Mark Walsh secured his fifth ranking title within a year as he overcame 8/15 tournament favourite Phil Taylor to claim the second UK Open qualifier of the season in Derby on Sunday.
Walsh, a 33/1 chance at the outset, overcame the fifteen times World Champion 6-2 in the final at the Moorways Leisure Centre with the £6,000 first prize re-affirming his place within the world's top twelve.
Colin Lloyd, Mark Webster, Dennis Priestley & Co Stompe were amongst those on the receiving end of a Walsh barrage on the day before he went on to defeat Taylor in a ranking final for the third time in his career, having defeated the world number one in the Midlands Players Championship at Coventry last March along with victory four years earlier in another UK Open qualifier.
The 45-year old remains 100/1 with Skybet, Totesport & Ladbrokes for next year's World Championship.
There were mixed fortunes for the other Premier League stars on show with Simon Whitlock (Round 1), Ronnie Baxter (Round 2), Mervyn King (Round 2) & Terry Jenkins (Round 3) all faliling to make it to the latter stages. James Wade, who recorded a second 6-0 whitewash of the weekend of Wayne Mardle, and Adrian Lewis were losing quarter-finalists to Stompe & Andy Hamilton respectively.
Thursday sees week four of the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts before the tour heads to Gladbeck in Germany for a Players Championship double header next weekend.
