''An amazing experience'' - 102 average Stowe Buntz thrashes Peter Wright on debut at Grand Slam of Darts in colourful affair

Stowe Buntz had a very impressive big stage debut at the Grand Slam of Darts. The 44-year-old American defeated Peter Wright 5-1 in his opening match.

Buntz averaged over 102 in victory. "Very fun. An amazing experience," was how Buntz summed it up in his post-match press conference. "I could not be any happier than I am. Just to hang out with Peter, walk down the aisle with him, shoot in the practice room with him, those are all experiences I'll never get back."

"I'm expected to do nothing here," he continues. "There's no expectations, I'm definitely the outsider but I knew if I could give it a whirl and throw some good numbers I could be competitive."

"Of course my confidence is high. I know I have levels even two or three more above that," Buntz says. "I've played on and off for 20 years, took a couple years off and I'm hoping that everybody will see the amount of effort that I've put in and anybody in North America could put the same amount of effort in and and succeed."

Peter Wright has always been an inspiration to Buntz. "If you see pictures of me from 15 years ago you'll see bright colours. So to see someone actually do it in the PDC was pretty cool. But my first inspiration was Ronnie Baxter he was the guy I really enjoyed watching."