Jackpot of cash in comps for David Pallett
Newport's David Pallett went to work on a Bank Holiday and walked away with a cool £2,500 from an open competition in the Black Country.
The Shropshire darter cashed in on his break from play in the PDC to take the top prize at the West Midlands Open, writes Craig Birch.
Pallett has been kicking his heels while the organisation tours Australia and New Zealand with their top eight stars, with his next tournaments on the European Tour next month.
And he had to see off fellow PDC prospect Michael Smith – conqueror of Phil Taylor in the 2014 World Championship – in the final after he came down from St Helens.
He took the trophy and overall winner's cheque with a resounding 5-0 victory over Smith, who still went home with £1,000 as the runner-up.
And it was a double cash cow for Pallett, who had earned another £1,000 on the Sunday for winning a Help for Heroes event in Northampton.
The 25-year-old said: "Money wise, it's up there with the best weekends I've ever had, apart from the last World Championship.
"These tournaments are great for me, it's pocket money if you can get anywhere and it's great practice for the PDC circuit.
"Michael's a great scalp at any point but he didn't play whitewash badly, he just missed his doubles and I was in no mood to let him off the hook."
A whopping £5,000 prize pot attracted 176 throwers to the Allen's Sports Bar on Bank Holiday Monday, with cash paid out all the way down to the last 16.
They paid £10 to enter on the day and just £8 if they registered in advance, with the rewards on offer enough of an incentive to attract some top-class players.
Pallett experienced his toughest test at the first money stage before seeing off Graham Hall 3-2, defeating Craig Allen 3-1 in the quarter-finals.
He was paired with PDC veteran Wayne Jones, from Wolverhampton, in the last four and dropped just a leg, winning 4-1 to set up the deciding clash with Smith.
His exploits will be handy funds for last month, as he's taking a break from his part-time job as a finance assistant at Telford & Wrekin Council for his PDC dates in Europe.
He'll be stopping in Germany for a few days after the tournament in Muelheim ends on September 13, before heading to Austria for the next competition in Innsbruck the following weekend.
He said: "I'm considering it a darting holiday! I'm travelling with Stephen Bunting and our manager, John Archer, has got us a couple of exhibitions over there."
