Paul Nicholson fell at the final hurdle in the first Players Championship tournament of 2012.
The Unicorn star was beaten in the final in Benidorm on Saturday, as Justin Pipe continued his amazing form on the PDC Pro Tour.
Pipe whitewashed Nicholson 6-0 in the final in Spain!
But despite the defeat, Nicholson has to be pleased with his day’s work....he beat the likes of Co Stompe, Steve Beaton and Mark Walsh with impressive displays.
And ‘The Asset’ was outstanding in the semi-finals, averaging nearly 102 in beating Sweden’s Magnus Caris 6-2....and in the opening leg, he hit seven perfects darts, only to narrowly miss a shot at T15.....but two 11 dart legs and he was into the final.
But he ran up against an inspired Justin Pipe, who remember reached six out of the last 10 Players Championship Finals of last year, and he was bang in form again at the start of 2012.
It is Pipe’s fourth title in as many months, since he won his first at the City West Hotel in Dublin in October when he beat Phil Taylor in the final.
Pipe broke twice in the first three legs of the final and that was that....he put in a strong performance and although Nicholson missed some doubles along the way, the Unicorn man just couldn’t get himself into the match.
But Nicholson has hopefully laid down a marker at the start of the darting year.
Wes Newton will consider himself unlucky.....he looked on course for the final and along the way he won a terrific all Unicorn clash with James Wade by 6 legs to 3 in the last 16.
But Wes wasted opportunities and he lost in the quarter-finals.....beaten in a last leg decider by Caris.
Other 4th Round losers included the Team Unicorn pair of Raymond van Barneveld and Terry Jenkins and both will know that it could have been so different, because both also lost in deciding legs.
It was Barney’s return to competitive action after his shock World Championship defeat by James Richardson....and the Dutchman looked in decent touch, but then lost 6-5 to Walsh.
And the same can be said for ‘The Bull’ who appeared to be on a charge before he was beaten in the 11th leg by Ian White.
Four Unicorn players went out in the 3rd Round.
Jamie Caven lost 6-3 to Darren Webster, Joe Cullen was a 6-2 loser to Walsh and Arron Monk, who’d earlier recorded an impressive win over Mervyn King, came unstuck against the Swede Caris....6-4 the score.
And World Championship runner-up Andy Hamilton will consider himself unlucky after he lost 6=5 to Steve Beaton.
And it didn’t take long for the first competitive 9 darter of the year.....and it came from an unlikely source....Ian White achieved the feat in his 1st Round win over Mark Hylton.
White earned £2,000 for his 9 darter, but he nearly had to share the bonus, because on the day, both Co Stompe and Michael Smith missed D12 to also achieve the sport’s holy grail!
White and Caris reached the semi-finals....their best results on the Pro Tour and the same can be said for youngsters Shaun Griffiths and Darren Whittingham who got through to the quarter-finals.
As far as the rest of Team Unicorn was concerned - Kevin Painter travelled to Spain with Alex Roy and in a twist of fate, the reigning Players Champion was beaten by Roy 6-4 in round two!
At the same stage, Colin Osborne went down in a last leg decider to unknown Keith Stephen.
And in the 1st Round, Devon Petersen will be kicking himself after losing in another last leg decider to Kevin McDine, while German ladies star Steffi Luck took three legs off Alan Tabern before being beaten 6-3.
And Peter Manley saw his hopes also ended in round one by a 6-2 defeat against Dave Smith.
Well elsewhere, Ted Hankey’s eagerly awaited PDC debut ended no sooner than it had begun....the former BDO star was beaten 6-4 in the preliminary round by youngster Matthew Edgar.
Also Dean Winstanley’s first PDC tournament lasted only a couple of games....he lost in round one 6-3 to Kim Huybrechts, while another former BDO player Tony West was beaten at the same stage 6-4 by Andy ‘The Pie Man’ Smith.
Team Unicorn big-hitters Phil Taylor and Gary Anderson opted against playing in Spain, while World Champion Adrian Lewis was another absentee.
Results:
Quarter-Finals:
Paul Nicholson 6-3 Mark Walsh
Magnus Caris 6-5 Wes Newton
Ian White 6-2 Darren Whittingham
Justin Pipe 6-2 Shaun Griffiths
Losers - £1,000
Semi-Finals:
Paul Nicholson 6-2 Magnus Caris
Justin Pipe 6-4 Ian White
Losers - £2,000
Final:
Justin Pipe 6-0 Paul Nicholson
Winner - £6,000
Runner-up - £3,000
By STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC