The Power surges to the Premier League
Phil Taylor made darts history by hitting two nine-darters in a match as he surged to the Whyte & Mackay Premier League title last night after a 10-8 victory over defending champion James Wade.
Taylor advanced to the final after avenging for last year’s semi-final loss to Mervyn King, beating him 8-1 in this year’s semi-final, while Wade defeated Australian sensation Simon Whitlock 8-6 in the other semi-final encounter.
Wade took the opening leg of the final, after checking out 136, but The Power hit his first nine-darter in the second leg to level before taking a 2-1 lead. The defending champion hit back, but Taylor took the next three legs to lead 5-2. The match was reaching boiling point, as the pair shared the next four legs. At 7-4, Wade was hanging on to Taylor, and when he managed to level the score at 7-7, Taylor made history by producing his second nine-darter of the match.
Having written his name in the record books as the first player to make two nine-darters in a match, The Power incredibly almost threw a third, but this time he missed the eighth dart on treble 17. He opened up a 9-7 lead, but Wade wasn’t going to go out without a fight, and took the next leg with a 64 finish to set up a tense finale. With the winning line in sight, Taylor sealed the match with an 88 after a 12-dart leg.
With the finals being postponed from Sunday night due to a power failure in the north London area, nothing was going to stop Taylor from reclaiming the Premier League title.
“It's absolutely incredible and possibly the greatest moment of my career. I knew it was possible to hit two nine-darters in one game. Even when I took the nine-darters, James was right behind me. He was pushing me all the time and I thought 'You've got to do another one'. I thought there were going to be three.
“I was playing well enough and James was improving too. You put him under pressure and he hits you back hard to put pressure on you not to miss doubles. I was nice and relaxed going into the final and am delighted to do that for the fans who turned out after the postponement and with an England football game on next door at Wembley. Everything I've done for the last 30 years has all come together. It's been my dream to do this,” said Taylor.
Wade was a worthy runner-up, and played his part in what is now being billed as the greatest darts match on television. “It was an incredible game and in a way it's a compliment that Phil hit two nine-darters to beat me. The score was 10-8 so those two legs were the difference and I don't think that two nine-darters will ever be seen again in such a short format. Phil played better than me and that's why he won. I've played better and know I can play better but I wasn't good enough tonight and am not good enough to win tournaments against him at the moment,” said Wade, who collected the runners-up cheque for £65,000.
Meanwhile in the third-place play-off, King defeated Whitlock 8-7 after being 7-5 behind.
Taylor remained unbeaten throughout the league format of the competition, and won the Premier League for the fifth time, picking up the winner’s cheque for £125,000.
The Power was fully charged last night.
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