STUART Kellett’s consistency was rewarded on Sunday when he secured a place at the Coral UK Open Finals next month.
The Northwich thrower will enter at the second-round stage in Minehead after finishing inside the top 50 on the Order of Merit after six qualifiers.
He will discover his opponent in a draw on Monday.
Despite missing out on a Professional Darts Corporation tour card last month, the 36-year-old has proven he can still compete with those that have one after banking £2,000 during the preliminaries.
He registered wins over Jonathan Worsley (6-3), Shayne Burgess (6-5) and Jarred Cole (6-2) at Robin Park Tennis Centre before running into Premier League star Daryl Gurney in the last 32.
The Irishman, who won the World Grand Prix last year and is ranked fifth in the world, went on to reach the final after whitewashing his MDA Promotions stablemate.
Well that’s the end of the uk open qualifiers. Some great Darts n plenty of rubbish. Iv qualified though so proud of myself. Especially beating 1 of my hero’s Shayne burgess today. Was lucky though. On to minehead 👊🏻🎯
— Stuart Kellett (@StuKellett) February 11, 2018
Kellett had seen off Rene Eidams (6-3), Matthew Dicken (6-2) and Michael Hurtz (6-0) on Saturday before Mervyn King preserved a 100 per cent record in battles between the two when they met at the last-64 stage in Wigan for a second successive weekend.
On Friday, he succumbed in a deciding leg against Ron Meulenkamp in his opening match.
Kellett, a regular for Rudheath in the Cheshire Men’s Super League, will extend a run of appearances at the UK Open finals to a seventh year when he travels to Butlins Resort.
His best run was to the last 16, after eliminating former World Youth champion Michael Smith, in 2016.
With the top 96 players in the Order of Merit progressing to compete, along with 32 others that have come through a Riley’s qualifier for amateurs, a play-off was needed to split rivals tied for the final places.
Adam Hunt and George Killington were the two that prevailed with Jeff Smith, Jim Walker, Kevin Garcia, Richie Corner and Rees Hall missing out.
The Coral UK Open Finals, televised live by ITV Sport, are scheduled to start on Friday, March 2.
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