Glen Durrant became the Unibet Premier League Darts champion on his debut after surviving four match darts against Gary Anderson before overcoming Nathan Aspinall in Thursday night's Play-Offs in Coventry.
It's the three-time BDO world champion's first major title since joining the PDC ranks at the start of 2019 and sees him fulfil a career dream just a month before his 50th birthday.
Durrant suffered semi-final heartbreak in five televised tournaments over the past 18 months, including back-to-back World Matchplays, and it looked like that tally would increase to six when he trailed Anderson 9-7 in a nervy clash that got the evening off to a scrappy start at the Ricoh Arena.
But three legs later - albeit with the help of the Flying Scotsman spurning three of his four missed match darts in a tense deciding leg - he finally reached new ground, where he'd meet Peter Wright's conqueror Nathan Aspinall for one of the sport's Triple Crown trophies and a huge top prize of £250,000.
Durrant, who won both of his two Players Championship titles in 2019, had of course already banked £25,000 by becoming only the third player to top the regular season table in the tournament's 16-year history after Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen, but this was all that mattered now.
The first final since the inaugural edition in 2005 to be contested by two debutants at opposite ends of their careers - yet both wanting it just as badly as each other - was understandably another hard-fought and tense affair to complete the campaign, with both players averaging in the low 90s during Durrant's 11-8 victory.
Both had displayed trademark character, hunger and fighting spirit just to get this far and after 10 legs they were both cancelling each other out at 5-5 without a break of throw.
Aspinall did, however, miss a dart at double 13 for a break in the very first leg as Duzza settled his nerves with a 14-darter while another chance went begging in the fifth when the Stockport star missed two darts when needing 32 to complete a 92 checkout.
Durrant's first opportunity came in the a scrappy next leg when his miss at tops was punished by Aspinall while he couldn't pin double 16 to finish off an attempt at 104 in the eighth.
Aspinall had another opportunity to seize the initiative only to squander two visits with just 87 remaining but he did cruise through leg 10 in 13 darts to restore parity.
The 29-year-old, who already has two TV titles to his name including the 2019 UK Open, arguably held the mental edge for his previous exploits and also having done the double over Durrant during the regular season but it was the experience of his opponent and renowned granite mental of his opponent that proved to be the difference.
After finally breaking the Stockport star's throw in the 14th leg to open up an 8-6 lead, Duzza produced a stunning 127 checkout to hold his own in the next after Aspinall had missed double 12 for a 101.
It was, in hindsight, the decisive moment of the final and even the distraught youngster harked back to it unprompted during his post-match interview, in which he sportingly hailed Durrant's achievement.
To his credit, Aspinall refused to lie down after such a body blow and took out 96 - his second highest checkout of the match behind a 100 that earlier levelled matters at 6-6 - to hold his throw after Duzza had just missed the bullseye to break it.
The popular Teessider moved one leg away from glory with a 72 checkout in the 17th leg and although the 2019 US Darts Master did pull one more back, it merely served to delay the inevitable as Durrant finally brushed aside any late wobbles to convert his fifth title dart.
Durrant told www.pdc.tv: "It's unbelievable. This supersedes everything I've achieved before. Tonight I feel like the best player in the world and I've never had that feeling before.
"I'm feeling absolutely fantastic, I'm ecstatic. This means an awful lot to my family, friends and supporters. It's a mammoth achievement and it makes my move over to the PDC worthwhile.
"The game against Gary will go down as one of the worst games in Premier League Play-Offs history but I knew I couldn't play that badly twice.
"I stepped my game up massively for the final and I knew I had to to beat Nathan, who is a consummate professional and will go on to achieve many great things in darts."
Aspinall, who collects £120,000, said: "Obviously, I'm absolutely mortified to lose. After beating the World Champion I felt I had another gear and that I was going to win the final, but credit to Glen.
"He came top of the Premier League, he's probably been the best player throughout the competition and he deserves to win it.
"It's still been a great debut year for me and I'll be back next year to go one better."
For the first time since the inaugural Premier League season of 2005, two debutants will battle it out for the title after Glen Durrant and Nathan Aspinall both came through gruelling showdowns at the Ricoh Arena.
Durrant came from 9-7 down and survived four match darts to win a nervy low-quality clash against Gary Anderson 10-9 as he reached his first major PDC final in Coventry.
The three-time Lakeside king had suffered agonising defeats in the semi-finals of the World Matchplay (2019 & 2020), World Grand Prix (2019) and Grand Slam of Darts (2019) but finally gets his reward for the perseverance and granite mental strength he's displayed since joining the PDC at the start of last year.
Tournament debutant Duzza had suffered a considerable slump in form during the six weeks since he emulated Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen by becoming just the third different player to top the regular season table and once again he struggled to rediscover his touch tonight with an average of 86.
Fortunately for him, Anderson was well short of his best too and only managed 87 himself as both players never got going.
The Flying Scotsman, who was chasing his third Premier League title having won it in 2011 and 2015, did produce a mini burst when 5-2 down to draw level at 6-6 thanks to finishes of 124, 120, 84 and 80, while another run of three successive legs saw him move onto the brink of victory at 9-7.
Durrant refused to lie down and pulled out a stunning 113 checkout when Anderson waited on 40 for the match to stay alive, before a clinical finish from 64 forced a deciding leg after his opponent missed an attempt at bullseye.
Despite having the advantage of throw, Duzza allowed Anderson to marginally seize the initiative and needed to survive another attempt at the bullseye to get his first crack at glory.
The Teessider initially fluffed his lines on tops after a pair of single 16s from 72 but got another chance when the two-time world champion spurned two attempts at double eight and this time he made no mistake.
With scoring so disappointing, the key to his success was his finishing as he pinned 10 of his 19 attempts on the outer ring as Anderson missed 18 of his 27.
Fellow debutant Aspinall joined him in the final as he overcame Peter Wright 10-7 in a hard-fought clash that also lacked the quality many would have expected.
The Stockport star, whose career has continued to go from strength to strength since winning the 2019 UK Open, trailed 3-1 early on as Snakebite made a pretty fast start but soon clawed himself back level at 4-4 before threatening a nine-dart leg only to fall short with his eighth.
Although he was unable to take out the 141 checkout en route to an eventual 11-darter, he fired in a 138 finish in the next to complete a 12-darter that moved him 6-4 up and then took out the 141 in the 14th to go 8-6 ahead. Although that was 'only' for a 15-darter.
Wright did pull one leg back but was unable to get another shot at a double as Aspinall completed a landmark moment in his career.
The 29-year-old, who has won three of his six career titles this season, averaged 95.67 compared to the world champion's 94.02 while he hit five of the eight 180s in the match and pinned 10 of his 24 darts at doubles as Wright spurned 13 of his 20.
Glen Durrant 10-9 Gary Anderson
Peter Wright 7-10 Nathan Aspinall
Night 1, February 6
P&J Live, Aberdeen
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Night 2, February 13
Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
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Night 3, February 20
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
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Night 4, February 27
Motorpoint Arena, Dublin
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Night 5, March 5
Westpoint Arena, Exeter
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Night Six, Thursday March 12
M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
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Night Seven, Tuesday August 25
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Night Eight, Wednesday August 26
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Judgement Night, Thursday August 27
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Night 10, Friday August 28
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Night 11, Saturday August 29
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Night 12, Sunday August 30
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Night 13 - Wednesday September 2
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Night 14 - Thursday September 3
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Night 15 - Friday September 4
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Night 16 Saturday September 5
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
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Play-Offs - Thursday October 14
Ricoh Arena, Coventry
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals (Best of 19 legs)
Finals (Best of 21 legs)
Top 10 High Averages:
Nine-Dart Finishes
Winner in caps & bold, runner-up in bold.
Top four each year made the play-offs (Top would play fourth)
Points in brackets
Season 2005
PHIL TAYLOR (23)
Colin Lloyd (16)
Peter Manley (12)
Roland Scholten (9)
Mark Dudbridge (8)
John Part (8)
Wayne Mardle (8)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 16-4 Colin Lloyd
Season 2006
PHIL TAYLOR (23)
Raymond van Barneveld (21)
Roland Scholten (10)
Colin Lloyd (9)
Ronnie Baxter (8)
Peter Manley (8)
Wayne Mardle (5)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 16-6 Roland Scholten
Season 2007
PHIL TAYLOR (25)
Raymond van Barneveld (17)
Terry Jenkins (15)
Dennis Priestley (13)
Colin Lloyd (12)
Peter Manley (11)
Adrian Lewis (10)
Roland Scholten (9)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 16-6 Terry Jenkins
Season 2008
PHIL TAYLOR (21)
James Wade (20)
Raymond van Barneveld (18)
Adrian Lewis (12)
Wayne Mardle (12)
Peter Manley (11)
Terry Jenkins (9)
John Part (9)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 16-8 James Wade
Season 2009
Phil Taylor (18)
JAMES WADE (17)
Raymond van Barneveld (13)
Mervyn King (12)
Terry Jenkins (9)
John Part (9)
Jelle Klaasen (6)
Play-off final:
James Wade 13-8 Mervyn King
Season 2010
PHIL TAYLOR (26)
Simon Whitlock (16)
James Wade (14)
Mervyn King (13)
Ronnie Baxter (13)
Raymond van Barneveld (11)
Adrian Lewis (11)
Terry Jenkins (8)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 10-8 James Wade
Season 2011
Phil Taylor (26)
Raymond van Barneveld (18)
GARY ANDERSON (17)
Adrian Lewis (14)
James Wade (13)
Simon Whitlock (11)
Terry Jenkins (8)
Mark Webster (5)
Play-off final:
Gary Anderson 10-4 Adrian Lewis
Season 2012
PHIL TAYLOR (24)
Simon Whitlock (16)
Andy Hamilton (13)
James Wade (13)
Raymond van Barneveld (13)
Adrian Lewis (12)
Kevin Painter (11)
Gary Anderson (10)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 10-7 Simon Whitlock
Season 2013
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN (24)
Raymond van Barneveld (23)
Phil Taylor (20)
James Wade (17)
Robert Thornton (15)
Simon Whitlock (15)
Andy Hamilton (12)
Adrian Lewis (10)
Wes Newton (5)
Gary Anderson (5)
Play-off final:
Michael van Gerwen 10-8 Phil Taylor
Season 2014
Michael van Gerwen (24)
RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD (20)
Phil Taylor (20)
Gary Anderson (20)
Peter Wright (17)
Adrian Lewis (15)
Dave Chisnall (10)
Robert Thornton (9)
Wes Newton (6)
Simon Whitlock (5)
Play-off final:
Raymond van Barneveld 10-6 Michael van Gerwen
Season 2015
Michael van Gerwen (23)
Dave Chisnall (22)
GARY ANDERSON (20)
Raymond van Barneveld (19)
Phil Taylor (15)
Adrian Lewis (14)
James Wade (12)
Stephen Bunting (11)
Peter Wright (6)
Kim Huybrechts (4)
Play-off final:
Gary Anderson 11-7 Michael van Gerwen
Season 2016
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN (26)
Phil Taylor (24)
Gary Anderson (20)
Adrian Lewis (19)
Peter Wright (17)
James Wade (16)
Raymond van Barneveld (12)
Robert Thornton (6)
Dave Chisnall (3)
Michael Smith (3)
Play-off final:
Michael van Gerwen 11-3 Phil Taylor
Finals Night Results
Semi Finals (Best of 19 legs)
Final (best of 21 legs)
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Play-Off Night Results
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Play-Off Night Results
Semi-Finals (Best of 19 legs)
Finals (Best of 21 legs)
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