Damon Heta off the back of his brilliant Brisbane Darts
Masters triumph lived up to expectation on his shoulders by heading to follow
his darting dreams in England.
Heta played at the World Championship losing to Glen Durrant
in the second round before winning through Q-School.
Ahead of his second
year on the PDC Tour, ‘The Heat’ sat down with DartsNews.com to discuss that
opening foray.
It was a debut season that saw ‘The Heat’ claim his maiden
PDC title, reach two TV quarter-finals and establish himself in the top 64 of
the PDC Tour. But after a poor World Championship, the fire burns for even more
success.
“Had some down time so just been hitting the board. Definitely
looking forward, hopefully I’ll obviously improve on last year,” said Heta.
“I think it was just a decent start that’s for sure.
Obviously I let myself down at the World’s, I just put a lot of expectation on
myself, probably so did a lot of other people.
“But I hope to smash it up a bit more than I did last year,
knowing what’s going on and how it is. I’m not really a newbie anymore.”
World Championship defeat was a ‘learning curve’
In terms of the poor World Championship, he described it as
a ‘learning curve’ and also discussed the victor, Danny Baggish’s Q-School
brilliance.
“At the time, I was just really harsh on myself. I think
that’s a big learning curve for myself I think. That’s all I’m taking that game
as.
"Taking nothing away from Danny (Baggish), he hit the doubles and he won,
fair play. He beat Adrian Lewis in the next round, he stepped it up.
“For him to get through Q-School, I was watching everyone
obviously. But I was keeping my eye on Danny and to get through on both of the
final days, that’s something else. That’s a fair bit of bottle so fair play to
him.”
Q-School average broken and goals set out
Heta had his own Q-School recorded average record taken away
from him with his previous mark of 113.21 from the 2020 edition bettered. This by
Martin Schindler who hit 123 during this past week.
“That was always going to get beat. But that’s some pretty
crazy darts that was.”
As well as his maiden title and various successes in his
opening year, this was recognised. A Best Newcomer award at the recent PDC
Awards but for Heta, it is all about continuing to reach his goals.
“You just do the best you can and you reap the rewards
later. If I can just keep reaching my small goals and what I set out, I think I
should be alright.”
Among those goals this year will be to reach the top 32, he
admits and then establish new goals from there.
“Obviously my first goal was the top 64, I reached that
within the first year so pretty stoked with that. My next goal is to get to the
top 32 as quick as I can, and we will take it from there.”
Thoughts on Anderson remaining in Australia and Mathers
joining the tour
Kyle Anderson is one Australian player that won’t be making
it back onto the PDC Tour this year after deciding to relinquish his Tour Card.
As one of his best friends, Heta believes it's the 'right call'.
“He’s put in a lot of time and effort for darts so I think
that’s the right call. Especially on his family side, darts is still going to
be forever and he’s only 33 so plenty of time if he decides to come back and
give it another crack.”
But for Gordon Mathers, he will become the latest Australian
to join Heta and Simon Whitlock – with ‘GG’ currently staying with ‘The Wizard’.
“I’ve been keeping in contact with him and my eyes were
glued to DartConnect. I had two phones and an iPad going.
“I was just watching all the stats. Fairly stoked for at
least one of them to get through. I think Gordon, he’s planned it quite well so
I hope the best for him.
“For the other two boys (James Bailey and Haupai Puha), they’ve
just been through a rough patch I think with travel because they were never
meant to go to Q-School.
“They were taking the first flight home and that never
happened. So I think there was a lot on their mind, I think it played its part.”
World Matchplay ambitions
With the news released regarding a roadmap for the exit of
Coronavirus restrictions, fans could return. This could be timed with the World
Matchplay.
For Heta, his goal is to reach every TV tournament and this
also includes the World Grand Prix, which he missed out on by slim margins.
“I want to make every TV tournament for sure. Especially
just missing out on the World Grand Prix by £500 pounds, it was killer. I’m
always hungry and I’m always going to fight for it.”