Changes pay off for in-form Mick Todd

Darts player Mick Todd enjoyed a successful weekend with the arrows to book his qualification for this year’s UK Open.

The 44-year-old, of Newark, was in supreme form over three days.

The highlight was a semi-final spot against world number three Peter Wright, where he was beaten 6-2. The last-four spot was his best ever run on the PDC ProTour.

It included victories over Callum Loose, Mark Dudbridge, Darren Johnson, Joe Davis, Stuart Kellett and Alan Norris.

The performance was good enough to earn him a place at his fifth UK Open.

Earlier, he had earned a last-32 spot in another round of qualifying with victories over Kevin Painter, Michael Barnard and Mark Webster before losing to Benito van de Pas.

He also put up a strong battle in a second round clash with world number one Michael Van Gerwen, eventually losing 6-3 after he had been level at 3-3.

Todd’s performances at Wigan’s Robin Park Tennis Centre puts him 15th in the UK Open order of merit, ahead of Van Gerwen who endured a difficult weekend.

He has made a few technical alterations and said he felt he was playing better than he had in a long time.

“It has been coming. I have gone back to my old set-up, which has given me some more confident and I have won a few local competitions,” Todd said.

“I have gone back to basics a bit and something has just clicked. That’s the beauty of the game — every day is different.

“I have changed back to the darts that got me here in the first place. I changed but I wasn’t happy with how they were going in on the board. Now it just feels more comfortable.

“I am still getting better with these darts so people should watch out.”

Todd was particularly pleased with his performance at the weekend.

“To do what I’ve done all weekend, not just on Sunday, was good. I took out some very good players.

“The standard is so insane that you can play as well as I did at the weekend and you can still bomb out in the first round.”

Todd said facing number one Van Gerwen for a second time wasn’t a daunting experience.

“I have played him before in Dublin and he beat me 6-3. When you get to competitions such as these you can play them most of the time so you think of him as just another darts player,” he said.

“You don’t get intimidated and you just get on with it. For the first few legs I was right with him.

“There are 200 good players who can average over 100 so if you don’t perform it doesn’t matter if you play Michael Van Gerwen or Joe Bloggs, you won’t win.”

In qualifying for the UK Open, Todd has achieved the first of four goals he set for the season.

He also wants to reach the Players, European and World Championship finals.