Glen Durrant came within a leg of winning a hat-trick of titles in his first major BDO tournament since his Lakeside heroics as he starred at the 2,000-plus entry Scottish Open.
Middlesbrough’s Lakeside World Championship semi-finalist joined forces with Martin Atkins to win the pairs at the Renfrew tournament, and won the triples with Hartlepool’s Paul Jennings and two-time Women’s World Championship finalist Deta Hedman.
The 44-year-old from Ormesby was almost as successful in the singles after blazing all the way through to the final after winning his group.
The BDO No 3’s route included a magnificent 5-0 shutout of Holland’s Wesley Harms in the quarter-finals, and a semi-final defeat of Welsh youngster Dean Reynolds.
Durrant was 4-2 up in the final against Peterborough’s Dennis Harbour but ran out of steam and lost the best of 11 decider 6-5.
On reflection, Durrant felt he was a victim of his own success as he narrowly failed to do the treble.
But he said he played some of his best-ever darts over the course of a marathon day on the oche.
The Teesside thrower said: “It was probably the best sustained darts I’ve every played.
“If anything, doing so well in the pairs cost me because I ended up throwing darts from 9.30am to 8pm.
“It would have been fantastic to win it, but he was very methodical and slow in the final and it go to me in the end.
“That’s where you’ve got to be strong in the head, and I missed three darts at 32 when I was 4-2 up.
“But it’s so far, so good for me this year. I beat James Hurrell 4-3 in the last 16 and that was probably the best game I’ve been involved in since I’ve been on the circuit.
“No leg went over 12 darts.”
Durrant is in Belfast this weekend, trying to help England retain the Six Nations title.
His England teammates are newly-crowned Lakeside champion Scott Mitchell, Paul Hogan, Mark McGeeney and Martin Atkins, and he will be supported by plenty of family in Northern Ireland.
England play the Republic of Ireland and Wales tomorrow, with two of the three progressing to the semi-finals.
Durrant is then back in televised darting action next week when he plays in the Eurosport-screened World Trophy at EventCity in Manchester.
The England international starts his World Trophy campaign next Friday in a repeat of his Lakeside first round clash against Karel Sedlacek of the Czech Republic, who he beat 3-1 in Frimley Green.
He has also been selected to represent England men at the British Internationals which take place in April in Wales.
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