Barney Wins Inaugural Las Vegas Players Championship
RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD prevailed in a deciding leg shoot-out against Terry Jenkins to win the inaugural Las Vegas Players Championship.The Dutchman had an ideal warm-up for the Las Vegas Desert Classic at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino by winning a fourth PDC Pro Tour event of 2007.
He had reached the final with four 3-0 whitewashes in his six games, with Jimmy Mann (3-2) and Lionel Sams (3-1) taking sets from the World Champion.
Van Barneveld has opened with a 3-0 victory against Alan Matthews, and three successive wins by the same scoreline against Kevin Painter, Roland Scholten and then in the semis against Dennis Priestley set up a clash with Jenkins.
The Dutchman - last year's Desert Classic runner-up - came from 1-0 down to win the first set, before Jenkins took out a 143 finish on his way to the second.
Two straight legs gave van Barneveld the third, but a 116 finish in the deciding leg of set four sent the match into the final set.
A pressure double nine with his last dart gave van Barneveld leg on, before Jenkins replied against the throw with a fourth 180 of the match to win the second and ensure that the contest went to the last leg.Jenkins opened with back-to-back 140s but three slack scores allowed van Barneveld in to take out 48 for a 14-darter and the match.
Jenkins had also reached the final by dropping sets in just to matches.
Having opened with whitewashes over Gary Blades and American Chris White, he was taken to a decider by both Darin Young and James Wade.
He then saw off Barrie Bates 3-0 in the quarter-finals and hit back from losing the opening leg in his semi-final against Mervyn King to win six in a row and the match.
Ray Carver was the furthest American, losing to King in a deciding set at the quarter-final stage, while Bill Davis lost in the last 16 to Priestley.
Pictures courtesy FM Harris/Bulls-Eye News
Las Vegas Players Championship Results
| Final Raymond van Barneveld 3-2 Terry Jenkins (2-1, 0-2, 2-0, 1-2, 2-1) Winner £5000 Runner-Up £2500 Semi-Finals Terry Jenkins 3-0 Mervyn King (2-1, 2-0, 2-0) Raymond van Barneveld 3-0 Dennis Priestley (2-0, 2-1, 2-0) Losers £1250 |
| Quarter-Finals Mervyn King 3-2 Ray Carver Terry Jenkins 3-0 Barrie Bates Raymond van Barneveld 3-0 Roland Scholten Dennis Priestley 3-2 Colin Lloyd Losers £600 |
| (Last 16) Ray Carver 3-2 Mark Dudbridge Mervyn King 3-2 Wayne Mardle Terry Jenkins 3-2 James Wade Barrie Bates 3-2 Adrian Gray Raymond van Barneveld 3-0 Kevin Painter Roland Scholten 3-1 Adrian Lewis Dennis Priestley 3-0 Bill Davis Colin Lloyd 3-1 Ronnie Baxter Losers £300 |
| Round Four (Last 32) Ray Carver 3-0 Kevin McDine Mark Dudbridge 3-2 Andy Jenkins Wayne Mardle 3-0 David Fatum Mervyn King 3-1 John Part Terry Jenkins 3-2 Darin Young James Wade 3-1 Alan Tabern Adrian Gray 3-0 Darren Latham Barrie Bates 3-2 Wes Newton Raymond van Barneveld 3-1 Lionel Sams Kevin Painter 3-1 Denis Ovens Adrian Lewis 3-1 Bob Anderson Roland Scholten 3-0 Alan Warriner-Little Dennis Priestley 3-1 Alex Roy Bill Davis 3-1 Andy Smith Colin Lloyd 3-0 Dave Askew Ronnie Baxter 3-0 Colin Osborne Losers £150 |
| Round Three (Last 64) Kevin McDine 3-2 Stephen Panuncialman Ray Carver 3-1 Richard Espinosa Andy Jenkins 3-2 Brad Wethington Mark Dudbridge 3-0 Steve Hine Wayne Mardle 3-0 Sean Palfrey David Fatum 3-1 Jim Widmayer John Part 3-1 Michael Barnard Mervyn King 3-0 Mark Walsh Terry Jenkins 3-0 Chris White Darin Young 3-2 Dennis Smith James Wade 3-0 Don Campos Alan Tabern 3-1 Gerry Convery Adrian Gray 3-2 Peter Manley Darren Latham 3-0 Mark Nielson Barrie Bates 3-0 Paul Burke Wes Newton 3-2 Tom Wilson Raymond van Barneveld 3-2 Jimmy Mann Lionel Sams 3-2 Ron Peppers Kevin Painter 3-2 Scottie Burnett Denis Ovens 3-0 Larry Butler Adrian Lewis 3-0 Ryan Barnett Bob Anderson 3-2 Dan Olson Roland Scholten 3-0 Alan Caves Alan Warriner-Little 3-0 Steve Hills Dennis Priestley 3-0 Colin Monk Alex Roy 3-1 Dan Zimmerman Bill Davis 3-1 Andy Hamilton Andy Smith 3-1 Isen Veljic Colin Lloyd 3-0 Fred Boddey Dave Askew 3-0 Simon Craven Ronnie Baxter 3-0 Stacy Bromberg Colin Osborne 3-1 Vincent van der Voort Losers £75 |
| Round Two Kevin McDine w/o Phil Taylor Stephen Panuncialman 3-1 Frank Hernandez Richard Espinosa 3-1 John MaGowan Ray Carver 3-2 Darren Webster Andy Jenkins 3-0 Roger Jolliff Brad Wethington 3-1 Brian Jones Steve Hine 3-0 Jon Archer Mark Dudbridge 3-0 Martyn Turner Wayne Mardle 3-0 Ben Hendon Sean Palfrey 3-0 Geoff Hubbard David Fatum 3-0 Gordon Dixon Jim Widmayer 3-1 Mick McGowan John Part 3-1 Andy Callaby Michael Barnard 3-0 Dana Dayton Mervyn King 3-0 Adrian W Lewis Mark Walsh 3-0 Scott Lee Terry Jenkins 3-0 Gary Blades Chris White 3-0 Karl Hartmann Darin Young 3-1 Joseph Swick Dennis Smith 3-0 Brian Cathcart James Wade w/o Larry McInally Don Campos 3-2 Dave Watson Gerry Convery 3-1 Dave Forsyth Alan Tabern 3-1 Jason Clark Peter Manley w/o Paul Lim Adrian Gray 3-0 Jim Howuth Mark Nielson 3-2 Greg Wheeler Darren Latham 3-1 Steve Beaton Barrie Bates 3-2 Jelle Klaasen Paul Burke w/o Dave Honey Tom Wilson 3-0 Scott Kirchner Wes Newton 3-2 Richie Burnett Raymond van Barneveld 3-0 Alan Matthews Jimmy Mann 3-0 Tony Eccles Ron Peppers 3-0 Justin Mulholland Lionel Sams 3-0 Robert Watson-Lang Kevin Painter 3-0 Kjetil Berg Scottie Burnett 3-0 Mark McGuigan Larry Butler 3-1 Bruce Graham Denis Ovens 3-1 Steve Smith Adrian Lewis 3-0 Tim Nicoll Ryan Barnett 3-1 Michael Petracelli Dan Olson 3-1 Paul Harrison Bob Anderson 3-1 John Quantock Roland Scholten 3-0 Steve Maish Alan Caves 3-2 Geoff Wylie Steve Hills 3-2 Wil Tan Alan Warriner-Little 3-1 Joe Devanti Dennis Priestley 3-0 Martin Burchell Colin Monk 3-1 Andrew Davies Dan Zimmerman 3-1 John Kuczynski Alex Roy 3-0 John Rutherford Andy Hamilton 3-0 Eddie Lawrence Bill Davis 3-1 Bobby Peters Isen Veljic 3-0 Ben Burton Andy Smith 3-2 Steve Brown Colin Lloyd 3-1 Ron Colvard Fred Boddey 3-1 Ian Critchett Simon Craven 3-1 Tom Jackowski Dave Askew 3-2 Dave Ladley Stacy Bromberg 3-1 Andrew Bennett Ronnie Baxter 3-1 Bob Avenall Vincent van der Voort 3-1 Gary Mawson Colin Osborne 3-1 Michael van Gerwen |
| Round One Ray Carver 3-0 Mark Mulkey Martyn Turner 3-0 Robert Race Jim Widmayer 3-1 Steve Grubb Scott Lee 3-1 Chris Peake Brian Cathcart 3-0 Terry Stewart Jason Clark 3-0 John McGowan Darren Latham 3-2 John Ferrell Richie Burnett 3-2 Matt Clark Robert Watson-Lang 3-0 Ken Dobson Steve Smith 3-0 Mark Tiller John Quantock 3-0 John Blankeship Joe Davanti 3-0 Alvin Martin John Rutherford 3-0 Alexander Plachutin Steve Brown 3-1 Thomas Trimmer Dave Ladley 3-1 William Bell Bob Avenall 3-2 Danny Marineau Michael van Gerwen 3-0 Bryan Webb |