AMAZING TAYLOR SEALS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE DARTS TREBLE
PHIL TAYLOR won a third successive Championship League Darts title with a superb 6-3 victory over Michael van Gerwen in the Winners Group Final at Crondon Park GC in Essex.
The World Champion continued his dominance of the year's big tournaments by winning the 10,000 pound first prize, a further 9,450 pound in prize money and a fourth title in six years of the internet-streamed event with another amazing day of days.
Taylor had earned his place in Thursday's Winners Group by taking victory in Group One of the tournament last night, hitting a nine-dart finish on that day.
After seeing his rival do battle in a further seven groups, Taylor returned to Crondon Park for the Winners Group, where he topped the league table with six victories from his seven matches, with only van Gerwen defeating the world number one in the round-robin stage.
Taylor initially picked up three 6-5 victories, over Andy Hamilton, Kim Huybrechts and Ian White, and then defeated Wes Newton 6-4 before bouncing back from his loss to the Dutchman with a narrow defeat of Terry Jenkins - in a high-quality contest - and a 6-3 win over Richie Burnett.
Taylor then dropped only one leg in a semi-final romp against Newton, where he averaged 106 and took out a 141 checkout in sealing his place in the final against van Gerwen, where he avenged his earlier defeat in stunning style with a 107 average.
Taylor won the final's first five legs without reply in a darting masterclass, opening with a 13-darter and then breaking throw with a 127 finish on the bullseye, after van Gerwen had scored 174 to leave 32.
Taylor then took out 92 on the bull and left the Dutch ace again waiting on 32 in leg four as he took out 86, while double ten in leg five moved him to the brink of glory.
Van Gerwen, though, hit a 180 in a 14-dart leg to get off the mark, matched the feat with a 67 finish in the seventh leg and continued the fightback by taking out 116 for a 12-darter in pulling back to 5-3.
Taylor, though, stepped up another gear to hit two 140s in the ninth leg, before taking out 81 for an 11-darter to complete another fine triumph - adding to the World Championship, UK Open, World Matchplay and World Grand Prix titles he has claimed already in 2013.
"I'm delighted to win this," said Taylor. "This is the toughest Championship League Darts I've ever played in - but when I went to five-all in matches, my 11th leg tended to be in 11 or 12 darts to win me the games. I stuck in there and I've done it before so I know what it takes to win this. It's a marathon and not a sprint, but you've got to take your time. It was a tough final and Michael's a tough opponent and even when I was 5-0 up I knew that he could come back to five-each. Michael showed what a great player he is by coming back, and I knew I had to kill him off. He can rattle off five legs in no time at all, so I needed one good leg to win it and I got that there at the end with the 11-darter. My finishing was superb in the final and that got me through; the 127 and 86 when Michael was on a double were good shots."
Van Gerwen took home the 5,000 pound runner-up prize as well as 5,100pound prize money from the Winners Group - but having taken until Group Five to qualify ended the event as the highest money-earner with 23,400 pound.
His win over Newton in the final round of matches sealed second place in the league table as he won five of his seven league games, and though he avened his 6-0 whitewash to Burnett in the league phase with a 6-2 semi-final triumph, he fell just short of another major title.
Burnett's brilliant 12-minute whitewash of the Dutchman was the Welsh star's highlight of a fine day, as he followed up Tuesday's Group Seven triumph by winning four league games to finish in third place in the league table.
Burnett took home 3,600 pound from the Winners Group as well as 2,500 pound for reaching the semi-finals alongside Newton, who won an additional 3,900 pound on the day as he finished fourth.
Stoke's Ian White and Belgian Kim Huybrechts both won three matches but missed out on the Play-Offs, with Andy Hamilton taking two victories and Terry Jenkins picking up his only victory by overcoming White in the final round of matches to end his opponent's semi-final hopes.