Dart Amateur From Belper Steps Up To The Oche With Cool Hand Luke
Following a nationwide tournament in which amateur darts players from across the nation attempted to complete a timed ‘around the clock’ challenge, 11 finalists competed in the Grand Final on Friday 28th March, with Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson from Belper finishing in second place out of thousands of entrants. Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott from Darlington took home the title, cup, and £5,000 cash prize.
Marston’s teamed up with Darts World No. 1 ‘Cool Hand Luke’ Humphries on the Cool Hand Cup which saw locals from 700 pubs across the UK step up to oche to secure their place on the leaderboard, and at the Grand Final.
Hosted at Marston’s pub The White Hart in Ashby, 11 finalists from the North East, North West, West Midlands, East, South and from Wales competed in a series of quarter final and play-off matches to determine who took home the cup and had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to play 2024 World Matchplay Champion and the reigning Players Championship Final Champion, Luke Humphries.
Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson from Belper was one of the four players with the fastest times after completing the challenge in their local pubs, so automatically proceeded to the quarter-finals. In the final, Matt narrowly missed the chance to play against Luke with a time of 1:42:11, compared to the winning score of 1:40:55 from Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott.
Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson, first runner-up in the Cool Hand Cup, said “Today has been incredible, having the chance to meet Luke and all the other players from across the country.
I’m very happy to have come second in the final but just having the opportunity to play in the Cool Hand Cup has been the highlight of a fantastic day. I hope the Cool Hand Cup continues for years to come and encourages even more people to pick up a dart in pubs around the country.”
Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott was crowned the overall winner, taking home £5,000 in cash, £180 Marston’s Love My Local gift card, a set of Luke Humphries Red Dragon darts and of course, the Cool Hand Cup trophy. He also had the opportunity to play Luke Humphries in the best of five legs in traditional 501 darts in the final game of the night.
None of the finalists went home empty-handed, as 2nd place Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson, from Belper, received a £150 Marston’s gift card, 3rd place, James ‘Jambo’ Walton from Hull, received a £100 Marston’s gift card, and all finalists received a set of Luke Humphries Red Dragon darts.
Neil Campbell, Chief Operating Officer at Marston’s, said: “We’ve loved watching punters up and down the country get involved in the Cool Hand Cup and it was a pleasure to host the 11 finalists in Ashby for the Grand Final. The atmosphere was fantastic, with a very exciting final match to finish off proceedings. On behalf of Marston’s, I’d like to offer huge congratulations to all our finalists and of course to Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott.”
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