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Phil Taylor looked in the mood and in the groove to win the Vegas crown for a 4th time, as he whitewashed Lewis 6 legs to nil. The pair looked like father and the son, as they took to the big stage wearing identical Unicorn red and black shirts! But that’s where the similarity ended!

Lewis missed an incredible seven darts to win the first leg of the match…..his head went down and Taylor punished his young protégé with a dominant display.

Taylor was subdued after the victory over his great friend and practice partner. He said: “I take no satisfaction from that and will have a quiet word with Adrian, because he is a much better player than that. His head dropped after missing all those darts in the opening leg but he will learn from this….and he will be a much better player for the experience. He has got a very big future ahead of him.”

There is no doubt ‘The Power’ is still hurting after his failure to win the UK Open in Bolton….you get the feeling he is determined not to slip up in the casino capital of the world!

It was another darting disaster day for Unicorn’s World No.1 Colin Lloyd, who slipped to a desperately disappointing 1st Round exit, at the hands of ‘Mace The Ace’ Chris Mason.

Lloyd, who felt good and looked good after hitting a nine-darter in practice, was thrashed 6-1, after winning the first leg. It continues his nightmare run in the big tournaments on the big stage. His World Championship 1st round exit was followed by a poor Premier League and defeat at the UK Open to Phil Taylor…..now this. Lloyd will be hurt by this defeat and he has a lot to do, as he bids to rediscover the sparkle in the next month, because of course he starts the defence of his World Matchplay crown in Blackpool in three weeks.

It was great to see John Part back in sizzling form at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Temperatures outside were 110 degrees and the Canadian’s darts were pretty hot as well, as he beat number three seed Ronnie Baxter….but not without an alarm or two!

Unicorn’s two-times World Champion suffered an embarrassing slip up just before he was due to go on stage. Part bent down to pick up a dart and split his pants! There was no time to get a replacement pair and the red-faced Canadian was faced with a major problem….the bare cheek of it!
Step in Raymond Van Barneveld to the rescue….Barney quickly offered to lend Part his trousers and they turned out to be a lucky omen, as Part beat Baxter 6-3…winning the match in style with a 113 check-out. Part was last seen on his way to the shops to buy a couple of new pairs!

Unicorn’s Peter Manley – the 2003 Desert Classic champion – made an impressive start, as he saw off the dangerous Steve Beaton 6 legs to 4. “I love Vegas and I love this event,” said Manley. “I got married here two years ago and the final on Sunday is actually our second wedding anniversary, so it would be great to celebrate in style with another title!”

Sadly, the ‘Limestone Cowboy’ came to the end of the road in Vegas. After battling his way through qualifying, Unicorn’s veteran former World Champ Bob Anderson threw away a 3-1 lead, losing 6-4 to Roland Scholten. Anderson hit a terrific 121 finish to level up at 4-all but then missed darts to win the crucial 9th leg of the match….his chance was gone.

American star Ray Carver – Team Unicorn’s latest signing – missed a glorious chance to book his place in the 2nd Round. Carver won the opening two legs against Irishman Mick McGowan but missed darts to go 4-3 and 5-3 up….he paid a heavy price, losing 6 legs to 3. It was huge disappointment for Carver, who hit only 3 out of 13 attempts at a double.

Full 1st round results and 2nd round draw to follow

BY STUART PYKE