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Ross Montgomery was certainly not a name many were expecting to become a PDC tour card holder. Having been a stalwart in the WDF system for decades, the former Scottish international joins the professional ranks for the first time.
Montgomery managed only one victory during the opening two days of the Final Stage at PDC Qualifying School and survived match darts against Ted Evetts in Friday’s opener despite averaging more than 95, but the Scotsman won seven straight matches to prevail.
The 59-year-old from East Kilbride defeated Andy Jenkins, Chris Quantock, Simon Stevenson, Connor Scutt and John O’Shea to reach the final, before denying a wasteful Jamie Clark who had already sealed his spot on the tour via the ranking system.
Montgomery may be turning 60 during his debut season on the professional circuit, although the reigning Dutch Open champion, former England Open champion and two-time Welsh Open winner was talked into attending Q School by his wife and sponsors.
“I never expected to be a PDC tour card holder,” a visibly emotional Montgomery told The Darts Show. “A few of the players, officials and security have been nice to me all week and said ‘it’s good to see you, Ross, where were you 15 years ago?’.
“It’s been a strange week for me, but it’s been a nice week. I was in the PDC environment before when I qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts. Someone came and picked me up and took me to the board and the players’ room, and I was like ‘this is the place to be’.
“Everyone knows me. I’m a Scottish international, I was captain for a long, long time. It’s all a bit surreal for me at my age. You can’t really wish it came sooner because I wouldn’t have played all over the world for my country, I wouldn’t have been a gold medalist for my country.”
He added: “With the situation that we’re in, I mean I looked at last year, no disrespect to the players, but there’s nowhere else to play darts other than the PDC because they’re on the ball.
“My sponsors and my wife looked at it and said: ‘This unfortunately may be the only place you’re going to be able to play. If you want to play darts then play, if you don’t then retire’. I decided to give it a go. I’m too young to retire!
“I’d be lying to if I said that I’d looked beyond coming here. I practise in the house, hitting big scores in the house and nine-darters. But you watch these guys on the TV and they’re in a different world.
“I’m not going to say I wish I’d done it 20 years ago, but I’ve done it this year and I’ve got my wife and sponsors to thank. I’ll give it a try and see what happens.”
