The Saint Triumphs In Wigan!
ALAN TABERN tasted victory on rival soil - winning the North-West Players Championship in Wigan with a 3-0 defeat of Chris Mason.The St Helens thrower, and avid rugby league fan, triumphed at the Robin Park Tennis Centre - just yards from the JJB Stadium, home of St Helens' rivals Wigan Warriors.
Tabern, the world number 14, was in exceptional form to defeat Mason in the final, after earlier taking wins against Terry Jenkins, Mervyn King and Wayne Mardle.
Tabern defied a 140 finish from Mason to take the first set of the final 2-1 against the throw.
He led in the second before Mason landed a 13-darter to level, only for the local favourite to delight his supporters with a 161 finish to take the set - with his opponent waiting on 24.
Tabern stepped up a gear, landing two 140s and a maximum in a 13-darter to open the third set, and he landed another 180 to open the next before taking out double 16 at the first attempt for victory and the £5,000 winners cheque.
"That's very pleasing," said Tabern. "To win in Wigan is great - there's a great rivalry in the rugby and it's special, although I do want Wigan's football team to do well!
"But for me this is a great win. It's my first for exactly two years and it was very important in the Order of Merit because I had £4,000 coming off this weekend."
He added: "Every game is hard, and I've had to play well to win this. If someone told me I'd defeat Mervyn King, Wayne Mardle and Chris Mason to win this I'd have snatched their hands off, but that's what I've done."
Mason was a 3-1 winner against Michael van Gerwen in the semis, and also knocked out world number three James Wade and Roland Scholten to reach his second final of the year.
Mardle had earlier missed double 18 for a nine-darter during his win over Jelle Klaasen - whose fellow Dutchman Vincent van der Voort wired double 12 in his bid for a perfect leg, which boasts a £12,000 prize fund in Players Championship events.
Colin Lloyd and Peter Manley had also failed in nine-darter attempts on the eighth dart during the day.
Van Gerwen's run to the last four followed his quarter-final appearance in the Blue Square UK Open Southern Regional Final a fortnight ago.
Mardle included Ronnie Baxter and Colin Lloyd among his victims en route to the semis, with Baxter edging out Phil Taylor in the last 16.
Dennis Priestley reached the last 16 on his return to action after a prostate cancer operation in January, coming from 2-0 down to win against fellow Yorkshireman Chris Thompson in the last 32 before losing to Scholten.
Wade, Terry Jenkins and Andy Hamilton were other players from the world's top ten to fall in the last 16, with Kevin Dowling among the quarter-finalists following a fine day.
North-West Players Championship
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Final Alan Tabern 3-0 Chris Mason (2-1, 2-1, 2-0) Winner £5,000 Runner-Up £2,500
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| Semi-Finals Alan Tabern 3-1 Wayne Mardle Chris Mason 3-1 Michael van Gerwen Losers £1,250
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| Quarter-Finals Wayne Mardle 3-0 Ronnie Baxter Alan Tabern 3-1 Mervyn King Chris Mason 3-1 Roland Scholten Michael van Gerwen 3-0 Kevin Dowling Losers £600 |
| Fourth Round Ronnie Baxter 3-2 Phil Taylor Wayne Mardle 3-2 Colin Lloyd Mervyn King 3-1 Mark Walsh Alan Tabern 3-2 Terry Jenkins Chris Mason 3-1 James Wade Roland Scholten 3-0 Dennis Priestley Michael van Gerwen 3-1 Andy Hamilton Kevin Dowling 3-2 Steve Evans Losers £300 |
| Third Round Phil Taylor 3-0 Brendan Dolan Ronnie Baxter 3-2 Louis Blundell Wayne Mardle 3-2 Jelle Klaasen Colin Lloyd 3-2 Dennis Smith Mark Walsh 3-2 Mick Savvery Mervyn King 3-1 Tom Martin Terry Jenkins 3-2 Martin Burchell Alan Tabern 3-0 Kirk Shepherd James Wade 3-0 Gary Mawson Chris Mason 3-1 Garry Spedding Roland Scholten 3-0 Shayne Burgess Dennis Priestley 3-2 Chris Thompson Andy Hamilton 3-2 Steve Beaton Michael van Gerwen 3-2 Peter Manley Steve Evans 3-2 Stephen Hardy Kevin Dowling 3-2 Mark Frost Losers £150 |
| Second Round Phil Taylor 3-0 Matt Clark Brendan Dolan 3-0 Dave Smith Ronnie Baxter 3-0 Steve Cusick Louis Blundell 3-0 James Keogh Wayne Mardle 3-0 John Ferrell Jelle Klaasen 3-0 Alex Roy Colin Lloyd 3-1 Darren Johnson Dennis Smith 3-2 Robert Watson-Lang Mick Savvery 3-0 Ben Simpson Mark Walsh 3-1 Steve Brown Tom Martin 3-2 Barrie Bates Mervyn King 3-0 Frazer Hill Terry Jenkins 3-0 Wayne Atwood Martin Burchell 3-0 Steve Musson Alan Tabern 3-0 Owen Caffrey Kirk Shepherd 3-0 Jamie Harvey James Wade 3-2 Michael Barnard Gary Mawson 3-1 Kevin McDine Garry Spedding 3-0 Denis Ovens Chris Mason 3-0 Gary Welding Roland Scholten 3-1 Darren Sutton Shayne Burgess 3-2 Jonathan Overton Dennis Priestley 3-1 John Kuczynski Chris Thompson 3-1 Vincent van der Voort Andy Hamilton 3-1 Steve Smith Steve Beaton 3-0 Mark Tiller Peter Manley 3-1 Steve Hine Michael van Gerwen 3-1 Lee Palfreyman Stephen Hardy 3-1 John Part Steve Evans 3-2 Wayne Jones Kevin Dowling 3-2 Darrell Thorpe Mark Frost 3-2 Darrell Townsend Losers £75 |
| First Round Phil Taylor 3-1 Martyn Turner Matt Clark 3-0 Ian Critchett Brendan Dolan 3-0 Alan Warriner-Little Dave Smith 3-0 Brian Jones Ronnie Baxter 3-0 Aaron Monk Steve Cusick 3-1 Chris Cooper Louis Blundell 3-1 Colin Osborne James Keogh 3-1 Ian Lever Wayne Mardle 3-1 Scott Marsh John Ferrell 3-1 Kevin Reade Alex Roy 3-1 Taro Yachi Jelle Klaasen 3-0 Tom Wilson Colin Lloyd 3-1 Jason Barry Darren Johnson 3-0 Peter Walford Robert Watson-Lang 3-0 Wes Newton Dennis Smith 3-0 Chris Sargeant Ben Simpson Bye (Adrian Lewis) Mick Savvery 3-1 Ian Walters Mark Walsh 3-1 Joey Palfreyman Steve Brown 3-1 Lee Holden Barrie Bates Bye (Mark Jones) Tom Martin 3-2 Pete Allen Mervyn King 3-0 Mark Lawrence Frazer Hill 3-1 Stuart Holden Terry Jenkins 3-0 Paul Cooper Wayne Atwood 3-0 Steve Maish Steve Musson 3-0 Adrian Gray Martin Burchell 3-1 Dan Cook Alan Tabern 3-2 John Quantock Owen Caffrey 3-0 Jimmy O'Regan Kirk Shepherd 3-2 Darren Latham Jamie Harvey 3-2 Chris Beeston James Wade 3-0 Danny Pinhorne Michael Barnard 3-2 Pat Orreal Gary Mawson 3-1 Dave Askew Kevin McDine 3-0 Robbie Newland Denis Ovens 3-0 Colin Monk Garry Spedding 3-1 Lee Williams Chris Mason 3-0 Tony Ayres Gary Welding 3-1 Steve Lane Roland Scholten 3-0 Dave Ansell Darren Sutton 3-2 Matt Jackson Shayne Burgess 3-1 Mick McGowan Jonathan Overton 3-2 Karl Loiseau Dennis Priestley 3-2 Dave Honey John Kuczynski 3-1 John MaGowan Vincent van der Voort 3-2 Simon Whatley Chris Thompson 3-0 Carlos Rodriguez Andy Hamilton 3-0 Lionel Sams Steve Smith 3-1 Tony Eccles Steve Beaton 3-0 Ian Jopling Mark Tiller 3-1 Ian Eames Peter Manley 3-1 Peter Wright Steve Hine 3-2 Michael Smith Lee Palfreyman 3-2 Andy Smith Michael van Gerwen 3-2 Mark Jodrill John Part 3-0 Scott Kirchner Stephen Hardy 3-1 Bob Crawley Wayne Jones 3-0 Nick Fulwell Steve Evans 3-2 Dale Pinch Darrell Thorpe 3-2 Kevin Painter Kevin Dowling 3-0 Graeme Stoddart Mark Frost 3-1 Mark Dudbridge Darrell Townsend 3-2 Richard McLaughlin |
| Preliminary Round Matt Clark 3-0 Jason Crawley Brendan Dolan 3-1 Darren Moulsley Dave Smith 3-1 Kevin Harris Steve Cusick Bye (Richie Burnett) Louis Blundell 3-0 Sean Dowling James Keogh 3-0 Peter Edmonds John Ferrell 3-0 David Platt Taro Yachi 3-0 Jim Leighton Jelle Klaasen 3-2 Andy Howarth Darren Johnson 3-0 Alan Reynolds Robert Watson-Lang 3-2 Jamie Caven Dennis Smith 3-1 Alan Green Mick Savvery 3-0 Danny King Joey Palfreyman 3-0 Jon Archer Lee Holden 3-2 Darren Green Tom Martin 3-2 Mark Carter Mark Lawrence 3-0 Jimmy Mann Frazer Hill 3-1 Dave Ladley Wayne Atwood 3-1 Paul Williams Steve Musson 3-1 Gary Barnett Dan Cook 3-1 Darren Whittingham Owen Caffrey 3-2 Jamie Robinson Darren Latham 3-1 Lyndon Davies Jamie Harvey 3-2 Rico Vonck Pat Orreal 3-2 Richard Foster Gary Mawson 3-0 Andy Mason Kevin McDine 3-0 Gary Blades Lee Williams 3-1 Alan Caves Tony Ayres 3-0 Chris Daglish Gary Welding 3-2 Lee White Matt Jackson 3-1 Ken Dobson Shayne Burgess 3-0 Kieran Leal Jonathan Overton Bye (Andy Gourlay) John Kuczynski 3-1 Sean White Simon Whatley 3-1 Gary Noonan Chris Thompson 3-0 Ricky Williams Tony Eccles 3-0 Matt Chapman Ian Joling 3-0 Peter Aleman Mark Tiller 3-0 Richard Plowman Michael Smith 3-1 Jim Young Lee Palfreyman 3-0 Andy Pearson Michael van Gerwen 3-1 Tony Littleton Stephen Hardy 3-0 Steve Grubb Nick Fulwell 3-0 Russell Mason Dale Pinch 3-1 Paul Anthony Kevin Dowling 3-1 Kelvin Painter Mark Frost 3-1 Nigel Birch Richard McLaughlin 3-1 Ben Burton |