2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic


The 2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic was a professional darts tournament staged from 1 to 5 July 2009 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the eighth and final staging of the event since the original 2002 edition and the fourth time it took place at the Mandalay Bay Resort. The tournament was the third of five Professional Darts Corporation premier events in the 2009 season. It was broadcast on Sky Sports and was sponsored by the online gambling website PartyPower.com.
Phil Taylor, the tournament's defending champion, defeated Raymond van Barneveld by 13 legs to 11 in the final, winning the fifth Las Vegas Desert Classic tournament of his career. He defeated qualifier Jamie Caven in the first round, Dennis Priestley in the second round, Gary Anderson in the quarter finals, and John Part in the semi-finals. Adrian Lewis achieved the tournament's highest checkout, a 164, in the final leg of his first round match against Vincent van der Voort.

Background and format

The Las Vegas Desert Classic was inaugurated in 2002 as the Professional Darts Corporation's first live televised darts competition in the United States. It was considered difficult to play at because matches took place in the early morning to allow European countries to broadcast the proceedings. The 2009 tournament was held between July 1st and July 5th in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was the third of five PDC-sanctioned premier events of the 2009 season. This was the final year the competition was staged due to the lack of public interest. It was the eighth edition of the tournament and featured a 32-player main draw held at the Mandalay Bay Resort for the fourth successive year.
A total of 20 players, with 16 from the PDC Order of Merit following the 2009 UK Open and 4 from the North American Order of Merit, automatically qualified for the main draw with eight seeds. Phil Taylor was seeded first, and James Wade was seeded second. The remaining 12 places were decided by two five-round qualifying tournaments held at the Mandalay Bay Resort on June 28th and 29th. The maximum number of legs played in a match increased from 11 in the first round to 15 in the second, 19 in the quarter final, and 21 in the semi-finals leading up to the final which was played as best-of-25 legs. Sponsored by the online gambling website PartyPower.com, it had a total prize fund of £200,000 and was broadcast on Sky Sports.
Bookmakers installed Taylor as the favorite to win the tournament. Taylor, who had tweaked his back while riding a bicycle two weeks before the event, commented on his chances: "It’s going to bring the best out of me. It’s what I do for a living. It’s my job. I’ll play well the rest of the week, especially after getting beat in a final."

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for 2009 is shown below:

Qualification

The two qualifying rounds were held on 28 and 29 June at the Mandalay Bay Resort. Nearly 200 players made applications to enter by the time of the deadline for entries on 24 June. The qualifying draw was conducted at 11:00 local time on 28 June. All matches were held as best-of-nine legs, and the first round was played on a 24-board setup in the arena. Players were assigned to six groups and each group winner qualified for the main draw. Both qualifying tournaments had a total of 24 seeds. The losing players from the first tournament entered the second on 29 June to determine the remaining six main draw entrants.
Jelle Klaasen beat Mark Webster, a former BDO world champion, James Barton and Dennis Smith with checkouts of 146 and 149 in the final two legs of his fifth round match to qualify. Fellow Dutchman Vincent van der Voort was the second qualifier, defeating Louis Blundell, Ian Jopling, Ken MacNeil and Tony Eccles. Co Stompé made two 5–0 whitewashes before beating Michael van Gerwen 5–4 and whitewashing Nick Fullwell to qualify. Peter Wright, who entered the top 100 in 2009, beat Andy Smith 5–3 to debut in the tournament. Simon Whitlock, who was undefeated on the 2009 DartPlayers Australia circuit, won his first three matches without losing a leg before beating Mark Dudbridge and Barrie Bates to return to PDC competition. Jamie Caven made 14, 11 and 13-dart finishes to win 5–4 victory over Shane O'Connor and become the final player to qualify from the first day's play.
Peter Manley, the 2003 champion, entered the main draw by whitewashing Bryan de Hoog 5–0. Colin Monk recovered from losing in the second round of the first qualifiers to defeat Ken MacNeil 5–3 in the final round of the second competition. Two-time Las Vegas Desert Classic semi-finalist Wes Newton beat Graham Warburton, Mark Carter, Paul Lim and Roland Scholten to qualify. Gary Anderson beat Dudbridge and Sam Rooney to qualify, and Phillip Hazel and Blundell made their televised debuts after defeating Barrie Bates and Mark Lawrence, respectively.

Round 1

The draw for the first round of the championship was conducted in the Islander Ballroom at the Mandalay Bay Resort on the evening of 30 June. The first round of the event, in which the 12 PDC Order of Merit and 4 North America Order of America entrants played the 12 qualifiers, was held between 1 and 2 July. Dennis Priestley earned a 6–1 victory over Monk as Newton claimed a 6–3 win against Alan Tabern. Colin Lloyd, who had lost in the first round of the previous three Las Vegas tournaments, beat Wright 6–3. Ronnie Baxter, a semi-finalist at the UK Open and Las Vegas Players' Championship winner, lost 6–2 against Klaasen. Terry Jenkins, the losing finalist at the 2007 event, defeated qualifier Whitlock 6–1, and Taylor came through his back trouble to average 102 in his 6–3 win over Caven.
produced the tournament's highest checkout of 164 in the first round
Anderson went into his game against Wayne Mardle requiring treatment for an allergic reaction to an energy drink he had the day before and hit six out of seven tries at a outer double ring to win 6–2. John Part, the 2006 winner, defeated the North American Darts Championship victor Scott Burnett 6–2. Part took a 4–0 lead from finishes of 117 and 90 points and 14 darts before finishes on the double 16 and double 10 outer rings from Burnett on his television debut reduced the deficit to 4–2. Part completed the victory by winning legs seven and eight to enter the second round. Mervyn King commenced his third Las Vegas campaign by winning 6–3 against Blundell. Tied at 3–3, King finished on the double 13 outer ring to take the lead and made an 11-dart finish in leg eight and finishing on the double four outer ring in the ninth leg to win after Blundell missed three times.
Andy Hamilton, a quarter-finalist in the 2008 tournament, led 4–0 over Chris White before his opponent won leg five after Hamilton missed a double ring three times. Hamilton won the next two legs to win 6–1. Manley requited him falling out of the world's top 16 by defeating Mark Walsh 6–4. Both players shared the first four legs before a 106 checkout and finishes on the bullseye ring and the double eight and 12 rings gave Manley a 5–2 lead. Manley won 6–4 on the double 12 ring. Stompé beat Colin Osborne 6–4; Stompé led 3–1 after Osborne missed four darts to strike a double ring before Osborne tied the match at 4–4. He prevented a final leg decider by winning leg 10 on a 13-dart finish.
Raymond van Barneveld won the first two legs of his match against Bill Davis, who claimed the third on the double 10 outer ring. Van Barneveld claimed the next two legs before Davis used a missed 124 finish from the former to claim leg six. The match was won by Van Barneveld 6–2 with finishes on the double 16 and 9 rings. Wade, the 2009 Premier League Darts champion, overturned a 3–3 tie with Hazel from missed hits at a double ring to enter the second round with a 6–3 victory after finishes on the double 20 and 9 outer rings. Adrian Lewis edged out Van Der Voort 6–5 in a closely-contested game. Both players took turns to lead the match, which went to a final leg decider that Lewis won on the bullseye ring from a 164 checkout. In the final first round match, Kevin Painter came from tying 2–2 with Darin Young to claim four successive legs and win 6–2.

Round 2

The second round on 3 July consisted of eight 15 leg matches. Wade became the first player through to the quarter-finals with a 8–4 win over Hamilton. The match began with Hamilton leading 2–1 before Wade won four legs in a row to go 5–2 ahead. Hamilton moved to 6–4 before Wade completed the victory, saying afterwards he took advantage of his opponent's misses. Taylor whitewashed Priestley 8–0, who had two chances at a double ring. Taylor said post-match he felt uncomfortable and it was hard to whitewash a fellow professional player. Lewis beat Manley 8–1 in their third meeting in Las Vegas. Manley took the first leg after Lewis twice missed the double 20 outer ring. Lewis achieved five maximum scores and used errors from Manley to seal the victory. Part and Klaasen played the fourth second round match. The lead exchanged four times between Klaasen and Part and the two went to a final leg decider. Klaasen failed to hit the bullseye ring to complete a 84 checkout and Part finished with a 80 point checkout on the double ten ring to claim a 8–7 victory and remain unbeaten in his career against his opponent.
Anderson contested the fifth second round match with Newton. Anderson opened a 4–0 advantage, before he missed six darts to lead 5–0, with Newton hitting the double eight ring to claim the fifth leg. Finishes on the double eight and four rings gave Anderson two more legs, which Newton followed by clinching the following two legs. Three missed chances to hit a double from Newton allowed Anderson to win 8–3. Van Barneveld played fellow Dutchman Stompé and held a 5–2 lead when he failed to achieve a nine-dart finish in winning the eighth leg after his ninth dart missed the double 12 outer ring. He then won the following three legs to finish an 8–2 victory, and extend his unbeaten career wins record against Stompé. Jenkins faced Lloyd and took a 3–0 lead. He twice failed to win the fourth leg that Lloyd took on the double four outer ring. Jenkins struck the double top outer ring for a 4–1 lead before Lloyd won two legs in a row to be 4–3 behind. Jenkins clinched the next four legs to go through to the quarter-finals with a 8–4 win. The final second round match saw King and Painter end with a final leg decider that King won on a 13-dart finish.

Quarter-finals

The four quarter-finals were played as best-of-19 legs on 4 July; the start was delayed by 40 minutes due to the need to reestablish a television feed with Sky Sports in the United Kingdom. Part played Jenkins in the first quarter-final. Part achieved checkouts of 112 and 78 to take a 3–0 lead. A 88 checkout gave Jenkins the fourth leg and hit the double 14 outer ring to go 3–2 behind. Part won four frames in a row before Jenkins claimed six of the next eight to be 9–8 behind. Part won the 18th leg on the double four outer ring to win the match 10–8. Van Barneveld was drawn against King in the second quarter-final. Van Barneveld took a 6–0 lead with two 13-dart finishes and hitting the double 20 and 16 outer rings. King won a single leg in the seventh from a maximum score and hitting the double 16 outer ring to stop him being whitewashed. Van Barneveld won 10–1 to eliminate King from the quarter-finals for the second time in three years with three 13-dart finishes in succession. Van Barneveld, who averaged 104 points in the match, commented on the match: "10-1 was a great result but I never thought it would be that easy. I'm happy with this win and hopefully I can play well again on Sunday."
Anderson and Taylor were the two players in the third quarter-final. Taylor took the first leg with a 13-dart finish before Anderson won the next two legs to go 3–1 ahead. The match went to 4–4 until Taylor made it 6–4 and later 8–5. Anderson made a 84 checkout to lower the deficit before Taylor prevented him from making a 61 checkout in the 14th leg, which he won. A 14-dart finish and hitting the double 20 outer ring gave Taylor a 10–6 victory. The final quarter-final match was between Lewis and Wade. The lead was 3–1 to Wade and he struck the double 20 outer ring in two of the next three legs to extend the score to 5–4. Wade prevented Lewis from tying the game at 5–5 by finishing the 10th leg on the double 20 outer ring before Lewis took the 11 on the double eight outer ring. He then clinched three legs in succession to move within one leg of victory at 9–5. Lewis struck the double 19 outer ring kept him in contention until Wade finished on the double 11 outer ring to win the match 10–6 and the final semi-final berth. Wade said it was not "a vintage performance" against his opponent and called it "a battle and I came through it".

Semi-finals and final

Both of the semi-finals took place on 5 July and were best-of-21 legs. The first semi-final was between Taylor and Part. Taylor began with a failed attempt to achieve a nine-dart finish in the first leg which he finished in ten dart throws. Part claimed the second leg with a 117 checkout before Taylor made a 13-dart finish to break the tie. Taylor won the next two legs and used an error from Part in leg five to go 4–1 in front. Taylor won the remaining six legs to win the match 10–1 with an average of near to 108 and went through to the final; he had a second try at achieving a nine-dart finish by hitting two consecutive maximum scores but he missed the eighth throw. Taylor said he was delighted to qualify for the final and that he used Part's poor play than had been observed earlier in the competition.
Van Barneveld faced Wade in the other semi-final. Wade took a 2–1 advantage which Van Barneveld cancelled out with eight of the nine following legs. Wade hit the double ten and eight outer rings to lower his deficit to Van Barneveld before the latter hit the double 16 outer ring to be within one leg of reaching the final. A finish on the double six outer ring allowed Wade to reduce the deficit by one leg before Van Barneveld finished on the double 16 outer ring to win 10–6 and requite his loss to Wade in the semi-final of the Premier League Darts. Post-match, Van Barneveld stated he was relaxed all through the competition and praised the quality of play. He said he was unhappy not to reach the final of the Premier League Darts but believed he could win the Las Vegas Desert Classic, adding: "Phil will have to play his best darts to beat me."
The best-of-25 legs final between Taylor and Van Barneveld was held on the afternoon of 5 July before 1,000 people. The Sky Sports team called the match "a dream final" because the two finalists were ranked first and third in the PDC Order of Merit and that they did not play each other for a long period of time since Van Barneveld competed on the British Darts Organisation circuit. Eric Bristow, a Sky Sports commentator, commented that Van Barneveld had to "play at his very, very, very best" to defeat Taylor.
The final began with a maximum score from Taylor, who won the first leg with a 13-dart finish. Taylor took a 3–0 lead after Van Barneveld was unable to hit the double 18 outer ring in the third leg. Van Barneveld entered the first interval 3–2 behind Taylor with consecutive finishes on the bullseye ring. He then produced three maximum scores from two successive 11-dart finishes to lead Taylor 4–3 and won a fifth leg in a row on the double two outer ring. Taylor won the next five legs to reclaim the lead before Van Barneveld retook it on the double 18 ring in a 13-dart finish. He then moved back into the lead with another two legs won and he followed with another three legs to hold an 11–7 advantage. The next three legs were won by Van Barneveld before Taylor produced an 11-dart finish to move within one leg of victory.. Van Barneveld finished on the double 16 outer ring to win an 11th leg and delay the win. The next leg saw Taylor win 13–11 and the tournament with a checkout of 104.
It was Taylor's fifth Las Vegas Desert Classic win, and the third time he beat Van Barneveld in the final of a major competition. He earned £30,000 prize money for winning the tournament. Taylor commented on the success: "I'm delighted. It was a super final to be involved in and, in the end, I broke his spirit I think." He added, "Raymond raised his game and there were times during the early stages when I wasn't even getting a chance at a double." Van Barneveld said Taylor was the world's best player and was disappointed to have lost the final. Van Barneveld left the arena upset and his friend apologised to the tournament director for his behaviour.

Draw

Numbers given to the left of players' names show the seedings for the tournament's top 8 players. The 12 non-automatic qualifiers are indicated by a. The figures in brackets to the right of a competitor's name state their three-dart averages in a match. Players in bold denote match winners.