Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor Wins His 16th Matchplay Title In Final Blackpool Performance

Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor Wins His 16th Matchplay Title In Final Blackpool Performance

Phil Taylor Blackpool Match Play

One more for the road for Phil Taylor as he made his glorious bow before impending retirement.

It was the fairy tale ending we were all hoping it would be in Blackpool last Sunday as the greatest darts player of all time marked his final ever appearance in the great ballroom with a championship win. Matching his World Championship tally, victory landed The Power with his 16th Darts Matchplay win.

It was always the win favoured by romantics, but with Michael van Gerwen the current best in the world and in almost unbeatable form for the past two years, most never truly believed it would happen. In fact, Taylor began his campaign last Sunday as a 20/1 outsider, but this being the Winter Gardens, his favourite stage, there was a certain air of inevitability about how things might turn out.

Taylor grabs the momentum

The big change in momentum came in Wednesday night’s quarter final when the big two met, with MVG being cast aside by The Power in surprising and thrilling display which saw Taylor win 16-6. Mighty Mike has barely put a foot wrong in professional darts over the past two seasons, winning just about everything on the table. Here though, he was clearly overwhelmed by such a fanatical crowd as they cheered their English hero. Van Gerwen, who Taylor had branded “stupid” for using a mobile phone during his game with Simon Whitlock, refused to speak to the media afterwards. No matter.

Stoke legend Taylor has been utterly ruthless and dominant in this North-Western venue over the years, as one of only three competitors who have won the event, first held back in 1994. The other two are Dutch pair MVG and Raymond van Barneveld, and it was the latter who became the second victim of Taylor’s run to the final. Famous old foe Barney, went down 11-3 in a somewhat surprisingly comfortable victory.

Fellow Potter, Adrian Lewis was another to fall at the hands of The Power, losing by 17 legs to 9 in the semi-finals, while Gerwyn Price was shot down 10-5 in Taylor’s opening match a week last Sunday.

A legend cements his legacy

All this eventually led to Sunday night’s dream climax as The Power, walking out for the 107th time at this event, met Snakebite in a battle with Peter Wright that went 18-8 in the Englishman’s favour. Wright, hoping to claim his second career TV title, was all that was standing between him and yet another darts record. He was not up to the challenge.

Taylor, in his Matchplay 17th final, averaged 104.24 as he raced to a speedy two leg lead before winning two of the next four while Snakebite foundered. Just a few legs later, the lead, though trimmed, was still massively in The Power’s favour at 8-6. Taylor went on to win the next four legs to move 12-6 up, before Wright landed himself a brilliant but futile 13-darter. By now, 56-year-old Taylor was just four legs away from his record breaking title.

Wright then started to misfire double upon double, and before long, Taylor had landed his seventh 180 to move within touching distance, before victory was secured and history made courtesy of a double 16 in the last leg to seal his 16th title.

The Power himself summed things up, “It’s lovely, it really is and I’ve loved every minute of it. To win a major at my age is fantastic, and I’ve had a tough week when you look at the draw. I’ll miss this place tremendously. I’ve loved it here since the first time I walked through the door. It’s great to win again and it will go down in history, and I’m delighted for everyone who’s supported me.”

A respectfully upset Snakebite added, “Phil is still the best in the world and he’s showed that this week. I’ve watched Phil demolish other players in finals and I was on the other end of that big stick that he normally bashes everyone with but it was a privilege in his last game here.”

Of course, the ultimate dream would be to sign off at the Ally Pally in January with what would be hi 17th World Championship win. Currently. Taylor’s 9/1 with Sky Bet to do exactly that.

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Bank On A Chisnall Checkout in Blackpool

Blackpool World Matchplay betting tips
The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) Darts World Matchplay returns to Blackpool’s Winter Gardens this Saturday.

The nine-day, £450,000 tournament runs from July 16th through July 24th and sees 32 players in competition at the seaside resort. It will be televised live on Sky Sports.

The top sixteen players in the rankings all automatically qualify, while the other sixteen take their places through qualifiers.

Last year’s champion, Michael van Gerwen, beat James Wade in the 2015 final and will take centre stage on Saturday’s opening night as he faces off against qualifier Jamie Caven.

Blackpool Darts Betting Tips

No sooner had the draw been made than organisers, commentators and tipsters began speculating   on what will surely be a wide open battle.

Reigning champion Michael van Gerwen is, as ever, the obvious pick – but where’s the fun in that? St Helens’ own Dave Chisnall lies at a whopping 28/1 at Skybet. He’s the closest thing to a local lad in these parts and if he can get the crowd onside he will be a match for anyone, particularly each way.

Fifteen-time World Matchplay Champion, Phil Taylor, can be backed at 6/1 at Betway where the other second-favourite, Gary Anderson, fresh from his Tokyo win, is ranked a best price 5/1.

Taylor’s round one opponent will be Wallasey’s own Robbie Green, another qualifier, who is ranked number 56 in the world and whose career highlight so far was a second place finish in the British Darts Organisation’s world championship in 2014.

Adrian Lewis, himself a former Blackpool finalist, is 14/1 across the board to claim his first World Matchplay title, while last year’s losing semi-finalist Peter Wright is 16/1 to finally win a major. With both players and Van Gerwen all in the same half of the draw, all three will need to be throwing their best darts if they are to progress.

James Wade, the only other former event champion on the ticket, is a decent price of 22/1 and meets former semi-finalist Mervyn King first up, with the winner seeded to likely meet Raymond van Barneveld who is 28/1 at bet365.

At 100/1, Simon Whitlock is a massive each way pick, and first up meets the unfancied Michael Smith. It will take a massive upturn in fortune for Whitlock but he’s been great in the past, can still beat anyone on a good day and always represents good value.

The first three in the betting are all obvious: Michael van Gerwen 6/5 (Skybet), Gary Anderson 5/1 (Betway), and Phil Taylor. However, on a good day (or if you’re feeling brave and want to look for the long odds), Dave Chisnall can go deep here.

If you want to pick the nationality of the winner you can go with the Netherlands at 21/20 at bet365, England at 2/1 with Skybet and Scotland 100/30 with Betway.

Each nine-dart finish achieved during the World Matchplay will see the event sponsors make a £5,000 donation to Parkinson’s UK, the official charity partner of the Professional Darts Corporation. This has happened six times in tournament history and three times this year alone.

Tourney Structure

Regarded as the second biggest PDC tournament, the World Matchplay began in 1994 and is played in a legs format. The first round concludes on Monday evening, before the second round sees the players in the top half of the draw play on Tuesday and the bottom halfers on Wednesday. This precedes the quarter-finals, which are split across Thursday and Friday before the tournament reaches its climax next weekend.

Saturday July 16

  • Vincent van der Voort v Kyle Anderson
  • Robert Thornton v Josh Payne
  • Michael van Gerwen v Jamie Caven
  • Dave Chisnall v Benito van de Pas

Sunday July 17

Afternoon

  • Stephen Bunting v Mensur Suljovic
  • Kim Huybrechts v Gerwyn Price
  • Terry Jenkins v Justin Pipe
  • Ian White v Daryl Gurney

Evening

  • James Wade v Mervyn King
  • Adrian Lewis v Mark Webster
  • Gary Anderson v Alan Norris
  • Peter Wright v Joe Cullen

Monday July 18

  • Jelle Klaasen v Steve Beaton
  • Raymond van Barneveld v Brendan Dolan
  • Phil Taylor v Robbie Green
  • Michael Smith v Simon Whitlock

Second round

Tuesday July 19

  • Thornton/Payne v Chisnall/van de Pas
  • Wright/Cullen v White/Gurney
  • van Gerwen/Caven v van der Voort/K Anderson
  • Lewis/Webster v Huybrechts/Price

Wednesday July 20

  • Wade/King v van Barneveld/Dolan
  • Smith/Whitlock v Klaasen/Beaton
  • Taylor/Green v Bunting/Suljovic
  • G Anderson/Norris v Jenkins/Pipe

Quarter-Finals

Thursday July 21

  • Wright/Cullen/White/Gurney v Lewis/Webster/Huybrechts/Price
  • van Gerwen/Caven/van der Voort/K Anderson v Thornton/Payne/Chisnall/van de Pas

Friday July 22

  • Wade/King/van Barneveld/Dolan v Taylor/Green/Bunting/Suljovic
  • G Anderson/Norris/Jenkins/Pipe v Smith/Whitlock/Klaasen/Beaton

Semi-Finals

Saturday July 23

Final

Sunday July 24

Tokyo Masters

In last weekend’s Tokyo Masters, Gary Anderson claimed a World Series title for the third time this year. The Scot beat Michael van Gerwen 8-6 in the final on Thursday and adds his latest win to his triumphs in both Dubai and Auckland.

Wednesday’s opening round match against Japanese qualifier Seigo Asada proved, unsurprisingly, to be no trouble at all for Anderson, who then saw off Raymond van Barneveld and Adrian Lewis to seal his spot in the final. Van Gerwen, though, struggled against Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals, before a comfortable 8-3 win over James Wade on his way to meet Anderson.

Van Gerwen began the stronger of two and immediately landed a 180 and a 100 checkout, gifting him the first leg. Anderson though took two out the next three sets to bring the game even. The next two legs also went Anderson’s way, before Van Gerwen fought back and claimed a third after which Anderson cruised home to victory.

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