Phil Taylor claimed the Grand Slam of Darts title in style with a 16-4 rout of Gary Anderson in Wolverhampton.
Scotsman on the wrong end of heavy defeat in final
Phil Taylor was at his imperious best as he claimed the Grand Slam of Darts title in style with a 16-4 rout of Gary Anderson at Wolverhampton.
Having seen off Adrian Lewis in the last four earlier on Sunday, 'The Power' was certainly fully charged for the final, finishing the one-sided contest with a stunning 109 average.
He twice reeled off seven legs on the spin on his way to winning the tournament for a fourth time in his stellar career.
Poor Anderson could only watch and admire along with the rest of the crowd at the masterclass from his opponent, though he did provide a couple of early highlights.
The Scotsman began proceedings with a classy 140 checkout to take the lead and after being left waiting on 61 in the next, moved 2-1 clear by taking out 128 on the bull.
However, Taylor responded in style by storming 8-2 ahead, his magnificent run including three breaks of throw. In that time Anderson had just one chance at a double, failing to hit tops when left with 120 in the seventh leg.
He did finally stop the rot in the 11th, taking out 65, but by then it was only a case of delaying the inevitable.
Double 10 made it 9-4 but Anderson would not win another leg after that, Taylor landing a 124 finish in response to start another blistering run of success.
Record missed
And had it not been for some poor finishing at the end, he needed five opportunities to land double two for victory, the 15-time world champion may well have broken his own three-dart average record of 111.21.
"With Gary you've just got to put him under pressure - you've got to make him miss," Taylor, who dedicated the win to commentator Sid Waddell, who is currently battling cancer, told
Sky Sports.
"I think Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson and James Wade are probably the best players I've seen in my whole career. I think the likes of Eric (Bristow) and Jocky (Wilson) would agree with me."
Anderson was not too downhearted despite being on the wrong end of a heavy defeat, admitting he had arrived at the joint BDO-PDC event not really expecting to get beyond the group stages.
"I've had an A-class lesson in how to play darts," he said. "He (Taylor) was phenomenal.
"But I came here not expecting to get out of the group stages. If you'd have told me I'd be in the final against Phil, I'd have laughed at you.
"It's been a bonus, and I've enjoyed it."
Taylor had been just as impressive in his 16-9 semi-final triumph over Lewis, finishes of 119, 111 and 108 seeing him knock out the reigning world champion.
Lewis performed admirably himself, hitting nine 180s and checkouts of 145 and 131, but he was unable to prevent his rival from winning eight legs out of 11 in pulling clear in the second half of the match.
Anderson had been forced to battle back from 10-6 down to beat Mark Walsh 16-11, the Premier League darts champion claiming 10 of the last 11 legs.
