Webster Claims Maiden PDC Win

Webster Claims Maiden PDC Win
 

Winmau’s MARK WEBSTER won his maiden PDC title with a 6-4 victory over Richie Burnett in an all-Welsh final of Saturday^s German Darts Trophy Players Championship.
The left-hander won his first event since joining the PDC in early 2009 with the triumph at the Dolce Bad Nauheim in a battle between two former World Champions.
Having defeated Aodhagan O^Neill, Wim Mink and Denis Ovens in the early rounds, Webster came from 3-0 down to see off Vincent van der Voort 6-5 and reach the quarter-finals.
He repeated that scoreline against Dennis Smith in the last eight and also in the semis, where Germany^s Andree Welge led 5-3 but failed to close out victory.
Webster found himself behind again in the final, as rejuvanated Burnett led 3-1 and 4-2 only to see Webster reel off four straight legs to claim the title.
Burnett^s run saw him reach his first PDC ranking final since 2002 and follows a semi-final appearance in the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic Players Championship last Sunday.
His victories on the day included narrow wins over Jamie Caven and Colin Osborne as well as a comeback defeat of Justin Pipe before he saw off Simon Whitlock 6-2 in the semi-finals.
Burnett took out finishes of 141, 91, 83 and 81 during the game, as he pulled from two-all to win four successive legs in denying the Australian.
Whitlock had hit two 164 finishes in his quarter-final win against Mark Walsh, having earlier come back from 5-2 down to punish Johnny Okken in the last 32.
Welge^s run to the semis saw him defeat Adrian Lewis, Andy Hamilton and Gary Anderson as he emulated the success of Michael Rosenauer, who had been Germany^s only previous Players Championship semi-finalist two years ago in Las Vegas.
Dennis Smith, who was the runner-up in last Sunday^s Players Championship in Killarney, continued his run of form by reaching the quarter-finals in Bad Nauheim before losing to Webster.