Jack Tweddell delivered a statement performance in Milton Keynes on Sunday, clinching his second Winmau Challenge Tour title with a commanding 5-1 victory over Steve Lennon at Arena MK.
The final day of the opening Challenge Tour weekend saw a packed field of 330 players in action, and Tweddell rose above the rest to pocket the £2,500 winner’s prize. Having claimed his maiden Challenge Tour crown last May, the 30-year-old doubled his title haul in style, overpowering Ireland’s former World Cup runner-up with relentless scoring and clinical finishing.
Lennon struck first with a 15-dart opener, but Tweddell swiftly seized control, rattling off five straight legs. He closed the contest in spectacular fashion, sealing victory with back-to-back 130 and 121 checkouts that underlined his dominance.
The Swindon thrower began his run with routine wins over Ronan McDonagh and Belgium’s Brian Raman, before edging out Poland’s former Players Championship winner Radek Szaganski in a deciding leg. A convincing 5-1 win over Willie Borland followed, before Tweddell ended Joe Hunt’s pursuit of a third title of the weekend, averaging 99.4 and overturning a 4-3 deficit in another last-leg thriller.
Tweddell maintained his momentum with a 5-3 quarter-final win against veteran Steve Hine, then showed steel under pressure in the semi-finals, surviving two match darts to deny Jimmy Bristow.
Lennon, meanwhile, enjoyed an equally impressive run to the final, conceding just 11 legs across his opening eight matches and dispatching Graham Hall and rising talent Henry Coates along the way.
The Winmau Challenge Tour resumes in March at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena, with Events 6-10 scheduled from March 27-29, as the race for Tour Cards and World Championship qualification intensifies.
Source: PDC.TV
