Simon Whitlock won his third Pro Tour title of the year with victory over the giant-killing Darren Johnson, on a cracking day of action at Players Championship Four at the Barnsley Metrodome on Sunday afternoon.
Johnson secured a number of big-name scalps including victories over three Premier League stars, but the 50-year-old Yorkshireman was unable to overcome Whitlock, who recorded a 6-3 victory in the final to scoop the £10,000 winner’s cheque and clinch his fifth Pro Tour title in as many months.
‘The Wizard’ drew first blood in the final with a fine two-dart 76 kill to round-off a 14-dart hold, before doubling his advantage moments later. He followed up a visit of 177 by hitting D1, after Johnson had spurned three darts at double to hold.
Whitlock’s dominance continued as he posted his first maximum and registered another 14-darter to establish a 3-0 cushion, before ‘Dynamite’ opened his account via D3. Despite this, Whitlock was in unrelenting mood and restored his three-leg lead with a 13-darter, before following five perfect darts by pegging D4 to move within a leg of victory.
‘The Wizard’ seemed destined to close out a 6-1 victory, but he spurned two match darts as Johnson sank D9 to stay alive. He continued to battle valiantly and pegged an accomplished 100 finish to reduce the arrears to 5-3, but Whitlock halted any hopes of a heroic fightback after pinning D4 to secure the title.
Whitlock bounced back magnificently from the disappointment of yesterday’s opening round defeat to win his third Pro Tour title of the year. ‘The Wizard’ dropped just four legs in beating Scott Darbyshire and Devon Petersen to reach round-three, where he then saw off the veteran Andy Jenkins 6-4.
Whitlock then defeated UK Open finalist Gerwyn Price by the same scoreline, before surviving a match dart to defeat world number two Gary Anderson in a pulsating last-leg decider to set up a showdown with Premier League star Kim Huybrechts.
‘The Hurricane’ followed up his nine-dart heroics on Saturday with wins against Paul Harvey, Peter Hudson, James Wilson, David Pallett and Dirk van Duijvenbode to reach the last four. However, Whitlock proved an obstacle too far for the Belgian, with ‘The Wizard’ prevailing 6-3 to continue his remarkable run of floor form.
Nevertheless, Darren Johnson enjoyed arguably the day of his darting career to reach his first ever PDC Pro Tour final. ‘Dynamite’ kicked off proceedings with a 6-4 victory over fifth seed Dave Chisnall, before he edged out five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld in a deciding leg in the following round.
Johnson then defeated both Jimmy Hendriks and Steve Hine to set up a quarter-final clash with Benito van de Pas, and the Mexborough man triumphed in his third last-leg decider of the afternoon to set up a semi-final showdown with world number one Michael van Gerwen.
‘The Green Machine’ had dropped just ten legs in reaching the last four; recording victories over Vincent van der Voort, Wes Newton, Josh Payne, Steve West and Ian White. Yet against all odds, Johnson produced one of the performances of his career to oust the world champion; landing five maximums en route to triumphing in another deciding leg.
Second seed Peter Wright, suffered his second straight last 64 exit after losing out to former Lakeside world champion Christian Kist. Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld was also beaten at the same stage by eventual semi-finalist Darren Johnson, who defeated fifth seed Dave Chisnall in the opening round.
Stephen Bunting was condemned to his fourth consecutive first-round Players Championship exit after losing 6-2 to Scotland’s Jamie Bain, whilst Robert Thornton and Alan Norris were beaten by Steve Lennon and Tony Newell respectively. Elsewhere, Saturday’s finalist Mervyn King was comprehensively beaten by Richie Burnett.
Elsewhere, Joe Cullen hit the third 9-darter of the weekend, following on from Ryan Meikle and Kim Huybrechts’ perfect legs on Friday and Saturday respectively. Cullen recorded the 9-darter in the third leg of his second-round victory over Jim Brown, before he was beaten in round-three by Steve West.
Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Players Championship Four
Sunday March 12, Barnsley Metrodome
First Round
Michael van Gerwen (1) 6-2 Vincent van der Voort
Wes Newton 6-2 Jan Dekker
Josh Payne (32) 6-4 Aden Kirk
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Jonathan Worsley
Joe Cullen (16) 6-1 Robert Owen
Jim Brown 6-2 Max Hopp
Steve West (17) 6-4 Chris Quantock
Paul Nicholson 6-5 Richard North
Ian White (8) 6-5 Jeffrey de Graaf
Matt Clark 6-1 Warrick Scheffer
Colin Roelofs 6-4 Ronny Huybrechts (25)
Rob Cross 6-3 Brendan Dolan
James Wade (9) 6-3 Ronnie Baxter
Richie Corner 6-5 Paul Rowley
Richie Burnett 6-2 Mervyn King (24)
Mike De Decker 6-3 Mick McGowan
Darren Johnson 6-4 Dave Chisnall (5)
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 Haruki Muramatsu
Jimmy Hendriks 6-5 Darren Webster (28)
Zoran Lerchbacher 6-5 Mark Walsh
Michael Smith (12) 6-1 Antonio Alcinas
Steve Hine 6-4 Sven Groen
Chris Dobey (21) 6-1 Scott Taylor
John Norman Jnr 6-4 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Benito van de Pas (4) 6-2 Andy Hamilton
Terry Roach 6-0 Jamie Lewis
Robbie Green (29) 6-2 Stuart Kellett
Ryan Palmer 6-5 Andy Parsons
Jelle Klaasen (13) 6-5 Mark Webster
Ted Evetts 6-3 Vincent Kamphuis
Steve Beaton (20) 6-0 Ross Twell
Lee Bryant 6-1 Brian Woods
Peter Wright (2) 6-4 Martin Schindler
Christian Kist 6-2 Harry Robinson
Bryan de Hoog 6-5 Jamie Caven (31)
John Henderson 6-5 Mickey Mansell
Jamie Bain 6-2 Stephen Bunting (15)
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Ryan Searle
Cristo Reyes (18) 6-4 Darron Brown
Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Tony Newell 6-2 Alan Norris (7)
James Richardson 6-1 Shaun Griffiths
Steve Lennon 6-5 Robert Thornton (26)
David Pallett 6-2 Maik Langendorf
Kim Huybrechts (10) 6-3 Paul Harvey
Peter Hudson 6-5 Matthew Dennant
James Wilson (23) 6-1 Ray Campbell
Kevin Painter 6-0 John Bowles
Simon Whitlock (6) 6-3 Scott Darbyshire
Devon Petersen 6-2 Ricky Evans
Andy Jenkins 6-5 Justin Pipe (27)
Terry Temple 6-4 Simon Stevenson
Gerwyn Price (11) 6-4 John Michael
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Simon Preston
Daryl Gurney (22) 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse
Yordi Meeuwisse 6-3 Joe Murnan
Mensur Suljovic (3) 6-1 Matthew Edgar
Kirk Shepherd 6-4 Berry van Peer
William O’Connor 6-5 Jermaine Watimena (30)
Mick Todd 6-3 Andy Boulton
Gary Anderson (14) 6-5 Stephen Burton
Keegan Brown 6-2 Ryan Meikle
Kyle Anderson (19) 6-4 Mark Barilli
Dennis Smith 6-5 Ricky Williams
Second Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Wes Newton
Josh Payne 6-3 Jonny Clayton
Joe Cullen 6-2 Jim Brown – Joe Cullen hits nine-dart finish
Steve West 6-5 Paul Nicholson
Ian White 6-1 Matt Clark
Rob Cross 6-0 Colin Roelofs
James Wade 6-2 Richie Corner
Mike De Decker 6-4 Richie Burnett
Darren Johnson 6-5 Raymond van Barneveld
Jimmy Hendriks 6-4 Zoran Lerchbacher
Steve Hine 6-4 Michael Smith
Chris Dobey 6-4 John Norman Jnr
Benito van de Pas 6-2 Terry Roach
Robbie Green 6-3 Ryan Palmer
Jelle Klaasen 6-5 Ted Evetts
Steve Beaton 6-5 Lee Bryant
Christian Kist 6-4 Peter Wright
John Henderson 6-2 Bryan de Hoog
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Jamie Bain
Cristo Reyes 6-4 Ron Meulenkamp
Tony Newell 6-4 James Richardson
David Pallett 6-4 Steve Lennon
Kim Huybrechts 6-0 Peter Hudson
James Wilson 6-3 Kevin Painter
Simon Whitlock 6-1 Devon Petersen
Andy Jenkins 6-0 Terry Temple
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Andrew Gilding
Daryl Gurney 6-1 Yordi Meeuwisse
Mensur Suljovic 6-1 Kirk Shepherd
William O’Connor 6-3 Mick Todd
Gary Anderson 6-5 Keegan Brown
Kyle Anderson 6-4 Dennis Smith
Losers £500
Third Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Josh Payne
Steve West 6-5 Joe Cullen
Ian White 6-4 Rob Cross
James Wade 6-2 Mike De Decker
Darren Johnson 6-3 Jimmy Hendriks
Steve Hine 6-3 Chris Dobey
Benito van de Pas 6-3 Robbie Green
Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Steve Beaton
Christian Kist 6-2 John Henderson
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Cristo Reyes
David Pallett 6-5 Tony Newell
Kim Huybrechts 6-4 James Wilson
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Andy Jenkins
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic 6-4 William O’Connor
Gary Anderson 6-2 Kyle Anderson
Losers £1,000
Fourth Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Steve West
Ian White 6-3 James Wade
Darren Johnson 6-5 Steve Hine
Benito van de Pas 6-5 Jelle Klaasen
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Christian Kist
Kim Huybrechts 6-4 David Pallett
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Gerwyn Price
Gary Anderson 6-5 Mensur Suljovic
Losers £1,500
Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Ian White
Darren Johnson 6-5 Benito van de Pas
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Simon Whitlock 6-5 Gary Anderson
Losers £2,250
Semi-Finals
Darren Johnson 6-5 Michael van Gerwen
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
Losers £3,000
Final
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Darren Johnson
Winner £10,000
Runner-Up £6,000
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