Paul Hogan retains BDO Wolverhampton Open
Paul Hogan returned to his Black Country roots to retain the BDO Wolverhampton Open in its fourth year of existence.
The three-time World Championship quarter-finalist again took the £1,000 top prize at the annual non-ranked event,
The 52-year-old is Dudley-born and now lives in Basingstoke, but found Wolverhampton Sports Arena a home from home once more.
'Crocodile Dundee' won six games to claim first place, beating Adam Smith-Neale in the final of a tournament with a £3,000 prize fund.
Hogan also landed himself a place at October's World Masters, traditionally the BDO's second biggest tournament of the year.
He's made the Masters finals four times before and will also be entered into the play-offs to return to the worlds at Lakeside, where he hasn't featured since 2014.
A total of 90 darters took part in this year's Open competition, paying just £10 to enter. Another 27 were involved in a Sports Arena-sponsored disability darts tournament.
Four groups produced the semi-finalists, with the board deciders acting as a quarters tie. Hogan emerged from Group Two.
He first featured in the last 64 after a bye, whitewashing Alan Carter 4-0. Martin Biggs was then vanquished 4-2, before another 4-0 landslide against Matthew Green.
That set up the group decider against stalwart Ian Jones, who was downed 4-2 to produce the second contender for the final four.
Hogan's semi-final opponent Eddie Dootson had come through Group One, squeezing past Chris Dale 4-3 to set up the meeting.
Dootson, from the last 64, had shut out Matthew Powell 4-0 before 4-1 victories over Matt Pearson and Jordan Singh.
Smith-Neale bossed Group Three, clinching it by seeing off Owen Maiden 4-2. He'd also beaten John Burgess by that verdict.
He first defeated Raymond Singh 4-2, before the Burgess game and then a 4-0 whitewash over James Weldon before facing Maiden.
John Roberts took Group Four, after another last leg battle went his way 4-3 against Frazer Hill. He'd previously downed Andrew Hughes (4-3), Aaron Dyer (4-2) and Paul Brown (4-0).
Hogan defeated Dootson in the first semi-final 4-2, while Neale-Smith battled to the last leg before getting the better of Roberts 4-3.
Play was upgraded to a best-of-nine format for the final, where Hogan rolled over comprehensively 5-1 to net himself another four-figure haul.
The money stages were from the last 16 which benefitted Jordan Singh, James Carroll, Karl Marchant, Matthew Green, Dean Birks, Weldon, Brown and Gary Whitles by £50 each.
The losing quarter-finalists picked up £125 for their efforts, with £250 for reaching the semis and £500 to the runner-up. Roberts landed a £100 highest checkout bonus, for a splendid 170 finish.
Rob Williams lifted the disability trophy in an additional tournament staged by the BDDA (British Disability Darts Association), which was their final qualifier for the WDDA World Masters finals.
