from bdodarts.com
Super Scott Waites was crowned world champion with a clinical 7-1 drubbing of “nearly man” Tony O’Shea to win the £100,000 top prize.
The Yorkshireman who had failed to reproduce his true form in five previous appearances was in defiant mood, blasting out six 180s, as his power-scoring eclipsed the performance of a below-par O’Shea.
Stockport-based O’Shea had been hoping it would be third time lucky after two previous final defeats but has to chalk up his seventh major defeat in a major BDO tournament.
Waites becomes the 22nd new name on the trophy since the event was launched on the calendar back in 1978 when the late great Leighton Rees from Wales became the inaugural winner.
Since then there have been winners from six different nations – England, Wales, Scotland, Canada, Australia and Holland. The win this year for Waites gave England their 13th winner.
Waites becomes only the third winner of the title from Yorkshire, joining Dennis Priestley and John Walton as White Rose victors, while at the same time thwarting 51-year-old O’Shea’s bid to become only the second fifty-something to lift the world crown.
O’Shea had produced a 30.47 per dart average to reach the final, whitewashing 2001 World Champ John Walton 3-0 in his opening game and then dashing the hopes of Steve Douglas 4-1. Mighty Kong, Robbie Green was Silverback’s Quarter Final victim (5-3), while flying Dutchman Wesley Harms was grounded by rampant O’Shea in the Semi-Final 6-4.
Waites, bidding to better three Quarter Final placings , opened his title tilt with a 3-0 rout of Dutchman Willy van de Wiel, while Belgian Geert de Vos was his second round 4-1 victim. Hartlepool hotshot Paul Jennings buckled under Scot’s hot form in the last eight, tumbling 5-2. And then the third seed achieved his dream place in the final by dismissing Richie George, the 23-year-old son of former double finalist Bobby, in the Semi-Final. Waites’ average over his four matches was 30.18 per dart, a shade under O’Shea’s performance.
En-route to the final O’Shea fired out 26 maximums, compared to 18 from Waites but the Halifax hotshot racked up 18 set wins from the 22 he contested compared with Silverback’s 18 wins from 26 sets.
Waites’ top finish was 156 with O’Shea notching a 161 checkout.
“Scotty to Hotty” took an early psychological advantage in the final, battling back from losing the opening leg to snatch the first set 3-1 against the throwing advantage after pounding Silverback with heavy scoring, including a 180.
Both hit maximums in the opening leg of the next as each of the five legs went with the throw, Waites chalking up an early 2-0 match lead with an eye-catching double tops, double 10 finish. He fired out his third 180 of the match in the next as he romped to a 3-1 set success, against the throw as O’Shea battled to find his form.
The Yorkshireman added his fourth successive leg and went on to claim the fourth set unchallenged on double four as frustrated O’Shea desperately tried to reproduce the form of his Semi Final victory over Dutchman Wesley Harms.
Rampant Waites notched his 22nd maximum of the week as he annexed the opening leg of the fifth set against the throw with his sixth double attempt, after disconsolate O’Shea missed bull for a show-stopping 124 to turn around the final. Double tops with his second dart gave him a 2-0 set lead and dictating the pattern of the match, the Halifax hotshot wrapped up the set with double four after the Stockport player missed three doubles to save the set.
Silverback’s misery continued into the next as he lost the opening leg, but he then snatched the second after Waites uncharacteristically missed four double attempts, bringing a wry smile to O’Shea’s face and igniting the crowd into impromptu chanting.
Two 180s from the 51-year-old fourth seed steered him to the next two legs, levelling the set with both nervously missing crucial doubles before Silverback grabbed his first set with double 16 to trail 5-1 at the interval.
As in the previous sets, Waites stole the throw in the opening leg of the seventh set, going on for a 3-1 success and move within one set of victory.
Despite a maximum from O’Shea (his fourth of the match and 30th of the week) he was frustrated by missed doubles as Waites steamrollered his way to the first leg of the eighth set. Silverback defiant in reply, with a 158 checkout, finished on double 19. Both nervously missed doubles in the third leg before Waites snatched double four.
Focusing on the task ahead, Scott Waites blasted out 140 and went on to clinch the title with a show-stopping 110, finished on double 16, falling to his knees in relief.
The newly-crowned champ declared: “I am quite happy with that performance. At the end of the day I have won the trophy and I am chuffed to bits. It is what everyone aspires to. I have won the World Championship…… I have won the Lakeside!
“The crowd have been absolutely fantastic this week. My Dad is in tears. He looked a right plonker this evening in the colourful shirt he was wearing, but it is his lucky shirt and he wore it when I won the Grand Slam,” said Waites with a big grin on his face.
Defeated finalist O’Shea embraced his wife, Gill and said he was “sorry.”
He confessed: “I was slow out of the blocks and Scott did what he does. In my other games I fought back, but tonight I was just not there and Scott never gave me a chance.
“I went into the final feeling really good and I am gutted – not for me but all those in the crowd who were backing me. I am really sorry I did not give him a game,” said O’Shea, who still managed a wry smile..
