KEITH Murray has withdrawn from a darts competition in memory of his wife to safeguard the future of the event.

He admitted he was concerned when two players withdrew from the opening weeks of the Sharon Murray Grand Prix due to illness.

Now he has been replaced by Steve Lemoine and will act as back-up if a similar incident happens in the coming weeks.

"I have had to drop out of the competition, " said Keith. "This week, I had two people ill and this triggered alarm bells for the following weeks. The competition is more important than personal feelings and I must make myself available to fill in if this happens again."

Meanwhile, Paul Gaskill is the latest winner after beating John Philips at the Cabin End pub.

Paul averaged 92.02 on a night were 79 tons were hit along with 18 140s and four 180s.

Keith thanked Mick Whittle who marked the 1000 average games and Holly who entered scores on the computer.

Results - first round: John Phillips 3 Graham Willets 1, Kyle Pickering 3 Brian Goldthorpe1, Paul Gaskill 3 Keith Lynch 0, Steve Lemoine 3 Ashley Poulton 1.

Semi finals: John Phillips 4 Kyle Pickering 1, Paul Gaskill 4 Steve Lemoine 3.

Final: Paul Gaskill 5 John Phillips 1.