John Part won his first PDC ranking title for over 18 months with a brilliant 6-4 defeat of emerging star Stuart Kellett in the final of the UK Masters at the Butlins Minehead Resort last night.
The Canadian three-time World Champion had dropped to 25th in the PDC Order of Merit since winning a Players Championship in Canada in August 2011, but rolled back the years with a weekend of thrilling displays as he took the £20,000 first prize.
Part overcame Kim Huybrechts and Gary Anderson to reach Sunday’s final stages in the year’s first £100,000 European Tour event, before coming from 5-2 down to defeat Austria’s Mensur Suljovic and reach the quarter-finals.
He then saw off Simon Whitlock and Adrian Lewis to move into the final, where he came from 2-1 down to claim a 6-4 win.
Kellett, appearing in his first PDC final, hit double eight and then took out 122 as he took two of the opening three legs, and he also landed double ten to lead 3-2 before Part began his charge.
The Canadian hit a 180 as he levelled in leg six, broke throw with a superb 13-darter and then hit a maximum and double ten to move 5-3 up and to the brink of victory.
Kellett hit tops to stay in the game in the ninth leg after Part missed double 12 for a 144 finish which would have given him victory, but when the Cheshire thrower missed four darts to force a decider he took out 78 in two darts to complete the triumph.
The £20,000 first prize moves Part back up to 21st in the world rankings, but will also significantly help him to qualify for the year’s major televised events through the ProTour Order of Merit.
“It feels awesome,” said Part. “I’ve been working hard for the last couple of years and not had much luck but it’s a hard tour, and it feels really good to get a win.
“It’s huge for me but I’m still sticking to my plans and I’ll be hitting every event because I want to prove that I’m still a force in the game – and this is a very good step towards that.
“I’m so happy and I’m glad the hard work has paid off. It was a packed venue and it was great to see so many fans here, and they made it worthwhile.”
Kellett, a 31-year-old web designer from Northwich, had joined the PDC circuit just over a year ago and qualified for the World Championship last year, and picked up the joint biggest pay-day of his burgeoning career with the £10,000 runner-up cheque.
He also impressed throughout the weekend, whitewashing Peter Wright in Friday’s first round before overcoming Colin Lloyd, Dave Chisnall, Robert Thornton and Andy Hamilton to reach the final.
“It’s amazing,” said Kellett, a former World Masters runner-up. “I’ve still got a full-time job but I want to go full-time in darts so that I can fulfil what I want to do, and hopefully this is a stepping stone to doing that.
“I’ve shown what I can do this weekend, so hopefully I’ll keep it going now and kick on.”
Kellett added: “Fair play to John, he took his chances in the final and for the first time this weekend I missed my doubles, but I’d have settled for getting to the final.”
Hamilton had earlier defeated World Champion Phil Taylor for only the second time in his career as he took a 6-3 win from their memorable quarter-final,
Taylor opened with legs of 12, 12 and 13 darts as he led 3-2 with an average of over 120, but Hamilton took four successive legs with some fine finishing to claim the win.
Hamilton was unable to repeat the performance as he went down 6-3 in the semis, while fellow Stoke thrower Adrian Lewis lost out 6-2 to Part in the last four after producing some superb darts to drop only three legs earlier in the day in wins over Mark Webster and James Wade.
The next European Tour event will be held at the Glaspalast in Sindelfingen, Germany, from March 30-April 1, with a total of eight £100,000 events being held throughout 2013.
UK Masters – European Tour Event One Sunday March 10 Quarter-Finals Stuart Kellett 6-1 Robert Thornton Phil Taylor 3-6 Andy Hamilton Simon Whitlock 4-6 John Part Adrian Lewis 6-2 James Wade Losers £3,000
Semi-Finals Stuart Kellett 6-3 Andy Hamilton John Part 6-2 Adrian Lewis Losers £5,000
Final Stuart Kellett 4-6 John Part Winner £20,000 Runner-Up £10,000