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Winmau World Masters 2009

The Winmau World Masters was held at "The Spa," in Bridlington where Martin Wolfie Adams, (see more on Adams) won it last year. From the first rounds, the commentators speculated that Martin Adams could be the first player to win the title and then successfully defend it for 21 years since Bob Anderson did the double win.

It is not the largest of prize funds in the world of darts with the first prize of only £25,000 and the second prize of £10,000, but it is not bad for a weekends work.

This years Semi Finalists were No 1 rankning Tony O’Shea against Martin Adams. O'Shea played Adams several times over the years and had not been very successful in the past including losing to him last year 6-2 in the Semis of the Winmau Masters. Consequently he was unlikely to be very confident of the outcome over the 11 sets again this year. Perhaps it was due to his apprehension and nerves, but his doubles let him down and he lost again with the same result of 6-2.

A young 30 year old  from the Philippines called Lourance G Ilaganold who nobody had really heard of, lit up the stage with his presence as he frequently did a little sort of dance after some of his throws. His opponent was Robbie "Kong" Green in the other Semis and unfortunately Robbie outclassed him producing a result of 6-3 guaranteeing him the £10,000 runners up prize at the very least.

The Final then was Martin Adams against Robbie Green with the best of 13 sets .

Robbie was on a bit of a roll as he had been playing particularly well for a few months after being picked to play for England back in March of this year, but the Winmau World Masters was his first major final. (More On Robbie.) During the match the commentators said that Robbie has a son called Jamie who might well be seen on stage one day as he is a fair player. 

At one stage the final was nearly all over at 7-3 to Robbie, but he missed double 16 to let Adams in, who then went on to take the next 7 legs straight and win with a very close 7-6. I think it was a case of Adams playing like his namesake the wolf who is well known for keeping on at its quarry and snapping at its heels until it wears it down and moves in for the kill. Adams, who had more experience and steadier throwing than Robbie's won out over the long distance.