James Wade has been knocked out of the US Masters in one of the biggest upsets in World Series history.
The Team Unicorn man was beaten 6-5 by young Canadian Dawson Murschell in a dramatic 1st Round clash on the opening day in Las Vegas.
But there were no problems for Gary Anderson who swept to victory against Canadian qualifier Jayson Barlow.
Wade though, only has himself to blame. He has now lost 14 last leg deciders in 2017. He blew SIX darts to win in that 11th leg.
But take nothing away from the 21-year-old from the superbly named Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada.
'Awesome' Dawson has played and won on the PDC Unicorn Development Tour....and Team Unicorn's Canadian three-times World Champion John Part has predicted that Murschell will be the next big thing in North American darts....high praise indeed.
Wade had it all to do from the off as he trailed 1-3 but normal service appeared to have been resumed when the Unicorn ace won three legs on the spin.....he then missed three darts for a 5-3 lead to allow his opponent to stay in the match.
At five apiece, Wade had the darts in the decider and appeared to be cruising but incredibly he missed those six match darts at 'tops' and D10 and Murschell hit 'tops' to claim the biggest win of his career.
No such problems for Anderson though, as he took just 11 minutes to whitewash Dawson.
An 11 darter, two 180s and 82 check-out to win 6-0 with a 12 dart leg. Gary averaged 103 and was 50% on the doubles.
On Saturday, he is plotting revenge on Raymond van Barneveld after suffering that surprise quarter-final defeat to the Dutchman in Shanghai.
US Masters 1st Round results:
Daryl Gurney 6-2 DJ Sayre
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Willard Bruguier
Max Hopp 3-6 Dave Richardson
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 David Cameron
James Wade 5-6 Dawson Murschell
Peter Wright 6-3 Shawn Brenneman
Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Chris White
Gary Anderson 6-0 Jayson Barlow
Q/Finals (best of 15 legs):
Gerwyn Price v Dawson Murschell
Peter Wright v Daryl Gurney
Michael van Gerwen v Dave Richardson
Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld
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Meanwhile from everyone at Team Unicorn, it is many congratulations to Unicorn Production Manager Lee Parker, who married Stacie Wilkins here in Las Vegas on Friday.
Story from STUART PYKE at the Tropicana Hotel
Wade image courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC
