Leonard Gates seals World Seniors Masters glory
Leonard Gates made it back-to-back televised titles as he secured the World Seniors Masters crown in Yeovil on Sunday with a 6-2 victory over Richie Howson in the final.
Gates had defeated Howson in the final of the Champion of Champions in March, and the American ace repeated the feat to land a second Seniors major of the year.
The 52-year-old kicked off his campaign at Westlands in Yeovil with a 4-2 victory over Mark Dudbridge on Saturday before registering the highest winning average of the tournament (93.2) in edging out Chris Mason 4-3 in Sunday afternoon’s Quarter-Finals.
He then defied a 95.8 average from Robert Thornton to defeat the two-time World Seniors champion 5-2 in the Semi-Finals.
Gates made a commanding start to the final, racing to the opening four legs without reply to establish a two-set advantage.
Howson halved the deficit, but only for Gates to edge a crucial fourth set to make it 3-1, and the pair traded sets again with the American landing a 13-darter en route to a 4-2 lead.
Howson looked to have set seven in his grasp, but squandered a staggering 11 darts to seal it, gifting Gates an unexpected chance to stretch his lead to 5-2.
The doubles continued to evade ‘The Owl’ in the following set as he missed multiple chances in the deciding leg, and Gates eventually converted double four to clinch victory.
Howson had defeated Bob Anderson, Neil Duff and Dennis Harbour en route to his third televised Seniors final of the year, but was once again forced to settle for second prize.
Harbour enjoyed his best run in a Seniors event to date, defeating three-time World Champion Martin Adams and 16-time World Champion Phil Taylor 4-2 before bowing out to Howson in a hard-fought tussle.
World Seniors Masters 2023 Day Two Results
Sunday June 25
Afternoon Session
Quarter-Finals
Neil Duff 3-4 Richie Howson
Phil Taylor 2-4 Dennis Harbour
Robert Thornton 4-3 John Part
Leonard Gates 4-3 Chris Mason
Evening Session
Semi-Finals
Richie Howson 5-2 Dennis Harbour
Robert Thornton 2-5 Leonard Gates
Final
Leonard Gates 6-2 Richie Howson
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