World Champion Raymond Van Barneveld stormed to victory in the Wales Players Championship event, as arch-rival Phil Taylor suffered another disappointing defeat on a dramatic day in Newport. In the sub-plot, this event was the cut-off point for the four qualifiers from the Players Championship Order of Merit, for next month’s SkyBet World Grand Prix in Dublin – and Alex Roy’s run to the final – including a sensational victory over Taylor – clinched ‘The Ace of Herts’ his spot in Ireland.
Roy was well beaten by Barneveld in the final – but he won’t be too disappointed, after coming from nowhere to book his ticket to the Grand Prix. For Barney, it’s his 5th Pro Tour title of 2007 and he dropped only two legs in a one-sided final. In all, Barney has now won an incredible nine events on the PDC circuit this year!
The other qualifiers for Dublin are Mervyn King, Vincent van der Voort and Adrian Gray. Michael Van Gerwen was in the box seat to qualify but he lost his opening match in Newport to veteran John Ferrell…..that opened the door for Alan Warriner-Little, who edged ahead of Van Gerwen by reaching the 2nd Round…..but Roy’s performance meant heartache for Warriner-Little.
It was a disappointing day for Team Unicorn…..not one single player from the Unicorn stable reached the quarter-finals and it’s a long, long time since that happened in a big PDC event.
Taylor was stunned by Roy in the 4th Round. ‘The Power’ looked very comfortable, when he went two sets up, only to see Roy produce a magical ten minutes of darts and win three consecutive sets and take the match.
It was a day of shocks….James Wade was on the end of a huge upset – falling at the first hurdle against Mick Sawery….1-3 the score…..and Adrian Lewis suffered the same fate at the same stage – losing 2-3 against Dave Honey. Bob Anderson also lost in the 1st Round. He was beaten 3-1 by Darren Webster.
Unicorn youngster Kirk Shepherd claimed one of the best victories of his career, when he ousted Terry Jenkins 3-2 but Shepherd then lost 3-0 to Tony Eccles in the next round.
In the 3rd Round, Hamilton lost 1-3 against John Ferrell…..John Part was beaten 3-2 by Steve Maish and Wes Newton went down 1-3 against virtual unknown Darren Sutton.
As well as Taylor’s defeat at the last 32 stage, three other Team Unicorn players also went out of the tournament. Welshman Barrie Bates – playing his first event after six weeks out of action with a broken foot – played well, before losing the deciding set to Alan Tabern. Mick McGowan didn’t win a set against fellow Irishman John Magowan and Colin Osborne lost to his ‘nemesis’ yet again! Osborne has lost some important matches against Vincent van der Voort over the last few months and this time, the Dutchman won by 3 sets to 1. Kevin Painter lost by the same scoreline against Jason Clark.
Unicorn interest ended at the last 16 stage, when Peter Manley went down 2-3 against Denis Ovens.
Results – Last 16:
Alex Roy 3-0 Andy Jenkins
Losers - £300
Quarter-finals:
Alex Roy 3-1 Andy Smith
Losers - £600
Semi-finals:
Alex Roy 3-2 Alan Tabern
Losers - £1,250
Final:
Raymond Van Barneveld 3-0 Alex Roy
Winner - £5,000
BY STUART PYKE
