Taylor Two Hot To Handle

A piece of darting history was created at Wembley Arena last night as Phil Taylor recorded two nine dart finishes during his 10-8 Premier League final victory over James Wade.  

‘The Power’, who had earlier dispatched of Mervyn King 8-1 in the second semi final, notched his eight and & ninth televised nine-darters by going 174, 180, 147 (d18) in leg two and 180, 180, 141 (d12) whilst tied at 7-7. Remarkably, he then went seven perfect darts into a scarcely believable third nine-dart outshot, with the treble 17 just evading the great man for the 147 shot out.  

Defending champion Wade had clinched his place in a third consecutive Premier League Final courtesy of an 8-6 win over Simon Whitlock in the opening match before going on to lose in a major televised final to the world number one for the fifth time. A disappointing night for the much fancied Whitlock culminated in an 8-7 defeat to King in the 3^rd/4^th place playoff.  

Taylor, who scooped £125,000 for his troubles, now heads the 136-man field for next week’s televised ‘FA Cup of Darts’ – the UK Open at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton. Blue Square & Victor Chandler make him the 4/7 favourite for his fourth title in the tournament’s eight year history. Whitlock & Wade are considered to be his closest challengers and are available at 12/1 & 14/1 respectively.  

UK Open (Best Price) – Starts Thursday 3^rd June, live on Sky Sports  

Phil Taylor 4/7

Simon Whitlock 12/1

James Wade 14/1

Gary Anderson 20/1

Mervyn King 28/1

Adrian Lewis 33/1

Andy Hamilton 40/1

Colin Lloyd 40/1

Terry Jenkins 40/1

Mark Walsh 50/1

Mark Webster 50/1

Ronnie Baxter 50/1

Colin Osborne 50/1  

66/1 Bar