Heydon gets focus back to regain his PDC card

The Lillington-based thrower left it late, however, winning his tour card on the final day of qualifying in Wigan.

Heydon has had to adapt his throwing style after his previous position, which saw him leaning heavily forward, had led to back problems.

The 43-year-old has also had to get used to throwing with glasses in the past 18 months as he dropped out of the world’s top 64, but he showed signs of the form which has seen him qualify for two World Championships, the Grand Slam of Darts and five UK Opens in securing his Tour Card.

He opened the day with a whitewash of Roy Lowe and defeated Dave Honey, Alan Derrett, Brett Claydon and Ryan Palmer for the loss of only five legs in four games, before another 5-0 win, against Sleaford’s Scottish-born Stuart Anderson, sealed his progression.

“It was very different being in Q School and it’s been very hard work for the past four days,” admitted Heydon, nicknamed The Undertaker.

“I played so well on the first day but lost to (Christian) Kist, and I thought that was going to be my day, and I had a couple of tough draws on the next two days, but today I did the job.

“It means so much to me because I didn’t want to drop down to playing on the Challenge Tour, but I’ve proven that I can still do it.

“I’ll keep persevering and I can start afresh now. It’s taken me a year to get used to the glasses and to throwing differently, but I’ll keep working on my game and I’m getting there.”

Leamington’s Jamie Atkins’ chances of a tour card were ended with a 5-3 first-round defeat to Matthew Dennent on the final day of qualifying.