiddie Sport Club

The first GDF Open this past Saturday saw a massive entry contingent of 152 players from all around Gauteng playing.

Having so many people in one hall, along with the heat wave made the main hall of the Dinwiddie Sports Complex a sauna. We were all glistening with the sweat pearls on our bodies but a lot of players became very creative and wet their entire shirt to combat the heat as well as using ice blocks in their face towels.

In all, it was a hugely successful tournament, run by Annemarie Maraz and Leon Jooste and it made everyone there play really hard to get somewhere. The competition was really stiff and although not all the players who attended and represented ESDA went very far, we had good representation all the way to the end.

Our players who attended and their results were as follows:

Although he attended, JP Schoeman did not play in the tournament. Cheyenne Ness attended and was an amazing PRO assistant and supporter for all the players. Thea Joubert, Delian Bennett, Jen Bennett, Pie Badenhorst, Jan Putter and Vincent van Wyk unfortunately all fell out during the Block Section, however there were some small victories and personal bests obtained when Thea won Charmaine Johnson (a player who made the Gauteng Masters Team at the 2022 Nationals), Delian won a regular player from Mogale, Irene Theron, for the first time, beating her 3-0 with her highest score of 121 thrown. Jen came so close to throwing her very first 180 by hitting 2 x Trip 20 and missing the last one by landing just under the wire to give her a top score thrown of 140 and Pie having thrown a 180.

Maryna Badenhorst progressed all the way to Top 16 and Moira Cronje progressed further and ended up Top 8 and unfortunately it was where her journey ended.

Jacques Botha, Jason Crook, Alfred Ungerer and Julian Kevin Ness all progressed past the Block Round but unfortunately were all knocked out in the Top 64. Jacques missed out on a 180 due to two darts falling out of the Trip 20 and he fixed it to land another dart in the trip. Had it all stayed, he would have gotten a 180 for the day. Next time, next time.....

Brad Blume reached the Top 32 however that is where his journey ended. He did however reach his best ever closing of 170 and threw a 171 as his highest score.

Wayne Ellis reached the Top 16 and unfortunately his family member Tinashe knocked him out. Wayne however hit a 180 for the day.

Chipoyera Tinashe reached the Quarter Finals but that is also where his journey came to an end however he had an amazing show of his talent by hitting 3 x 180's for the day!!

Hugo Deysel won 2nd Place in the men's division, losing to Angel Morgan in the finals and hitting 2 x 180's for the day!

Well done to every player that represented the Blue Machine Family this weekend and it was an awesome sight to see so many of our players there. We are slowly becoming one of the well represented Associations out there. Now our aim is to build the membership of our Association and get more of our members and also our Juniors to attend Opens, we will become the sea of blue to reckon with.