Darts: Taylor edges thriller to survive 'vulture' attack

Phil Taylor completed a hat-trick of World Matchplay titles, but was pushed all the way in Saturday's final by John Part, eventually winning 18-16 at the Winter Gardens here.

Taylor, who completed a nine-dart finish for £100,000 on Thursday, won the darts for the start of the match and handed them to Canadian Part. As is his usual way the 10-times world champion stole the advantage back to win the first leg.

Despite that setback, Part, who suffered a humiliating 7-0 whitewash at the hands of Taylor during the 2001 World Championship, seemed to grow in confidence once he realised that a similar battering was not forthcoming.

By the 25th leg the pressure and frustration for Taylor began to show as he missed six chances to break Part's darts and the underdog gratefully took the opportunity.

Taylor recovered superbly in the next leg with a 161 checkout, but Part responded with a 160 finish to go 16-15 ahead.

"He really pushed me," said an exhausted Taylor. "Every time I missed he would finish his shots. At 16-all I thought this is a best-of-three now, and I need to do the business.

"It's been one of the hardest tournaments I've ever played in. The others sensed I was below par and they are like vultures. They are getting fed up with losing, you can tell by the way they play against me."