THE Limestone Coast will welcome a world champion when Peter Machin competes in this year’s St Pats Invitational darts tournament.
Machin is a world darts champion, two-time Pacific masters champion and current Australian representative.
He is sure to provide a bigger draw card for this year’s tournament.
Held at the Western Tavern, the tournament has continued to grow, now with more than $9000 in prize money.
The tournament originally began at a shed in Eight Mile Creek, with $1500 up for grabs, moved to the Western Tavern last year with $3500 on offer and now has grown even further.
It is set to run over the St Patrick’s Day weekend, March 15, 16 and 17.
Event organiser Danny Scally said he was pleased to have Machin in attendance, after the world champion could not attend last year.
“Peter is an actual British Darts Organisation world champion from 2017,” Scally said.
“He plays a lot of Darts Australia and Darts Players Australia tournaments so it is a bit of a coup to get him here.
“We are just an individual tournament, but I think he heard a lot about the tournament last year, the entertaining side of it where we put on the music, the boards are on the TV, all the bells and whistles and he said he would not miss it this year.”
Apart from Machin, there will be many state players competing, along with last year’s winner Mark Smyth.
The numbers have grown as much as the prize money, up from 28 players last year for the singles competition, to 48 this year.
It has grown from two days to three, to include drawn doubles Friday night, the main singles event on Saturday, with men’s and now women’s doubles on the Sunday.
“This year we have had to split the competition in half, between the front bar and bistro,” Scally said.
“We have 10 boards in action.
“The singles is the main attraction, the one for people to come down and watch.
“When we get to the quarter finals, people like Peter and all the state players will be the last eight players.
“They will get the walk-on song and all the hoo-ha.”
That particular part of the event is something that sets the tournament apart from other competitions.
“The atmosphere is amazing,” he said.
“We put the music on in between the games, the walk on music, you have blokes hamming it up when they get up the front, but then get serious in the game – they realise there is a bit of coin at the end of it.
“There will be a camera on the main finals board hooked up to two screens in the bar.
“It is all about the atmosphere and standing there to see how many triples these blokes can hit.
“It has become the big social tournament that is also on the scale of the more serious big tournaments in Australia right now.”
Scally said spectators could expect to see averages “through the roof”, Limestone Coast players up against state players – and of course a world champion in action.
He said it would include all the fanfare that is British darts and most of all a fun weekend of competition.
Ultimately he said he hoped to continue to grow the competition, but still remain true to its roots.
“We are one of the richest tournaments in South Australia at the moment,” Scally said.
“Ultimately we want to become a well-known tournament, but at the same time keep the laid back country atmosphere.”
