The Dutchman Michael van Gerwen defeats the Englishman James Wade by 18 legs to 12 in the BetVictor World Matchplay Final at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
“It felt like someone had cut my arm off.”
Those were the words of a forlorn looking James Wade after being disposed of, with ease, by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World #1, Michael van Gerwen, in the final of the BetVictor World Matchplay in the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
The final score was 18-12 to the Dutchman, but victory seemed to be in the bag as early as the 15th leg. Van Gerwen taking out a 144 finish to skip into the break with a 9-6 lead. He won that session 4-1 after the pair had started all-square at five apiece.
It was a mouthwatering final that failed to live up to its billing. The pair, who shared 15 major titles between them up until that point, seemed to be riddled with nerves. Wade, who never finished a session with an average above 93.26, started disastrously when he was broken in the very first leg. Fortunately, for the 2007 champion he broke right back, but he was never really in the contest.
You can tell a lot about the demeanor of a man. Wade never looked happy. The only smiles that invaded his face were riddled with sarcasm. The Dutchman was the complete opposite with fist pumps and screwed up face shots the order of the day.
Perhaps Wade’s final came one game early when he was able to beat the 15-time World Matchplay Champion Phil Taylor 17-14 in the semi-final. Interestingly, it was the third consecutive time that Wade had beaten Taylor in front of the TV cameras, but the Winter Gardens was different gravy. Taylor had beaten Wade for fun on this stage including five finals, and it must have taken a lot of emotional energy out of Wade to beat Taylor on that stage for only the second time in his career.
Van Gerwen marches on. His £100,000 prize money means he has now won over a £1m in prize money this season: that’s £500,000 more than anyone else in the PDC. Victory also means the Dutchman has now won the Triple Crown after previously winning the World Championships (2014) and the Premier League (2013).
