JEFF QUIETLY CONFIDENT
JEFF SMITH is hoping to live up to his nickname today and ‘silence’ Martin Adams again at the BDO World Championship.
Canadian Smith meets ‘Wolfie’ in the second round this afternoon, just 12 months after knocking him out 3-0 in the first round before going all the way to the final, where he was beaten 7-1 by Scott Waites.
Smith, known as ‘The Silencer’, was given his nickname after returning to the oche five years ago.
“I won the nationals and a friend of mine said, ‘No one saw you coming, it is like you are ‘The Silencer’,” he said.
The £35,000 he won for making the final, along with the £15,000 for reaching the semis the year before, ensured Smith could buy the car body shop business where he worked.
He added: “My uncle owned it, I worked for him for 15 years. He was on the verge of retiring and he said, ‘This is the perfect opportunity for me’. It has given me my freedom to be able to play. “I would never have expected in a million years that darts would bring me the money to buy the business. “Darts has changed my life and you have to remember that the Canadian dollar against the pound is pretty well double. “If it is £50,000, it is 100,000 Canadian dollars and it has definitely opened doors for me.” Smith faces arguably the most popular man in the tournament in three-time world champion Adams. Smith added: “Any time you play Wolfie at Lakeside, the only table which is supporting you is your own. “The whole building is going to be in favour of him and rightly so, he deserves it. But he will have his hands full and so will I.”