Michael van Gerwen failed to win the UK Open darts late on Sunday evening. De Vlijmenaar had an excellent tournament, but he was surprised in the final by Andrew Gilding. It is the first time that this Englishman has won a major tournament.
For a long time, Van Gerwen seemed on his way to his fourth overall victory at the UK Open. He had started the game well. He took a 2-0 lead, thanks in part to a nice 135 finish on bullseye. But Gilding seemed unimpressed. He stoically leveled the score again, but a 130 finish on bullseye once again led ‘MVG’ away from him. But he really couldn’t shake the Englishman.
Thirteen darter
With a score of 9-7, Van Gerwen was nevertheless on a sigh of victory. But Gilding succeeded break make up the deficit and come to 9-9.
With a subsequent 170 finish, ‘Mighty Mike’ still seemed to make the difference, but by throwing out double 12 the Englishman reconnected. In the decisive put Van Gerwen missed double 16 and Gilding took advantage. He threw a great thirteen-dart finish and set his first major title safe.
‘This hurts’
Afterwards, the Englishman indicated that he never expected to be able to win this match. He had never beaten Van Gerwen before. “I played all weekend steadybut not brilliant in my opinion.
According to Van Gerwen, Gilding did indeed play very well. “Competitions like this are always difficult”, the Vlijmenaar explained afterwards. Andrew had nothing to lose and I made too many mistakes. This hurts, but credits to Andrew. He played a phenomenal tournament.”