The man of the night to successfully book their spot in the quarter-final of the 2023
Grand Slam of Darts is the American debutant
Stowe Buntz.
In a tie where both players would realistically fancy their chances,
Andrew Gilding took on Stowe Buntz in the opening match of the night. Despite the UK Open champion being the more established of the pair, it was his American opponent who took the bull by the horns early on, Buntz racing into a 3-0 lead early on. After 'Goldfinger' then missed darts to get a leg on the board in leg 4, Buntz punished and it was 4-0. An 11-dart leg from the CDC Continental Cup winner closed out the opening session, with the players heading off stage with Buntz 5-0 up.
After the break, Gilding finally got up and running but the double trouble would return with a vengeance in the following leg, with Buntz once again on hand to punish and restore his five-leg lead. Reversely, when Buntz had some trouble on the outer ring in leg 9, Gilding let him off the hook and allowed the American to hold throw and move 7-2 in front. Gilding took the last leg of the session, giving him hope but heading off stage 7-3 down, things looked bleak.
With Gilding missing a dart at double 14 for the first leg after the break, Buntz edged ever closer to a famous victory at 8-3 ahead. Both players saw opportunities pass them by in leg 12 before Gilding clinched it on double 10, however, the Englishman then couldn't capitalise on more Buntz misses in the following leg, allowing him to return and go within touching distance of the quarter-finals.
Although Gilding's finishing had been questionable, his scoring was not. Courtesy of his seventh 180, 'Goldfinger' pulled one back to get to 9-5 but when he was unable to challenge the Buntz throw, the Virginian cleaned up 48 to continue his fairy-tale run.