The Darts Premier League is back and better than ever. The competition has be vamped up to ten top dartists and every single one of them lit up the Odyssey Arena in the first week of what should be the fiercest darting competition ever.
There was rematch of the World Championship final and Phil Taylor was perhaps lucky to earn the first 6-6 draw in the Premier League against the rampant Michael Van Gerwen. The rejuvenated Raymond Van Barneveld started the campaign with a convincing win over Gary Anderson, as did Simon Whitlock over the flailing former World Champion, Adrian Lewis. There was also a debut win for Robert Thornton over Andy Hamilton but Wes Newton's debut didn't quite go to plan, losing to James Wade.
The match of the night was the one the crowd had been waiting for all night, Taylor versus Van Gerwen. Nine darters are almost becoming a commodity and the Belfast crowd were almost treated to one in the opening leg when Taylor fired six perfect darts. Unfortunately, he missed the treble-20 with his seventh but was able to return to take the first leg. It wasn't vintage Taylor and six missed darts at the double allowed Van Gerwen to storm to a 3-1 lead.
The Dutchman returned the favour as he missed three darts to take a 4-2 lead and Taylor punished him with an 89-checkout on the bull to level the match. It didn't deter Van Gerwen and he soon regained his momentum to take the next two legs to go 5-3 in front. That soon became 6-4 as Van Gerwen had guaranteed himself at least a point on his Premier League debut. It should have been both points after the Dutchman fired six perfect darts of his own before also missing treble-20 with his seventh. But Van Gerwen would then miss five darts to win the game and Taylor forced a deciding leg. With 16-World Championships now under his belt, Taylor never knows when he his beaten and he rescued a point with a classy 104-checkout, ending the night in style.
Van Barneveld posted a 102-average in his opening statement against Anderson. It began looking like it could have been one of those nights for the Dutchman as he outscored Anderson but missed four darts in the opening leg before finding himself 2-0 behind. Anderson went 3-1 ahead with a 106-checkout, making it three out of three on the double.
But the Anderson doubling woes returned as he missed seven darts in legs six and seven, giving Barney a 4-3 lead. With flawless scoring, Van Barneveld soon moved to within a leg of victory at 6-3. The Dutchman then missed a dart to win it in the following as Anderson just kept the tie alive. But it didn't cause any nerves in Van Barneveld who quickly took the next leg to win the match 7-4 and start the tournament in the best possible way.
Whitlock will sit on top of the table after the first week with a 7-3 demolition of Lewis. A 108-checkout was necessary for Whitlock to hold his throw and go 2-1 ahead. The first five darts all went with throw before a monumental 121-checkout from the Aussie broke the pattern to go 4-2 ahead.
Lewis was able to break back in the next leg but then crucially missed two darts at the double to hold again, allowing Whitlock to make it three breaks on the trot and to go 5-3 ahead. Lewis' inconsistency continued and he missed five darts to keep himself in the game at 6-4, giving Whitlock the four leg victory which could be vital come what may at the end of the first phase.
Many had already written Thornton out of the tournament before he had even thrown a dart in his debut Premier League year. But the Scot proved why he has been selected with checkouts of 104 and 117 to take a 4-1 lead after losing the opening leg, without missing a dart at the double. Thornton did then miss four darts in the sixth leg but Hamilton couldn't find double-16 for a 99-checkout and the Scot returned to take out three and go 5-1 in front.
But Hamilton showed why he is renowned for his tenacity and why he had got to at least the quarter final stage in all the major tournaments last year, except the UK Open which Thornton won. The Hammer reeled off the three legs on the spin the close the gap. Hamilton then missed a dart to level the match but Thornton couldn't capitalise, missing two darts at double top and Hamilton did come back to make it 5-5. Thornton managed to recover and fired in a magical 120-Shanghai finish to give himself a point before managing the win the match in the final leg, making it a fantastic debut for the Scotsman.
The same couldn't be said for Newton who was easily the most nervous player on the night. Newton missed three darts at the double in the second leg. Fortunately, Wade wasn't on a finish so Newton could return to level the match. He wasn't so lucky in the next leg when he missed three great chances to break the Wade throw. But Wade wasn't immune to missing doubles either, missing three to allow Newton to level the game once more.
Another five missed doubles from Newton again allowed Wade to somehow hold his throw before the Machine managed to break and go 5-2 in front. Newton was able to find a break of his own in the ninth leg to reduce the arrears to 5-4. The tenth leg was an extremely tense with Newton needing to hold to level the match. Both players agonisingly missed three darts to win it before Wade finally took it on double five which then propelled him to take the next leg to win the match 7-4.
The oche moves from Northern Ireland to Scotland for week two as Aberdeen is set to give a hero's welcome to both Anderson and Thornton. Thornton faces Van Gerwen and Anderson faces Whitlock. The big game sees Lewis once again face his mentor, Taylor. Newton's start to life in the Premier League doesn't get any better as he faces Van Barneveld. Wade versus Hamilton completes next week's line-up.
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