Plasterer Clayton to take crack at big time
JONNY AIMS TO ADD PDC TITLE TO HONOURS
PLASTERER Jonny Clayton will be dreaming of sweet home alabaster as he tries to burnish a “golden age for Welsh darts” tonight.
Clayton and Gerwyn Price have already tasted glory at the World Cup in Austria, where Wales beat England’s Rob Cross and Michael Smith 3-0 in the final last month.
Two years ago, the ‘Ferret’ was preparing to pack in his day job in Carmarthenshire County Council’s property maintenance department and go full-time on the Professional Dar ts Corporation circuit.
But much as he was tempted, Clayton found he simply couldn’t throw in the trowel.
The world No.17 faces ‘ Highlander’ John Henderson in the second round at the William Hill
PDC World Championship admitting he still regards darts as a profitable pastime.
But with Price and Clayton leading the charge, the Welsh challenge is unlikely to dry up faster than the Ferret’s quickdrying plaster of Paris.
One of them could follow Leighton Rees ( 1978), Richie Burnett (1995), Mark Webster (2008) and Wayne Warren (2020) as winner of a darts world title – although none has ever won the PDC version.
Clayton, 46, said: “I’m still a full-time plasterer for the council and I regard darts as a lucrative hobby.
“My employers are very understanding and I take unpaid leave for tournaments, but I enjoy my job and I like the balance between darts and plastering.
“I was the proudest man on the planet when we won the World Cup, but we didn’t have time to celebrate because we had to make a run for it to the airport to catch a flight home at 1am.
“It’s a golden age for Welsh darts: Gezzy and I won the World Cup, Wayne Warren won the BDO world title at the start of the year, and it would be awesome if I have a good run at Ally Pally.”
Explaining his nickname, Clayton laughed: “I was a scrumhalf in my rugby days, so I was the link between the forwards and backs. It was something that came from playing that position – and probably had something to do with me being a chopsy little git as well.
“I can be a bit gobby, but not when I’m playing with Gezzy – he’s bigger than me.”
As for the lucrative hobby, Clayton would have to plaster over a lot of cracks to match the £253,000 prize money he has earned from PDC ranking events over the last two years.
But he won’t be downing tools any time soon. Nice one, Cymru.