It was a night to forget for former Players Championship winner Gary Anderson in Minehead.
Still clearly hampered by a back strain that he picked up at the Grand Slam semi-final last weekend, the Team Unicorn star slumped to a 6-3 1st Round defeat to Irishman Mickey Mansell.
Gary has also been concerned by matters away from Darts with his baby daughter in hospital with respiratory problems.
From the moment he missed five darts to break Mansell in the opening leg, it went wrong for the Scot. Mansell broke in the 6th leg, then took out a 136 Check-out and won with an 86 average to Anderson's 84.
But Ian White did make it through.
White was involved in a thriller with Raymond van Barneveld. The Unicorn man missed a match dart, then survived two match darts before squeezing through in a last leg.
The game swung one way then the other. A 127 finish saw Van Barneveld lead 3-1 before a run of three straight legs saw White hit the front for the first time. White then missed the bull for a 179 check-out and Barney levelled.
The next two legs were shared to force the decider. Both hit 180s....White missed 'tops' to win it then the Dutchman blew match darts at D8 and D4 before the Unicorn ace returned to win it on D10. He now plays John Henderson in the 2nd Round.
Kyle Anderson also departed the tournament. He hit a 170 finish in his match against Ron Meulenkamp but missed darts to force a deciding leg and was beaten 6-4 by the Dutchman.
And Michael Smith slumped to defeat, losing 6-3 to Jan Dekker despite also hitting a 170.
The shock of the day saw Steve Hine, who is ranked 104 in the world, put out Peter Wright 6-5.
Story STUART PYKE
Photo Lawrence Lustig / PDC
