GARY Anderson^s run in the Grand Slam of Darts ended with a semi-final defeat to Terry Jenkins - but he still picked up a cool £22,000 for his efforts.
Anderson had been 14-10 against ^The Bull^, but fought back to make it 14-14 in the best of 31 leg match. However, Jenkins won the next two legs thanks to double 20 finishes to win one of the best matches of the competition. It was a tremendous effort by the former Berwick Darts League player, however, for he threw no less than 11 180s during the course of the match. Anderson won £20,000 for reaching the semi-final and grabbed an extra £2,000 for the highest checkout when he hit 170 in his defeat to Paul Nicholson in the group stages. Drama seemed to follow Anderson all the way to the semi-final, having only got through the group stage by beating Darryl Fitton 5-4. Anderson had lost his first match against Australian Nicholson 5-4 on the opening day but recovered well to record an excellent 5-2 victory over Kevin Painter. He defeated fellow BDO player Darryl Fitton 5-4 in his final group game, but had a nervy wait to see the result of Nicholson^s clash with Painter. Had Nicholson won 5-0 he would have set up the newly introduced shoot-out between himself and Anderson to see who could get the highest score with just nine darts. However, Painter won the tie 5-4, allowing Anderson to progress to the last 16 stage. Anderson then watched James Wade hit a superb nine dart finish in the last 16 but aided by ten 180 maximums of his own, he took five out of six legs to win 10-8. Anderson then triumphed over Fitton again in the quarter finals, winning 10-6 with an average of nearly 100. He now moves on to the BBC televised Winmau World Masters, starting next Friday, December 5, where he is seeded number one at Bridlington. Anderson has also been named top seed for the 2009 BDO World Championships at the Lakeside. The ^Dreamboy^ was second seed in last year^s tournament but made a shock exit in the first round to the Netherland^s Fabian Roosenbrand. Many thought Anderson may make the switch to PDC World Championships but instead he will line up at Frimley Green on Saturday, January 3 against an as yet undecided opponent.
