Raymond Smith Dominates Opening Australian Darts Association Weekend
- Lorenzo Di-Mauro Hayes
- Jul 1
- 2 min read
Raymond 'The Guru' Smith has won 23 consecutive matches and taken all four events on the opening weekend of the new Australian Darts Association Tour. Smith burst onto the scene at the 2022 PDC World Championship when he made a run to the fourth round.
A new era for Australian darts began on the weekend of 27th-29th June. The recently formed Australian Darts Association will host 12 tour events in 2024 over three weekends. A spot at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship and two sports for the 2025 ANZ Premier League are on the line. More than 70 players were in action across the weekend.
The first weekend of events occurred at Pine Rivers Darts and Sporting Club in Sandgate, Queensland with the action on the main board being streamed live on DartStream Live across the three days. The first event occurred on the Friday night. The signs of a strong weekend began immediately as Smith won his opening match against Jordan Lacey 6-0 averaging 100.20. After whitewashing Mal Cumming in the semi-final he proved too strong for Tim Pusey 6-2 in the final averaging 95.95.
The second and third event followed on the Saturday. The final of event 2 was a rematch between Smith and Pusey. This match was a bit tighter but Smith still won 6-3 averaging 89.45. But in third event, Ben Robb, the best Kiwi player at Sandgate over the weekend made a great run to the final. He forced Smith to a sudden death decider but Smith came out on top to keep the perfect record.
The fourth and final event was on Sunday. Smith was awarded a bye into the last 32. After not dropping a leg in his first two matches he needed a deciding leg to defeat Robbie King in the quarter-finals. A 6-1 win over Cuming was followed by a third final of the weekend between Smith and Pusey. Smith won 6-2 averaging 95.08. Smith sits firmly atop the ADA rankings having won $6400. Pusey sits second at $2260, followed by Robb at $1040, Cuming at $860 and at fifth James Bailey at $760.
In spite of this strong performance in this PDC affiliate tour, Smith has made it clear he intends to play at the WDF World Championship held at Lakeside over the PDC version. "It's been my focus to go back to Lakeside" Smith told Phil Barrs and Dan Simpson of Online Darts. "I'm two years into a four-year plan. I can't just throw that away now." When asked directly by Barrs if he qualified for both which one would he choose, Smith did not hesitate. "Lakeside. I've already committed to it".
The PDC does not allow players to play at both World Championships, enforcing a 1997 Tomlin Order between themselves and the now defunct British Darts Organisation. ADA Tour Events 5-8 will be held at the Northern Districts Darts Association in Northern Adelaide between 1st-3rd August.
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