Bill Davis stunned world champion John Part 3-0 with a sensational display of darts on the opening night at Alexandra Palace.
'Darth Maple' crushed on dramatic opening night
American qualifier Bill Davis stunned world champion John Part 3-0 with a sensational display of darts on an action-packed opening night at Alexandra Palace.
Davis, ranked number 64 in the world, powered past Part as the Canadian joins Dennis Priestley as the only other defending champion to have crashed out at the first stage.
After losing in the first round to Andy Jenkins in 2007, Philadelphia thrower Davis returned to the World Championships with a point to prove, and he certainly made one.
High scoring and clinical finishing saw him take the first set and, with the nerves clearly getting the better of the reigning champion, Davis capitalised superbly to move 2-0 ahead.
The Canadian had only himself to blame, after missing four darts at double 18, Davis stepped in and calmly wiped out double 12 to the ecstacy of the stunned spectators.
Miserable
Both players exchanged 180s at regular intervals throughout sets two and three, however with the scores locked at two legs apiece in what was to be the final set, Davis nailed double 10 and completed one of the greatest ever shocks.
Clearly overwhelmed by his achievement, Davis told
Sky Sports 1 afterwards: "It's just crazy, this is amazing. Anything can happen here."
Part, meanwhile was left to reflect on a miserable night, and said: "I had a chance of a good run in this tournament but I never got going.
"I didn't get out of the gate and you can't afford to turn up and not be at your best. I was prepared but it's too hard to narrow it down to anything specific."
One man tipped as a potential outside bet to challenge for the title is
Robert Thornton, and he was given a tough test before progressing 3-1 against
Wayne Jones in their round one clash.
However, the Scotsman didn't have it all his own way - nine missed darts to win the opening set allowed Jones to capitalise and move 1-0 ahead.
Despite the setback, Thornton bounced back impressively by powering through the next set and he then took out 81 under extreme pressure in the third to move 2-1 ahead.
Wolverhampton thrower Jones continued to ask plenty of questions in the fourth set, however the world number 35 hit his doubles when it mattered to book his place in round two.
Jenkins stunned
The opening match of the 2009 World Championship saw sixteenth seed
Roland Scholten unceremoniously dumped out at the first hurdle by Spanish qualifier
Carlos Rodriguez.
Scholten, who has been struggling with neck and shoulder problems throughout 2008, was dreadfully out of touch and went down 3-2 to the impressive qualifier.
Co Stompe completed a night which saw all four seeded players eliminated with a 3-1 win over Jenkins.
The Dutchman, who is making his PDC World Championships debut, scored heavily throughout the contest and took out double 12 to knock-out 'Rocky'.
In the only preliminary clash of the evening, New Zealand No.1
Warren French secured his place in the first round after beating Japan champion
Akihiro Nagakawa 5-3.
In a match littered with low scoring and missed doubles, the Kiwi arrower known as "The Frog" scraped through to book a first round clash against former world champion Priestley.
