Nathan Aspinall easily qualified for the quarterfinals of the New Zealand Darts Masters. 'The Asp' defeated Kayden Milne 6-2 in the opening round.
But the rust was there after winning the World Matchplay with Aspinall admitting that he has hardly thrown a dart since and that showed at times.
"I'm not going to lie, I've not thrown a dart since the winning double in the final. We had a meet and greet and exhibition last night and wow. The three lads I played with went aren't you supposed to be professional I was that bad.
"I scored quite well to be fair, finishing obviously wasn't there. But just happy to get the win and obviously big game tomorrow."
But while he is the new World Matchplay champion, John McDonald's voice to Aspinall was muffled meaning he didn't get the full experience.
"I couldn't even hear it. The speakers weren't very loud. I was a bit gutted as I was looking forward to that and John has ruined that for me," he joked.
He did though surrounding media commitments admitting and joking that he doesn't want to win the World's as a result.
"If there's that much media commitments for winning the Matchplay, I don't even want the World's. The last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday were manic and then I got the keys to my new house.
"I've not really had time for it to sink in. I'm still on cloud 9. Go on holiday when we get back from Australia, I think the 10 days around the pool when I'm sat there with my Pina Colada will be when it will all kick in.