Jonny Clayton hopes a £10,000 Premier League payout will make up for forgetting a landmark wedding anniversary.
But the Premier League Darts table topper says he was fired up to topple Luke Littler – in his role as an oche “grandfather” – after being written off the previous week as a flop.
Rod Studd had said during comms of the Brighton final last week that the bookies expected Clayton to finish near the bottom along with Stephen Bunting.
However, Wales’ veteran thrower, 51, beat Littler 6-4 in the Rotterdam final on Thursday night for his fourth weekly win of a competition where many thought he did not deserve his wildcard spot this year.
He had been so focused on his preparation that he forgot to acknowledge the fact that exactly two decades ago he got hitched to wife Ellen, who was back home in Carmarthenshire.
Clayton admitted: “I had to do something special because it is our 20th wedding anniversary. And I did forget. Maybe this makes it alright!”
The Ferret – the 2021 Prem champion – has won three of his past four Prem games against the Nuke, who is 32 years his junior.
In the days after his 6-5 final win over Michael van Gerwen in Brighton on April 9, the former plasterer watched back the highlights of that victory.
In the TV commentary, World No5 Clayton learned that he had been favourite with the bookies to finish rock bottom of the eight-man league.
Clayton said: “I don’t watch many games back but I did watch last week’s game against Michael.
“And it hurt a little bit when somebody said I was favourite to finish bottom.
“That really hurt. That really annoyed me a bit to be honest. I have been here three times before and got to the finals night, so hopefully I can prove people wrong.
“It’s going well for me now and I have a massive smile on my face. Me and Luke, it’s the grandfather and the young kid. All jokes aside, I have got total respect for Luke.
“He’s absolutely amazing. This guy has got years ahead of him. Sadly at my age, my darts are going down a bit.
“Luke’s an amazing darts player, he has shown us all what we need to beat him. And this old dog has got life in him yet.”
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