Canadian is first in Desert Classic’s final four, Barney joins him (UPDATED)

By Rob Miech

Saturday, July 4, 2009 | 3:10 p.m.

After a 40-minute delay, to reconnect a Sky Sports television hookup to the U.K., the greatest quarterfinals in the 16-year history of the Professional Darts Corporation commenced Saturday morning.

The top seven on the earnings-based Order of Merit were represented in the final eight. The eighth, Gary Anderson, might have been in that exclusive club had he played on the circuit the entire year.

That, according to PDC chief executive Matthew Porter, put this quarterfinal class in a league of its own.

Onto the action as it unfolds at Mandalay Bay:

John Part def. Terry Jenkins, 10-8

In John “Darth Maple” Part, North America has a representative in the Desert Classic’s final four, which will be staged Sunday morning.

The Canadian won the Desert Classic in 2006, and he eased to a 7-3 lead in the best-of-19 legs match. But after that second break, Jenkins stormed back to cut his deficit to 8-7.

The tightness and drama was reflected in the fact that the two players had split their previous 10 meetings.

When the match resumed after the third break, Part regained control by winning two of the three final games, closing out the match with a double-4.

“The lead I got was just too much for him to overcome,” Part said. “I felt a bit heavy at times. I have to forget it and get on with it. It’s worked so well.”

He admitted he does almost always feel like an underdog, carrying the weight of a continent, when competing against the many Brits at the top of the sport.

“I kind of always feel like the outsider, in a way,” said Part, 43. “I do feel like I represent North America, especially in this event. I’ve had a lot of success here.”

Part was given a dart board by his parents for Christmas 21 years ago and he regularly practiced at The Unicorn, a Toronto pub. He won the British Darts Organization's world title in 1994, and he won PDC crowns in 2003 and 2008. He has 15-year career earnings of about $1 million.

He will play the legendary Phil “The Power” Taylor in a semifinal, and Taylor holds a 26-4 lifetime edge on Darth Maple.

“You have to have a good start,” Part said of playing The Power. “You have to stand toe-to-toe with him. And when you have a shot at the end, and it’s your only shot, you better hit it.”

Raymond van Barneveld def. Mervyn King, 10-1

A former postman from Den Haag, Holland, van Barneveld, 42, never gave King any breathing room. “Barney” won the PDC world championship in 2007, when he also won the Desert Classic.

“When I was 5-nil up, that gave me some confidence and made you relax,” said van Barneveld. “Ten-to-one is a great result. I didn’t think it would be a 10-1 match.”

Phil Taylor def. Gary Anderson, 10-6

Another ho-hum performance by “The Power,” advancing him to another semifinal?

Hardly.

Anderson, “The Flying Scotsman,” had Taylor on the ropes in the sixth leg. A victory and Anderson would have taken a 4-2 advantage. Instead, Taylor capitalized on Anderson’s soft tosses to tie it, 3-3.

Then Taylor won five of the next seven legs, breaking Anderson twice, to fuel the victory and improve his record over Anderson to 5-1.

James Wade def. Adrian Lewis, 10-6

The strongest quarterfinals in PDC history yielded the toughest semifinalist field as Wade’s victory secured the top four on the Order of Mert going for the first prize of $50,000.

The semifinals will be a best-of-21-leg format, while the finale will be best-of-25. The runner-up receives $25,000, while the two semifinal losers get about $16,200 each.

Wade plays Raymond van Barneveld. They have split the 22 matches they’ve played against each other.