Sport
Ryan Murray hoping to continue underdog success in PDC Home Tour
Ryan Murray has revealed that he’s been given a new nickname by his fellow players during lockdown: Muzz Lightyear! Now the Edinburgh ace wants to go to create his own Joy Story as the latest Scottish star to take a top title at the PDC in the Home Tour tonight.
Murray, 32, only got his tour card in January and has seen his dream golden ticket put on hold by the coronavirus crisis. But he believes it would be “magic” to deliver another title for the Dartan Army, saying: “It would be a dream.”
“It would be great to be the Lockdown champion. I’ve just got to deal with the group stages first, it’s a tough one. But I’d love to get another title for Scotland. Joe Cullen, Jermaine Wattimena and John Michael are great players. But it’s been good for underdogs so far.”
“Lockdown has been OK because I have three kids so it keeps me busy. So I’m doing cycling and walks with them to keep me busy. Obviously I’m also practising. I’m still a printer but I’m off at the moment until the end of May. But that will probably change the way things are with lockdown.”
“I’ve been playing a lot of online games with the guys in my stable. We’ve had knockout tournaments and a league playing each other each night.”
“The players in my stable are Nathan Aspinall, Andy Boulton, Peter Jacques and Adam Huckvale so I’m used to playing online matches. I was winning and losing! Nathan ended up winning the league.”
“They ended up giving me a new nickname. It was Muzza. Now I’m Muzz Lightyear because apparently they say I have a square head like Buzz from Toy Story!”
Ryan Murray comfortably won his Tour Card from Q School in January but admits it’s been hard to see his busy diary decimated by lockdown.
He added: “It feels like every time I get so close to something, it always goes wrong. Thankfully I’ve now got this Home Tour to play in.”
“It’s obviously frustrating that the darts has stopped. I’d just got the Tour Card and was playing good. But I’m sure the PDC will sort it out so it’s fair. To be honest, the PDC and PDPA are in touch almost every day making sure all the players are OK, they have been fantastic. They always do the best for us.”
“I’d qualified for two European tours but they are obviously on hold for the moment. That was something big I’d qualified for. It will happen hopefully at some point. But I’m looking forward to the Home Tour. I’ve recently changed at home. The dartboard was in the children’s room but now I’ve moved it to my own bedroom.”
“There’s no distractions in there. It was hard to play with my kids shouting to their friends while playing on the Xbox!”
“The kids will be going out for a nature trail when I’m playing the Home Tour so I get some peace and quiet, no running up and down the stairs to to the toilet. We’ve got a tortoise but that’s the only pet and he’s not likely to give us any problems!”
Group 20: Wednesday May 6
Joe Cullen v Ryan Murray
Jermaine Wattimena v John Michael
Ryan Murray v John Michael
Joe Cullen v Jermaine Wattimena
Jermaine Wattimena v Ryan Murray
John Michael v Joe Cullen
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