It's been on the cards for a while, but Kyle Anderson has finally won his maiden big PDC tournament.
The Team Unicorn Aussie was superb on Saturday as he won Players Championship 17 in Barnsley and hit a superb 9 darter to put the cap on a perfect day.
It was the perfect warm-up for the World Series triple-header coming up in Auckland, Melbourne and Perth.
He beat Kevin Painter 6-2 in the final.
The fantastic 9 dart leg came in the last 16 all Unicorn clash with Ronny Huybrechts, which Kyle won 6-3.
"I knew it was coming," a delighted Anderson said. "It was just a case of getting it all together on one big day and I know there is a lot more to come."
He beat Tony Newell (6-3), Nathan Aspinall (6-5) and Ryan Meikle (6-1) before that victory over Huybrechts.
Then came a 6-3 quarter-final success over Stephen Bunting, followed by a terrific performance to win an all Unicorn semi-final against Michael Smith by the same score.
After six Pro Tour semi-finals, there were no mistakes this time! In the final against Painter, Kyle raced into a 5-0 lead. He kicked off with a 148 finish and backed it up with two check-outs of 64 and a 108 finish as well.
Painter, who was playing his first final in almost four years, stayed in it with a 128 finish of his own, but Anderson wasn't to be denied his prized title and a cheque for £10,000.
Anderson's first PDC title comes on the back of a brilliant double qualification for the next two big Euro Tour events.
On Friday night he qualified for both the German Darts Grand Prix and International Darts Open.
Fellow Unicorn ace Keegan Brown was also celebrating double qualification for the two Euro tournaments.
Players Championship 17 results:
Q/Finals:
Kyle Anderson 6-3 Stephen Bunting
Michael Smith 6-2 Yordi Meeuwisse
Kevin Painter 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Justin Pipe
S/Finals:
Kyle Anderson 6-3 Michael Smith
Kevin Painter 6-3 Jermaine Wattimena
Final:
Kyle Anderson 6-2 Kevin Painter
By STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC
