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PDC PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS – THE FINALS 2005
It had been a long but entertaining haul for darts fans and the players involved. Darts first ever regular tv show ‘Premier League Darts’ began in January 2005 and played through a series of roughly fortnightly heats with the top four players progressing to a semi-finals and final at the end of May. The venue was the Manchester Gmex and four of the world’s best players were to battle it out to see who would lift the inaugural Premier League title.
Three players that wouldn’t be taking part were those that finished 5th to 7th in the league. Wayne Mardle had a disastrous start to the league but his form improved as the weeks went on. He almost made it through but for a last minute defeat at the hands of Colin Lloyd, who had notched up his first ever win on TV against ‘Hawaii 501’.
John Part struggled to show the form that won him the World Championships in 2003 and perhaps a combination of long distance commuting (between Canada and the UK) and some unconvincing form in recent tournaments took its toll. There were glimpses of the old John Part but his famous consistency appeared to desert him during this league.
Mark Dudbridge started off well in the league, on the back of his World final appearance against Phil Taylor but as the weeks went by again he struggled with consistency. Healthy leads were given away courtesy of missed doubles and in the end these cost ‘Flash’ dearly.
So onto Manchester. With £50,000 available to the winner the pressure was on the four semi-finalists…
First up was Colin Lloyd against Peter Manley. In the recent preceding weeks Manley seemed to be the form horse and a few including Sky’s own Sid Waddell thought that Manley could cause an upset. Early doors in the best of 25 legs match it was neck and neck with all going with throw and 3 legs apiece. Manley went ahead 4-3 and Lloyd then held his throw with a 140 checkout. Then an important break of Manley’s throw for Lloyd to take the lead 5-4. From there on it was a case of missed doubles for Manley as Lloyd took the next two to make it 7-4. A couple of legs later the averages were beginning to paint the story of the match. Lloyd on 97 with Manley on 92. At 10-6, Manley rallied with a 161 checkout to make it 10-7. But the comeback was all to brief as Lloyd won the match by taking the next three legs, 13-7 to “Jaws”. (Lloyd’s finishing average was around 96.0, with Manley around 94.0).
In the post match interview Lloyd turned his annoyance against Sid Waddell for tipping Manley. “I am the world number one, so give me some respect and credit.”
Waddell fired back in a later interview that while Lloyd may indeed be ranked the world number one, he “is not Tayloresque”.
The second semi-final was expected to be a comfortable win for Phil Taylor over Roland Scholten but it just shows that anything can happen in Darts. The first two legs both went against the darts and surprisingly it was the Dutchman who took hold early going up 3-1 with a 106 average (Taylor 90). Scholten went to 5-2, and then two more breaks of throw put Scholten ahead 8-6. The same happened again (both players breaking throw) for Scholten to lead 9-7. The “Tripod” took the next leg to lead 10-7. Could the unthinkable be about to happen? (Both players now averaging 91). Scholten held on to lead 11-8 before Taylor fired back with a 143 checkout. That seemed to be a key turning point with Taylor coming back to 10-11 behind. In the 22nd leg Scholten missed 7 darts at a double and Taylor brought the match back level. That seemed to be it and indeed it was as Taylor won 13-11 and Scholten was left to despair over his final loss of nerve that cost him the match.
Taylor said afterwards, “The last hurdle is always the hardest to get over. I was shaking.”
The final was a quality game but in some ways a disappointment as it was so one-sided. An early break to Taylor put him 4-1 up against Lloyd and that was it really in the best of 31 legs match. Lloyd did break back to trail 2-5 but Taylor soon raced to 8-2. 16-4 in the end to Taylor and with it the first Premier League Darts title and £50,000.