Darts: John Henderson survives late drama against Leonard Gates to win 2024 World Seniors Matchplay

Henderson beat Leonard Gates, the defending champion, 9-6 in the final. The only title missing from the American is the one held by Henderson at the World Senior Championships.

However, Soulger was unable to retain the Matchplay title for another year, despite having an impressive run to the final, seeing off Lisa Ashton and Robert Thornton after defeating James Richardson on day one.

Henderson, on the other hand, prevailed over Taylor replacement Tony O’Shea. But just like at Circus Tavern, he was the best player of the tournament, defeating David Cameron and Richie Howson in the last two rounds and achieving an average of 90.

It was an excellent start for Henderson. Gates couldn’t check 119 and Henderson hit his preferred double 20 to make it 1-0. But the confidence this gave the Scot saw him soar. He threw two 13-darter challenges, twice using the favored double 20, to take a 4-0 lead and put Gates in front of a big one.

With the score at 4-1, Gates finally got going. But he missed three chances at double 20 and Henderson broke with a checkout of 74 to make it 5-1. He continued to have it in his own hands as he hit double 20 and hit double 10 for a 128 checkout to take a 7-2 lead. Gates continued to fight his way forward. Henderson had a chance to win the title with 69 remaining, but missed the opportunity to seal it and gave Gates a break chance, which he took advantage of with the last dart.

Again chances came and went but Henderson got another opportunity after missing the bull. He tried a 25 checkout for the title, but again he couldn’t get the finishing hit on the outer ring. He got another chance at double 3 and again match darts were missed when Gates made it 8-6.

Realistically, Henderson had one last chance before Gates would actually pop the question. But he finally took the title after so much drama.

World Seniors Matchplay 2024 results

final

John Henderson (85.43) 9 | 6 (87.44) Leonard Gates

Semifinals

John Henderson (87.50) 9 | 6 (88.27) Richie Howson

Leonard Gates (85.60) 9 | 4 (81.70) Robert Thornton

Quarterfinals

Richie Howson (90.75) 8| 4 (88.09) Neil Duff

John Henderson (93.53) 8| 6 (87.28) David Cameron

Robert Thornton (79.33) 8| 4 (72.79) Martin Adams

Leonard Gates (83.98) 8 | 1 (80.00) Lisa Ashton

Last 16

Richie Howson (87.63) 8| 4 (81.69) Trina Gulliver

Neil Duff (96.10) 8| 4 (88.22) Chris Mason

John Henderson (80.47) 8| 5 (77.28) Tony O’Shea

David Cameron (83.68) 8| 3 (76.02) Kevin Painter

Robert Thornton (81.35) 10 | 8 (77,71) John Part

Martin Adams (80.02) 8| 6 (75.96) Matt Clark

Leonard Gates (89.80) 8 | 5 (83.71) James Richardson

Lisa Ashton (87.31) 8 | 3 (91.04) Paul Hogan

By Nic Gayer