Michael van Gerwen knew something was amiss.
Early into his UK Open Qualifier 2 clash against Darren Webster in 2018, the three-time world champion sported a bemused look.
Van Gerwen was gunning for a third UK Open crown in 2018PAThat’s because he couldn’t fathom how Webster was awarded a score of 140 from one of his throws, despite one of the Englishman’s darts supposedly falling out of the board.
With the score at 2-2, Webster began the fifth leg brightly as he pinned 20 and two treble 20s.
However, just as Webster walked up to collect his darts, footage showed his third dart briefly moved downwards.
The camera angle then changed to a wider shot, meaning viewers could not see if it had indeed fallen off the board.
Had that been the case, Webster’s final treble 20 would not have counted and it would have left him on the back foot with a score of 80.
Webster made sure he quickly grabbed his darts from the board, although one of them fell out of his hand.
As Webster made his way back, Van Gerwen simply stood at the oche and was left perplexed at how the referee awarded his rival the large score.
The commentator seemed to back up Van Gerwen’s version of events.
“Now that fell out of the board and there’s a quizzical look from Michael van Gerwen,” the commentator said.
However, the referee stuck by his call and had to explain why that was the case to Van Gerwen, who remained adamant Webster’s third dart was on its way out of the board.
Webster collected his three darts just as one looked to be falling off the board @michaelvangerwen8953 - YouTubeVan Gerwen stood in disbelief after Webster scored 140…[/caption] @michaelvangerwen8953 - YouTubeThe referee claimed Webster dropped the dart out of his hand rather than the board[/caption]“He had the darts in hand,” the referee said.
“Michael, he had the hand on his darts.”
Play was ultimately suspended as the tournament director was summoned to make a final call.
Unfortunately for Van Gerwen, it did not fall in his favour as Webster’s 140 remained intact.
Luckily for the Dutchman, the mid-match chaos had little bearing on the final result, as he cruised to a 6-3 victory over Webster.
However, his UK Open journey did not go to plan.
Van Gerwen has won the UK Open once out of his last eight attemptsGettyAs the No.1 ranked player in the Order of Merit, Van Gerwen received a bye directly into the third round.
But it evidently came back to bite as the 36-year-old was dumped out in the third round by countryman Jeffrey de Zwaan 10-8.
Gary Anderson, a two-time world champion would ultimately be the last man standing at the 2018 UK Open thanks to an 11-7 victory over Corey Cadby in the final.
As for Van Gerwen, he had to wait until 2020 to taste UK Open success again.
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