SOUT FOR THE STARS
Al chasing debut Ally Pally glory like pal
ALAN SOUTAR is ready to shock the whole of darts with his first taste of the big time – and begin a year of glory for another Scots arras ace.
The 43-year-old firefighter has savoured his first experience of the World Championship but isn’t settling for wins over Diogo Portela and Mensur Suljovic. He heads back to London after his festive fire station shifts for tomorrow’s third-round showdown with Jose de Sousa. And having seen practice pal Rob Cross prove in 2018 that you can win the PDC big one on your debut at Ally Pally, the Arbroath hero is charged up to do the same. He said: “Rob walked in for the first time then walked out with the trophy, so let’s see. Let’s just say 2022 is the year of the Soutar. Let’s go for it. “I know everything is in front of me. Carpe diem, isn’t it? “For the last eight months I have been friends with Rob on the ProTour. “I had never met the guy before, apart from exhibitions. “But we have struck up a friendship straight away. His manager is Scottish as well, so it is sort of linked with me and him. “Rob is just a great guy and I had about 12 hours practice in four or five days with him when I was down in London before Christmas.
“I knew I was ready to go out on stage after that. It didn’t all come out on the stage but his level of darts is the next level above me.
“If I can battle with him, push him and make him do what he does best, it is great practice.
“I’m a good player but I just want to produce good stuff in front of the TV cameras and crowds.
“I can do it on the floor but it’s a different animal on the stage. I’m 43 and still learning how to deal with it because nothing compares to it. It’s experience all the way but let’s go and win it. Why not?”
Soutar has every right to believe, having made huge strides on the PDC circuit over the past year.
He added: “In my head this year I wanted to just win games on the ProTour.
“Then all of a sudden I’m in the top 64 in the world, I’m pushing. The guys that came from Q-School with me were a couple of big stars like Raymond van Barneveld.
“But I hit the ground running. I don’t know how to explain it – that’s me into the top 56 in the world.”
Winning or even reaching the latter stages could be considered potentially life-changing.
Soutar admits things are already a bit different given the reaction to his successes at Ally Pally.
He said: “Just getting my tour card changed my life. It changed my home life, my work-life balance.
“The Mensur match was a cracking game and it was nice to see what everyone was saying.”