Beau Greaves celebrated her coup as new 'Queen of the Palace' with a KFC takeaway – after a record-breaking eight tournament wins in a row.
Teenage sensation Greaves qualified for the Cazoo PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace on Sunday as one of the top two in the women's order of merit for 2022. Beau 'n' Arrow is off to 'Chucking'em Palace' with four-times women's world champion Lisa Ashton – but Fallon Sherrock, who made history by reaching the third round in 2019, has missed out for the second time in three years.
Greaves, 18, didn't even play in the first 12 tournaments of the PDC Women's Series, but she still managed to overhaul Sherrock in the rankings by going on an incredible run.
READ MORE: Fallon Sherrock misses out on PDC World Championship as superb Beau Greaves wins spot
Only Phil 'The Power' Taylor and Michael van Gerwen had ever won eight titles in a row on the PDC circuit, but Greaves – the greatest thing to come out of Doncaster since the St Leger winner's horsebox – confirmed her reputation as new standard-bearer for girl power on the oche.
Her run included a record 107.86 average, the highest ever recorded by a female player, in the final of one event against Sherrock which tipped the battle for a place at Ally Pally her way.
Greaves has now strung together an incredible 52 successive wins in matchplay but she celebrated modestly, revealing: “Me and my sister just wanted to get a KFC – I was absolutely starving.
“It’s a massive achievement, just to win one event at the weekend was good enough for me – but I did four!
“Now that people keep saying I’m going to Ally Pally, I keep forgetting that I’ve won eight events. To be fair, there was a lot more pressure on Fallon. I came into the weekend with nothing to lose.
“But to miss 12 events, play only two weekends and still make it to Ally Pally is brilliant. I also know I can do it under pressure, and that’s massive for me.
“I was just trying to be a ladies world champion – I did that earlier this year [in the inaugural WDF world championship], but I didn't think I could get to Ally Pally – not at any point, to be honest.
“I just wanted to make some of the ladies work for it a bit more. I was quite an outsider because I was quite a way behind in the rankings.
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“I didn't realise I'd hit that 107 average – I was just in the zone. When I walked away, [PDC stage official] Owen Binks said to me, 'Have you seen your average?' and I replied, ‘What are you on about?' It didn’t feel like 107 at all. I was just playing that well.”
Greaves' rise to the most talented woman on the oche is even more remarkable given her bout of 'dartitis' – the sport's dreaded version of the 'yips' in golf.
Only three years ago, she was struggling to unlock her potential and she revealed: “I think lockdown helped me getting my throw back. I lost my throw completely. It all went downhill.
“That’s why nowadays I talk so much about enjoyment and no pressure because if I don’t I know I could fall back into the trap and I don’t want that at all.
“I think if I enjoy myself, my darts will flow. I might have the odd dart but that’s what you have to deal with when you have dartitis. But I’ve worked so hard to get back to a standard where I can play well – and this is only the beginning.”
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