They say a good wine gets better with age; well Phil Taylor was in vintage form in the McCoy’s Premier League Darts on Thursday night, setting a new record in the process.
Taylor’s crown has slipped a little in recent years, with Adrian Lewis having won the PDC World Championship for the last two years and Gary Anderson going into the current Premier League Darts season as defending champion.
Fifteen-time world champ The Power has been absolutely incredible over the first four weeks of the 2012 Premier League, hitting a nine-darter against Kevin Painter two weeks ago and averaging over 112 in dismantling old foe Raymond van Barneveld last week.
And he was even better against Australian wizard Simon Whitlock last night, setting a new Premier League Darts record with an incredible average of 117.35.
He was 80% on doubles, missing just two darts to win legs during his 8-4 victory.
Making the match even more special was the fact that Whitlock was in exceptional form too, posting an average just short of 106 and coming within a whisker of an unbelievable 132 outshot, firing two darts into the bullseye before missing Double-16 by a fraction.
The whole match is below – it’s worth 20 minutes of your time if you’ve nothing more important to do.
In Thursday night’s other games in the McCoy’s Premier League Darts’ Exeter leg, double world champ Adrian Lewis was whupped 8-1 by Gary Anderson, James Wade grabbed his first win of the season against Kevin Painter and Barneveld edged out Andy Hamilton.
The table now sees Taylor lead the way on seven points from his four games, one ahead of defending champion Anderson.
McCoy’s Premier League Darts visits Dublin for the first time when it takes place at the O2 on Thursday 22 March. For ticket details, click here. We’re also running a series inspired by darts’ unique list of nicknames. For artists, hammers and more, check this out.
