Jamie Hughes loses Grand Slam opener
Tipton's Jamie Hughes was left kicking himself after fluffing a 3-0 lead to lose 5-3 to James Wade at his Grand Slam of Darts debut this afternoon.
Hughes was the only Black Country player involved as the eight-day tournament began at Wolverhampton Civic Hall today,
The only PDC tournament to formally invite players from the BDO again takes place for a ninth year with the 10th edition at the Civic, until November 20.
One player from the BDO will feature in all of the eight four-man groups, with Hughes making the cut as he's ranked fourth with the organisation.
'Yozza' began his Group G campaign with against Wade and looked to have the tie in the bag after seizing the initiative early on.
He took a 1-0 lead on double 20 for 67 with the third dart by going for 17 and 10, rather than the bullseye, to set up the finish.
Tops again settled it for 2-0, before a productive visit of 134 set up double 16 for what looked like a significant advantage.
Back same a dreadfully out-of-sorts Wade to start eating away at the deficit on tops, the same finish which pulled him to within a leg of parity.
Hughes responded with the game's only 180 and he followed up with a ton to subsequently leave himself placed on tops.
Two darts missed the target with the third landing on a single, Wade stepping in on double 16 to level and, from there, 'the Machine' never looked back.
Hughes' opportunity to level went begging as he missed doubles at 10 and 5, Wade capitalising on double 10. The same bed settled matters in the eighth and final leg of a best-to-nine tussle.
The Black Country thrower came off second best in the averages, too, with 86.55 to Wade's vast improvement of 91.31.
Hughes must dust himself down to take on Dave Chisnall, who lost 5-2 to James Wilson in the other Group G clash. Wade and Wilson also meet, ahead of Tuesday night's final group game.
Tickets for the Grand Slam are still on sale, by calling the Civic Box Office on 0870 320 7000 or online via www.theticketfactory.com/pdc.
