Van Barneveld continues farewell tour with victory over Puha, Gurney survives double trouble to edge past Kokiri

Raymond van Barneveld and Daryl Gurney have come through their opening tests at the Brisbane Darts Masters with contrasting fortunes to begin the World Series triple header.

Van Barneveld saw off Haupai Puha in a 6-2 win in what was probably one of the toughest draws of the first round.

There was breaks of throw aplenty to start the contest off with Puha making it 2-2 in the early going but a surge from ‘Barney’ made it 4-2 as he began to find his groove.

Three missed darts at doubles from the Kiwi ace allowed Barney to go one away and from there he completed the job to begin his final World Series triple header down under in good form.

Gurney on the other hand survived double trouble to edge past the experienced Kiwi, Koha Kokiri.

He only hit 6/23 en route but performed well on the scoring with a 95 average in a 6-4 win.

Gurney started well and smashed his way to a 5-2 win including a 121 checkout after Kokiri had led 2-1.

He missed multiple match darts though and it allowed Kokiri to claim back some important legs.

It ended up 5-4 but which asked the question of Gurney but he just about fell over the line to avoid a potential shock defeat.

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Brisbane Darts Masters schedule

First round

Raymond van Barneveld (90.16) 6-2 (84.99) Haupai Puha
Daryl Gurney (95.07) 6-4 (86.96) Koha Kokiri
11:15 James Wade v Damon Heta
11:45 Simon Whitlock v Brendon McCausland
12:15 Rob Cross v James Bailey
12:45 Michael van Gerwen v Ben Robb
13:15 Gary Anderson v Corey Cadby
13:45 Peter Wright v Kyle Anderson