FLAME THROWER
Firefighter John geared up to douse Barney’s big hopes
ARBROATH fireman Alan Soutar hopes to extinguish Raymond van Barneveld’s joy on his big TV return.
The Angus arrowsmith wants to show hose the boss having come straight off a nightshift to make his own screen debut in today’s UK Open cracker.
Soutar has blasted on to the PDC scene having won a Tour Card at Q School while maintaining his work with the Scottish Fire Service in Tayside.
While Barney has been preparing for a clash with a week’s rest and practice in his hotel near the venue, 43-year-old Soutar did an overnighter with his crew into yesterday morning before flying south to get ready for the showdown.
Soutar said: “I took a picture of myself on Tuesday on the back of a fire engine, sent it to the boys in the management company and said, ‘I wonder what Barney is doing today and how his prep is going?’
“Just a five-times world champion for my first game on
TV. I think the PDC tournament director doesn’t like me!
“It’s funny. I had him up in Arbroath for an exhibition once. I organised it and I didn’t play him, so I hadn’t really played him until Bolton.
“In some ways I took to running darts more than playing it and that was a downside. But because of Covid I don’t organise anything at the moment, so I just practised in the house and that’s got me in the right frame of mind.”
Soutar has made a magnificent start to his career after years of excellent performances in the BDO and for Scotland.
Having grabbed one of the 29 cards available to the 650 hopefuls last month, the Scot swept into the big time with a dazzling debut to sink Adrian Lewis in his first competitive PDC game.
Soutar also scalped
Peter Wright during the four days in Bolton last weekend with Dave Chisnall, William O’Connor and Darren Webster also among his opening victims. Barney did beat him, but he said: “It’s been a baptism of fire and to take out some of these names has caused quite a stooshie. I wasn’t sure what to expect. When the first draw came out and I got Lewis who was not a seed on my board, I was like, ‘Come on. How is he not a seed?’ “I won and the next match I was playing Chizzy on a live PDC stream in only my second game. “Then I was drawn against Peter and thought two days in a row I’ve a world champion in the first round but my A game is up at 100 average and when I beat him with a 105 average, I know I can do it. “But it was good to do it in that environment to put down a marker, if you like. As much
FI s for myself. I said at the start I just wanted to win a game because you can get hit with a 100 average every match. Now the monkey is off the back.”
Soutar’s brilliant PDC start now causes a dilemma. Having spent almost two decades as a fireman, it’s a tough choice to gamble that position for a fulltime career on the circuit with no guarantees of success.
Difficult decisions may need to be made soon as he said: “I had a meeting at work on Tuesday and it’s all a bit up in the air. The Fire Service have been supportive and will do what they can but I probably can’t juggle both.
“I’ll see how the next few weeks go. If they go as well as the first week, then we can sit again and reassess. But I’m 43 years old. If I was a young kid and didn’t have a job, it’d be a no brainer. But I’m a long way into a fire brigade career, so it’s different. I’ve been there 16, nearly 17 years.
“I work in Dundee. It’s busy as a big city, so I just have to suck it and see because I genuinely went to Q School without a plan.”