Newton wins maiden Players Championship
Published: Sunday, 8 November 2009, 8:16PM
Wes Newton claimed his first ranking title with a narrow victory over Steve Beaton in Saturday's Scottish Players Championship.
Newton has reached three PDC Pro Tour finals since the summer without victory, but ended that run in a final-leg thriller with Beaton at the Magnum Centre in Irvine.
In-form Beaton had defeated the Fleetwood ace a fortnight ago to claim his first win for eight years, but missed one dart for another victory in the deciding leg of this clash.
Beaton took the final's opener and landed a 180 in the second, but missed doubles allowed Newton to level, and the pair also traded the next two before an 11-darter put the Warwickshire-based star 3-2 up.
Newton landed two 140s and a 70 finish to level, and then defied another 180 from Beaton to land double 12 for a break of throw for a 4-3 lead after his opponent missed double 16 for the leg.
Newton then hit four ton-plus scores and double eight to move 5-3 up - before Beaton landed back-to-back 14-dart finishes to send the final into a decider.
Beaton landed two 140s, but a missed double 16 allowed Newton - who had hit scores of 139 and 137 in leaving 66 - back to snatch the win on double 18.
"I'm so relieved to have finally won a Players Championship," said Newton. "There was so much pressure on me in the final and I was trying not to think about it and just to play darts how I had throughout the day.
"I played awesome all day long - it's probably the best I've played consistently round on round - so I'm over the moon.
"I was 5-3 up and Steve got it back to five-all and had the darts in the last leg, and I thought I'd blown it!
"I knew I had to produce just one big leg and treated it like it was just a normal leg down at my local pub, and luckily enough I won it."
The win was a fine way for Newton to bounce back from the disappointment of a first round loss in Friday's PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts ITV Wildcard Qualifier, an event he won last year in Irvine.
A whitewash of Mick McGowan saw him start the day perfectly, and he narrowly missed double 12 for a nine-darter in defeating Nick Fullwell 6-1 in the second round, admitting: "I thought it was in and even celebrated, but it was right on the wire!"
Newton also dropped just one leg in a win over Roland Scholten before defeating Northern Irish pair Brendan Dolan and John MaGowan to reach the semi-finals, where he saw off Andy Smith 6-3
Beaton sneaked past Peter Wright 6-5 in an exciting semi-final, with colourful star Wright missing three darts for victory in the decider before the European Championship runner-up took out 128 on the bull for victory.
Resurgent Beaton included Dutch pair Vincent van der Voort and Jelle Klaasen as well as former Lakeside Champion Mark Webster amongst his victims in reaching his third PDC Pro Tour final in as many months.
Wright's run to the semis matched his previous best run on the PDC Pro Tour, in the Las Vegas Players Championship this summer, and included a 6-2 win over practice partner Mervyn King in the last 16.
Steve Brown and John MaGowan reached the quarter-finals for just the second time this year, while Gary Anderson also reached the last eight before losing 6-2 to Smith.