
Anderson beats Lipscombe to secure 30th career title
Gary Anderson claimed the 30th ranking title of this career by beating surprise finalist Adam Lipscombe to win the Players Championship Seven at Hildesheim.The 54-year-old Scottish two-time world champion defeated the Englishman 8-3 to end an eight-month wait for more silverware.Anderson told pdc.tv: "The last few months have been hard for me. I've been struggling since December, so it's nice to win one."The Scot had romped through the early rounds but required a final-leg decider to edge Krzysztof Ratajski in the last eight before a solid semi-final win over Mike de Decker.Lipscombe's loss denied him a fairytale finish in what was only his eighth tournament since securing his tour card at the start of the year.He beat William O'Connor 6-4 in the last eight before claiming a superb 7-4 win over Dirk van Duijvenbode in the semi-finals.O'Connor and Van Duijvenbode were two of three players to land nine-dart finishes in the earlier rounds in Monday, along with Ryan Searle in the opening leg of his match against Joshua Richardson.

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Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Teen prospect Jordy Loftus jets in to sign for the Edinburgh Monarchs
Jordy Loftus has signed for the Monarchs. Picture: Edinburgh Monarchs New Edinburgh Monarch Jordy Loftus revealed he has been studying videos online of his new Armadale home as he prepares to make his British speedway debut next week. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Capital side has announced the signing of the 16-year-old Australian, who replaces Max James in the reserve berth. Academy rider Mark Parker had been filling the void left by James, who quit the Monarchs in April citing a lack of confidence on the track. Loftus, who hails from the Gold Coast, will make the move to the northern hemisphere and ride in both the Championship and National Development League for the Scottish outfit, replacing the injured Kyran Lyden in the Academy setup. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Loftus is no stranger to some of his new team-mates, none other than compatriots Kye Thomson and Justin Sedgmen as he explained. "I know of Justin Sedgmen and Kye Thomson and I've got to know Kye more personally over the past year or so - we practise at the same track in Ipswich [Australia]," he said. "I've been watching his technique going around the track and getting some tips off him. I've watched every single video put up from Armadale, it looks amazing. I'm excited to join the club and meet all the people and race." Loftus will adorn the Monarchs race suit for the first time next Wednesday at Oxford Cheetahs' Sandy Lane followed by a trip to the Redcar Bears on Friday, June 20. He will make his home debut when the Bears visit West Lothian on Friday, June 27. The teenager has only recently moved onto the 500cc bikes after turning 16 in March following a successful career on the less powerful 250cc engines. "I'm number two in Australia on the 250s," Loftus said. "I rode those until I turned 16 in March when I jumped onto a 500 and since then I've been getting better and better on it. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "I rode in SGP3 in 2024, and that went well in the semis when I got fifth. In the final I had a little bit of bad luck the way things went but my final placing was 13th." Revised 2025 Monarchs: Victor Palovaara, Kye Thomson, Michael Palm Toft, Paco Castagna, Justin Sedgmen, Jonatan Grahn, Jordy Loftus.


The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Syme's silverlining underlines the value of patience
Or, at least, you're used to hearing the band's name muttered on the golf course as auld Cammy hoiks one off the toe of his 5-iron and gasps, 'that's only going in one bloody direction', as it veers wildly into the impenetrable shrubbery. Again. The reason I bring Horan into this week's meander is that his management company, Modest Golf, looks after the affairs of Connor Syme, who became the latest Scot to win on the DP World Tour at the KLM Open in Amsterdam. Horan, as you can imagine, has quite the following on social media. On the platform X, the site that flabbergasting madcaps, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, have clashed handbags on recently, Horan has over 39 million disciples. Tiger Woods has a paltry 6.4 million in comparison. Given that he's handy with the stick and ba', Horan posts a lot about golf. Back when Syme won his maiden professional title on the second-tier Challenge Tour in Turkey in 2019, Horan stuck up a message of hearty congratulations above a picture of the Fifer. Underneath flowed a torrent of gushing responses from dreamy pop fans saying things like, 'I love you', 'you are amazing' and 'will you marry me?'. Funnily enough, it was a bit like the comments of the readers under the Tuesday column on The Herald's website. This tsunami of adoration, of course, was largely directed at Horan himself and not for Syme's Turkish triumph although, amid the giddy worship by teenyboppers, was the odd response saying, 'ever since he won the Northeast District Open Amateur in 2013, I've followed Connor's career keenly.' Six years on from his breakthrough as a professional, Syme now has the KLM Open trophy plonked on his mantelpiece. As he gazed at the names engraved into the clump of silverware that was presented to him on Sunday, the 29-year-old was understandably cock-a-hoop to have his own name chiselled into a decorated roll of honour. Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerie, Payne Stewart, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Sergio Garcia? Syme certainly won't tire of giving this spoil of golfing war a regular polish with some Silvo and a lint free cloth. This win was the 150th by a Scottish golfer on the European circuit. A nice little milestone. It's a case of welcome to the club as far as Syme is concerned. Over the past few years, he's watched old amateur sparring partners like Robert MacIntyre, Grant Forrest and Ewen Ferguson win on the DP World Tour. In that time, he knocked on the door more times than an Avon lady but couldn't quite get over the threshold. Since 2020, Syme has had three second place finishes, four thirds and 18 other top-10s on the main tour. Eager observers would often say, 'his time will come', but there are never any guarantees of that in this game. And you can hing on a heck of a long time too. Oliver Wilson, the former Ryder Cup player, had nine seconds before he got to savour his first tour victory at the 228th attempt. Syme's fellow Scot, David Drysdale, meanwhile, played 576 events on the DP World Tour and never got over the winning line despite a number of close shaves which featured a quartet of runners-up finishes. For many, that time never comes. Patience and perseverance remain great attributes in this pursuit and Syme continues to display those in spades. The former Walker Cup player, who lost narrowly to a certain Scottie Scheffler in the final day singles as GB&I suffered a grisly thumping in the 2017 transatlantic tussle, made the switch into the paid ranks that season and marked his debut by finishing 12th in the tour's Portugal Masters on an invitation. At that time, there was a dearth of young Scottish talent on the circuit. In this relatively barren land, it was hardly surprising that Syme's sturdy showing in Portugal was greeted with the kind of triumphant reaction that could've been accompanied by the 20th Century Fox fanfare. He breezed through the qualifying school at the end of that campaign to fast-track himself to the DP World Tour, but he just failed to hold on to his card. His stint on the Challenge Tour – now the HotelPlanner Tour – in 2019 not only gave him a first pro victory in Turkey, it also equipped him with a lot of the various golfing tools that were, perhaps, missing in that rookie campaign when he'd just made a big leap from amateur golf to the rigours of the main tour. The second-tier remains an uncompromising coalface and its no frills cut-and-thrust certainly provides an eye-opening, at times eye-watering, yet wonderfully robust apprenticeship. Earn your stripes there and you've made it the hard way. Syme knows that. 'The Challenge Tour was essential to my development,' he said in a chinwag with this correspondent a couple of years ago. 'I won my first event of the season on it but still just held on to one of the promotion places. It was a hard year, but it set me up for tour life again.' It certainly did. After this latest tartan-tinged tour triumph, let's hope Syme's career trajectory continues in, well, one direction.


Scottish Sun
8 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
‘He battered me' – Ex-Everton hardman Duncan Ferguson reveals current England star beat him up in training fight
Former manager wanted the player to quit a big hobby ONE TO FERG-ET 'He battered me' – Ex-Everton hardman Duncan Ferguson reveals current England star beat him up in training fight DUNCAN FERGUSON has revealed he was "battered" in a training fight by a current England player. The former striker built a hardman image during his career and it is a reputation he is still known for. Advertisement 3 Duncan Ferguson challenged one of his players to a boxing fight Credit: Reuters 3 Anthony Gordon got the better of the ex-Everton boss Credit: Getty 3 Ferguson handed Gordon his Everton debut while in interim charge Credit: Getty Ferguson has previously fought off intruders in his own home and picked up nine red cards, often for thuggery, but one England star got the better of him. The Scot fought Anthony Gordon in a boxing match while the pair were at Everton. Ferguson was a big admirer of the youngster and handed Gordon his Everton debut while interim manager, but he wanted to teach the winger a lesson to persuade him to quit sparring - one of his big hobbies. But after donning the gloves to take on Gordon, Ferguson was taught a lesson of his own - not to challenge the quick and nimble winger. Advertisement READ MORE IN FOOTBALL MIC DROP Michael Carrick lands new job after Middlesbrough axe as John O'Shea joins him Ferguson revealed the incident in his book, Big Dunc: The Upfront Autobiography. He said: "I made sure Gordon got his debut at Limassol, I then gave Anthony his second game against Leicester,' Ferguson wrote. "I loved his appetite to improve, he wanted to learn and practice, practice, practice. "He was as fit as a fiddle and took diet seriously but was still going to different boxing gyms and sparring. 'You have to stop,' I told Anthony, "You can't go to them, you'll get hurt". Advertisement BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS "He battered me once in the Finch Farm gym. I had a pair of boxing gloves on, he didn't. And I didn't do it again. "Anthony's a bright lad, knows what he wants and is dedicated and lightning quick."