Mervyn King won the first PDC tour event of 2011, as he beat Vincent van der Voort to claim the Players Championship tournament in Halle.
On a day that saw Raymond Van Barneveld reach the quarter-finals on his return to the Pro Tour and Phil Taylor lose in the 4th Round, King claimed a big win – putting behind him a run of poor form in the last quarter of last year.
Taylor’s defeat came by 6 legs to 4 to Andy Smith at the Gerry Weber Centre in Germany.
But after beating tournament favourite Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals, King brushed aside the challenge of Van der Voort, winning by 6 legs to 1, with an average of more than 100, for his first win in 11 months.
From 2-1, King reeled off four consecutive legs, including a 10 darter, to wrap up the win and a cheque for £6,000.
Barneveld was looking good to be fair, until the Unicorn man ran into Whitlock – losing the quarter-final 6-1…..after whitewashing Finland’s Marko Kantele in the 1st Round, Barney enjoyed comfortable wins over Denis Ovens, Steve Brown and Jelle Klaasen, before running into Whitlock.
But the Dutchman will be encouraged by the way he played….hopefully, he can improve on that in Sunday’s tournament.
Another Team Unicorn quarter-finalist was Colin Osborne…..but he was left kicking himself, after missing chances and losing a last leg decider to Van der Voort.
Taylor was playing with new darts for the first time after a trip to the Unicorn factory….disappointed to lose but not too disappointed.
He was 0-4 down to Smith in their last 16 clash, before fighting back – but he had left himself too much to do and ‘The Pie Man’ won it 6-4.
“Andy played well,” said Taylor. “I could have been 3-1 up but missed chances and he didn’t!”
“I liked the new darts but it is the first time that I have played with them in competition, so they will take a bit of getting used to. I have got some hard work to do, but I will put it right.”
Terry Jenkins was also a last 16 loser – going down in an 11th leg decider to young Irishman William O’Connor and Osborne beat Kirk Shepherd 6-3, but it was an encouraging performance from Shepherd in Germany.
In Round Three, Dutchman Kim Huybrechts accounted for Andy Hamilton, as he had Barrie Bates in the 2nd Round…..Huybrechts, who was eventually edged out by ‘Big’ John Henderson, beat Hamilton 6-3, after his 6-5 victory over Bates.
Henderson went on to the semi-finals in his first PDC Tour event….the Scot eventually lost to Van der Voort, but the big man had certainly made a big impression!
Also at the last 32 stage, Osborne beat Kevin Painter 6-3 in one of many all Unicorn clashes on the day, while Wes Newton was a surprise loser by the same score to Gary Welding.
In the 2nd Round, former BDO Lakeside Finalist Dave Chsinall marked his PDC tournament debut with a terrific 9-darter….but the St.Helens man then went onto to lose the match – beaten by Van der Voort in a last leg decider.
As far as the rest of Team Unicorn was concerned…..well, in that 2nd Round, Peter Manley lost 6-2 to Whitlock…..earlier, ‘One Dart’ had beaten Wayne Mardle 6-4 in the clash of the darts stars who are bidding to restore former glories!
Disappointingly, PDC Unicorn Under 21 World Champion Arron Monk lost yet another last leg decider, as he was beaten by Mark Dudbridge…..Paul Nicholson was stunned to lose 6-2 against Adam Smith-Neale, while Jamie Caven went down 6-5 to Steve Grubb and Michael Rosenauer lost 6-4 in another all Unicorn affair against Jenkins.
In round one, John Part’s struggles continued….he lost 6-3 to Kirk Shepherd, while Joe Cullen was edged out 6-4 by Michael van Gerwen.
Team Unicorn’s German Ladies star Steffi Luck won her preliminary round game – beating Frank Liebeton by 6 legs to 1, but she was then beaten 6-2 by Caven, despite another great performance in Halle.
Results – 4th Round:
Andy Smith 6-4 Phil Taylor
John Henderson 6-5 Kim Huybrechts
Vincent van der Voort 6-4 Mark Webster
Colin Osborne 6-3 Kirk Shepherd
William O’Connor 6-5 Terry Jenkins
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 Jelle Klaasen
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Alan Tabern
Mervyn King 6-4 Gary Welding
Losers – £600
Quarter-Finals:
Simon Whitlock 6-1 Raymond Van Barneveld
Mervyn King 6-1 William O’Connor
Vincent van der Voort 6-5 Colin Osborne
John Henderson 6-5 Andy Smith
Losers - £1,000
Semi-Finals:
Mervyn King 6-3 Simon Whitlock
Vincent van der Voort 6-4 John Henderson
Losers - £1,500
Final:
Mervyn king 6-1 Vincent van der Voort
Winner - £6,000
Runner-up - £3,000
By STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig