Jamie Lewis puts Cardigan on the PDC Darting Map

It's been a great weekend for Cardigan's top darter Jamie Lewis.

Yesterday, the 20 year old gained a 2-year PDC Tour Card after coming through stiff competition from a 200+ strong field in the PDC's 4-Day Qualifying School in Barnsley.

Source: Red Dragon Darts

I've known Jamie and his family here in Cardigan for a number of years and as a keen follower of darts since I was a child, have taken a particular interest in Jamie's development as a former World Youth Darts Champion through to his progression onto the senior BDO and now PDC, darts circuit.

Jamie is a smashing lad. Indeed when he was 18, he became the first Welshman and youngest ever darter to be voted the British BDO Personality-of-the-Year. As the previous winner Martin 'Wolfie' Adams said of Jamie on him winning the prestigious award at the time: "He is a great lad, a credit to the sport of darts and I congratulate him on the award which is well-deserved".

Having taken strides forward in the BDO, he entered the PDC's Q School. I've been keeping a keen eye on the developments throughout the weekend on the PDC website and after 3 days of consistent, solid performances, Jamie gained one of the final 4 automatic Tour Cards yesterday afternoon out of a crowd of 204. This is a stunning achievement in itself and shows that the faith that many in the know in the darting world have in Jamie is well placed. Indeed, in avoiding having to earn his Tour Card via the 4-day cumulative Qualifying Order of Merit, Jamie out-gunned well known darters such as Andy Jenkins, Peter Manley, Chris Mason, Colin Monk and former BDO World Champions Les Wallace and Andy Fordham.

Indeed, Jamie beat the former World Championship semi-finalist Andy Jenkins 6-3 in legs yesterday in the final round to win his Tour Card outright.

The PDC Tour
This important milestone in Jamie's career means that he will now be one of only 128 PDC Tour Card holders for the following 2 years. This means that he will be guaranteed a place in all of the PDC's ranking tournaments which have a total £5m prize fund throughout the season. Jamie will now brush shoulders with the likes of Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Simon Whitlock, James Wade and Raymond Van Barneveld who he shall now strive to compete against in the TV majors later in the coming season.

I'm excited for Jamie for the years ahead. He has so much potential and he now has the opportunity to demonstrate that at the very highest level in World darts.

Good luck Jamie. You've put Cardigan on the PDCs darting map and we're very proud of all of your achievements. Now go and win some more!