Whitewash win for Part

John Part found a winning formula at long last as he won his first Players Championship since 2007 with a brilliant 6-0 whitewash against Mark Walsh in Derby on Sunday.

The Canadian, who has drifted out to 32nd in the PDC Order of Merit over the past two years, began his fightback to move back up the rankings with a fine showing at the Moorways Centre.

Having missed double 12 for a nine-dart finish during Saturday's Players Championship, Part continued the excellent form throughout Sunday's £35,000 event.

After overcoming Darren Johnson, Mark Dudbridge and Denis Ovens in the early rounds, he whitewashed Richie Burnett in the last 16 and then defeated in-form pair Jamie Caven and Wes Newton to reach his first final since last April.

That appearance, in a UK Open Qualifier, had seen him lose 6-3 to Walsh but the three-time World Champion made amends with a superb performance, averaging 104.86 in a whitewash of the world number nine.

Great feeling

"It's a great feeling," said Part. "It wasn't too much about revenge against Mark for the defeat in the final last year but it was in my mind that the week after that he also beat me in Derby 6-5, which kind of rubbed my nose in the dirt!

"It does feel good but it's nothing serious, I'm more happy just to have beaten him and won because I was really steady all day.

"Maybe I got a bit lucky against Denis Ovens because I was 5-2 down and not scoring too well compared to my other games but I hung in there and won it, and I followed through to get to the final.

"I always feel pressure coming into an event but once I got past the first round I didn't feel any pressure when I got the run going.

"The standard's so high now but I've got nothing to lose. I've been there and done it, but am not up there at the moment, so nobody's expecting me to win and I can enjoy it and play well."

Walsh was denied a PDC ProTour victory in Derby for the third successive year by the defeat, but had shown his class with a narrow 6-5 semi-final win over Mervyn King - who missed three match darts in a tight encounter.

Walsh also edged out Andy Smith and Nick Fullwell 6-5 in the event, as well as defeating Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan 6-1 in the quarter-finals.