Alan Tabern rolled back the years - and held his nerve - to see off Simon Whitlock in a last-leg decider to seal top spot in his PDC Home Tour group.
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The 53-year-old, who won back his Tour Card at Qualifying School back in January before embarking on an impressive run to the last 32 of the UK Open at the start of March, upset the odds on Monday night as another big name was sent packing.
Whitlock, the world number 14, was favourite to qualify for the second round of this groundbreaking online tournament, which is taking place in a bid to give darts fans some top-class action to watch as well as provide players with much-needed competitive match practice during lockdown, but he joins the list of unexpected group-stage upsets alongside Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith.
It couldn't have been much closer, however, with Tabern edging out the Aussie 5-4 in the final game of the night to finish level on four points and leg difference with Mike van Duivenbode, who he'd beaten 5-2 earlier in the night to progress by virtue of their head-to-head record.
Whitlock was still in contention heading into that final match, in which he hit a 170 checkout, but he needed to win 5-3 or better having lost 5-3 to van Duivenbode at the start of the night before recovering to edge out Kirk Shepherd 5-4.
Shepherd will also count himself unfortunate having averaged 100 in a 5-1 demolition of Tabern only to lose a pair of deciding legs to Whitlock and van Duivenbode.
The result of the final match sealed more profits for followers of our Chris Hammer, who has now sealed six successive winners over the past four days of action.
Having previously tipped 9/2 outsider Martijn Kleermaker to top the standings on Saturday at the expense of Bully Boy, Chris backed Tabern to win Monday's Group 11 at 5/1 while his 5/4 match bet of the night (Whitlock v Tabern to have over 6.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 88.5 and over 2.5 total 180s) also came in.
TABERN WINS GROUP 11! 🏆
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) April 27, 2020
A 5-4 win over Simon Whitlock crowns Alan Tabern the winner of Group 11 of the Unibet Home Tour! pic.twitter.com/DwV8s04TWu
170 CHECKOUT! 🎣
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) April 27, 2020
It was his trademark when he first joined the PDC and how important could that be as Whitlock breaks throw with an incredible 170 checkout to lead in this must-win final match! pic.twitter.com/ApeRm0pN0j
- Each night’s action begins at 1930 BST, and will include webcam footage of each player and their dart board, live score graphics and commentary from Dan Dawson. All PDC Home Tour action will be broadcast live on PDCTV for FREE to ALL registered PDCTV users, regardless of whether you have a paid or free membership
PDC Home Tour Darts: Monday results and Tuesday Fixtures
Play begins at 1930 BST each night
Best of nine legs
Click here for Sky Bet odds
GROUP 11 - Monday April 27
- Simon Whitlock 3-5 Mike van Duivenbode
- Kirk Shepherd 5-1 Alan Tabern
- Mike van Duivenbode 2-5 Alan Tabern
- Simon Whitlock 5-4 Kirk Shepherd
- Kirk Shepherd 4-5 Mike van Duivenbode
- Alan Tabern 5-4 Simon Whitlock
GROUP STANDINGS
- Alan Tabern P 3 W 2 L 1 Leg Diff 0 Pts 4
- Mike van Duivenbode P 3 W 2 L 1 Leg Diff 0 Pts 4
- Kirk Shepherd P 3 W 1 L 2 Leg Diff +2 Pts 2
- Simon Whitlock P 3 W 1 L 2 Leg Diff -2 Pts 2
GROUP 12 - Tuesday April 28
- Max Hopp v Mike De Decker
- Keegan Brown v Conan Whitehead
- Mike De Decker v Conan Whitehead
- Max Hopp v Keegan Brown
- Keegan Brown v Mike De Decker
- Conan Whitehead v Max Hopp
GROUP STANDINGS
- Max Hopp P 0 W 0 L 0 Leg Diff +0 Pts 0
- Mike De Decker P 0 W 0 L 0 Leg Diff +0 Pts 0
- Conan Whitehead P 0 W 0 L 0 Leg Diff +0 Pts 0
- Keegan Brown P 0 W 0 L 0 Leg Diff +0 Pts 0
