Ian White claimed arguably the biggest win of his career as he beat home favourite Michael Van Gerwen to take the Dutch Darts Masters title.
It’s back-to-back European Tour wins for the Team Unicorn star and this victory moves him into the top 10 in the world rankings.
White defied the odds and a partisan home crowd to win a thrilling final 8-7 in Zwolle.
“It is an incredible feeling to win a big final and beat the best player in the world to achieve that,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Of course the crowd were right behind Michael, but this will be a massive boost for me ahead of the World Matchplay. I will succeed on the big TV stages.”
White was 3-0 up, missed a dart for 4-0, was pegged back to 4-4 after a Van Gerwen 170 finish, and held his nerve to keep in front. 
The World No.1 missed five darts for the lead and it went to a dramatic last leg decider. White took the spoils and £25,000 on D10 with the last dart in hand to deny Van Gerwen a 6th consecutive Dutch Darts Masters victory.
The Unicorn ace had beaten Mickey Mansell, Jermaine Wattimena, Vincent van der Voort and Peter Wright en route to a fourth consecutive Euro Tour Final.
He is desperate to succeed in the big TV ‘Majors’ and this victory is another big step to proving the critics wrong. The 48-year-old is getting better with age and a decisive run on the Winter Gardens stage in July would be just reward.
Story by STUART PYKE
