The dartboard and oche returned to the TV screens as the 2012 Grand Slam of Darts kicked off in Wolverhampton. 32 of the biggest darting names from both the PDC and BDO are split into eight groups for the first round, with each player playing one other throughout the phase. Groups A-D kicked-off their campaigns tonight:
Group A: PDC's Mark Walsh earned his first Grand Slam victory over BDO's Tony O'Shea. The match was finely balanced at 2-2 but Walsh then went onto win 5-2.
PDC's Michael Van Gerwen cruised to a 4-0 lead over BDO's Scott Waites. But Waites managed to fight back to 4-3 before the Dutchman secured the victory.
Group B: The first whitewash of the tournament came between two BDO counterparts. Second ranked Dean Winstanley recorded the 5-0 victory over fourteenth ranked Ted Hankey.
The biggest shock of the night saw PDC's rank 71 Ian White record victory over Raymond Van Barneveld. White finished third in the wilcard qualifiers and only made into the tournament after Simon Whitlock's withdrawal. The match went to 4-4 before the rookie took the final leg to secure the biggest win in his career to date.
Group C: Wayne Jones is in his home town and he kicked off his tournament with a win over Grand Prix runner-up Brendan Dolan. Dolan took the opening leg but Jones went onto take the match 5-2.
PDC's 49th ranked player, Nigel Heydon, secured the second biggest shock of the night with a win over Gary Anderson. Anderson has flopped in recent televised tournaments but looked to make amends by taking the first two legs. But Heydon came back to win 5-3.
Group D: James Wade was pushed to the limit in his first match against Dave Chisnall. Wade found himself 4-3 down before managing to recover and win the match 5-4.
The other shock of the night saw Terry Jenkins lose out to Justin Pipe. Pipe stormed into a 4-0 lead before Jenkins earned a consolation with Pipe finishing the thrashing at 5-1.
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