Broughshane’s Josh Rock hit a nine-darter on his way to a Final appearance at Players Championship 28 at the Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan.
The 23-year-old achieved perfection in the seventh leg of his fourth round match against George Killington, taking out two maximums and then 141 for the second nine-darter of his career.
Indeed, Rock would almost achieve perfection in the following leg, too, as he hit back-to-back 180s to start the eighth frame but would ultimately come up just short of repeating the feat, closing out the leg for a 6-2 win.
However, the day would end in disappointment for the former world youth champion as he would miss six match darts for the title and instead the Netherlands’ Wesley Plaisier would claim the victory with an 8-7 triumph in a thrilling Final.
It has been an excellent year for Rock, who won his maiden European Tour event at the Dutch Championship and already has a Players Championship title in his back pocket having won PC17 in Milton Keynes in August.
His tournament was nearly over before it began, ‘Rocky’ surviving a first round scare against Scott Williams by breaking the Englishman’s throw in the deciding 11th leg for a 6-5 win, and he would back that up with dominant 6-3 performances against Josh Payne and Andrew Gilding to cruise through rounds two and three.
That was followed by that remarkable display against Killington where not only did Rock hit the nine-darter but he also averaged 110.89, the best average of the day by any player.
A brilliant performance saw him past World No.6 Jonny Clayton in the Quarter-Finals, triumphing 6-4, before he held his nerve against Dirk van Duijvenbode in the Semi-Finals, breaking the Dutchman’s throw in the final leg to seal a 7-6 win.
But it would all end in disappointment for the Northern Irishman as a Final that saw a plethora of broken throws eventually fell Rock’s way when he had six darts to take out 32 in the deciding 15th leg for the win, but he would miss all six of them to allow Plaisier in to steal the victory.