Martijn Kleermaker thought it was a special sensation to celebrate the stunt on the PDC Home Tour in his brother’s house on Saturday. The Gelderlander became, partly thanks to a victory over Michael Smith, the winner of group 9 in the new digital darts tournament.
“It was a crazy experience. Normally you are going to celebrate such a victory over Smith with the audience, but now I first had to shout to the presenter that it was” game shot “, give a little interview and then I was just on my own in the room. I just sent my girlfriend a note that I had won from Smith “, Kleermaker tells NU.nl.
Tailor impressed Smith by coming back from a 0-3 deficit (5-3). He then seemed to lose his chances after a loss to Matt Clark (3-5), but eventually a big win over Harry Ward (5-2) was enough for the group win, because the last match between Smith and Clark was just the right one had a result for him (5-3).
“I received a lot of messages after the game against Smith and my phone overflowed after the game night. Smith probably thought at 3-0 that he would wash this pig. If you still beat him, it is it is only logical that this creates so much with the outside world, “said Kleermaker, who considers it a real victory.
“But in a different way. This is a confirmation for myself. I had never played against someone who was in the top ten of the world rankings and that was on my list. Then I can compare myself and get better. I have not surprised myself. I know I can beat a lot of people if I am in good shape. “
‘Visit to supermarket the highlight of the day’
Thanks to the group win, tailor qualified for the second phase of the Home Tour. Its format is still unknown. In the coming period, the eighty Tour card holders at darts association PDC will first complete pools and possibly also players who have already taken action before, so that the next round can start with 32 men.
“It is also unclear to us how, but there will certainly be a second phase,” says Kleermaker. “The Home Tour is a good initiative. It keeps everyone busy again. After a month and a half I did not lose the feeling of competition a bit, so then it is nice to participate again. We have something to look forward to to watch”,
“I miss the real tournaments a lot, but I also know that there is little that can be changed. There is simply no vaccine. It is only against my nature to be at home 24/7. With the children you can also nowhere to go. The visit to the supermarket is my highlight of the day. It will of course get boring. “
Tailor was the third Dutchman to secure the second phase. Geert Nentjes and Jelle Klaasen previously succeeded in this by becoming first in their group. Niels Zonneveld and Jan Dekker finished fourth and last in their group. Later it is also the turn of Jeffrey de Zwaan and Jermaine Wattimena, among others.
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