THE sporting highlight of the year came just a few hours into 2011.
On January 1, Denbigh darts ace Mark Webster knocked multiple world champion Phil Taylor out of the Ladbrokes.com World Professional Darts Championship with a thrilling 5-2 win in the quarter-finals.
Mark averaged close to 100 throughout and Webster said: “It’s a great win, probably the biggest of my career.”
Taylor said afterwards: “Mark was the better player, without a shadow of doubt and his bottle was brilliant.”
In a classic semi-final the following day, Webster lost out 6-4 to Adrian Lewis, who went on to defeat Gary Anderson in the final.
“I’ve got to the semi-finals of the biggest tournament in the world and I’m really pleased with myself, but you don’t win world titles by beating Phil Taylor - you win world titles by winning the final and I’m disappointed I won’t get the chance to do that,” said Mark.
Despite the disappointment, consolation came in the form of Webster being offered a place in the prestigious Premier League.
The Denbigh ace made a stunning start to his Premier League career, romping to a convincing 8-3 opening night victory against last year’s runner-up James Wade in front of 10,000 spectators at the O2 in London.
“It’s the perfect start for me,” said a thrilled Mark.
“You don’t want to lose your opening game and it’s great to have won - and won so well.”
Webster’s average of 100.49 was only bettered by Lewis, who trounced Taylor 8-2 in their meeting.
Taylor was Mark’s next opponent when the Premier League arrived in Nottingham and despite superb 170 and 160 finishes, Webster went down 8-5.
This was followed by a heavy 8-1 reverse at the hands of Gary Anderson, but Mark recovered in brilliant fashion to throw the darts of his life just seven days later.
He demolished Lewis 8-2 in Exeter, thanks in no small part to an astonishing 110.19 average.
That is the sixth highest average in Premier League history and Webster said: “I was atrocious last week, but this performance has put that well and truly behind me.”
Unfortunately, that was to prove Mark’s final win in the Premier League as he underwent a torrid few months in the competition.
Webster’s only point in the last 10 weeks came with a battling 7-7 result versus Simon Whitlock in Bournemouth during the penultimate week.
Despite his disappointing Premier League campaign, Webster was Mr Consistency in PDC major events over the course of the year.
With a little more luck, Mark could have claimed his first major with the organisation, with his best chance coming in May’s Speedy Hire UK Open.
However, an unbelievable comeback from James Wade denied the Denbigh ace a place in the final at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium.
Webster lead 7-3 at one point, but Wade hit back to triumph 10-9 on his way to winning the title.
Mark conducted his own Houdini act in the fourth round, when he trailed Co Stompe 6-0 and 8-4, only to win it 9-8!
As a result of his run to the last-four, Webster moved into the top-10 of the PDC order of merit for the first time.
In July’s Sky Bet World Matchplay event in Blackpool, Webster again battled his way through to the latter stages.
His first round clash was notable for a nine-dart finish hit by opponent John Part, but Webster shrugged this off to triumph 10-8, and he followed this up with a 13-7 second round defeat of Steve Beaton.
But Adrian Lewis proved to be a tough nut to crack in the quarter-finals, running out a 16-12 winner.
Mark lost out to Terry Jenkins in the first round of the European Championship, but he was back in form during October’s World Grand Prix in Dublin.
Victories over Andy Hamilton (2-1) and Alan Tabern (3-1) guided Webster through to another quarter-final, where he was defeated by Phil Taylor.
And then came the perfect leg!
At the end of October, Mark hit a nine-darter!
It came in the Spanish Darts Trophy Players’ Championship event in Benidorm, in the first leg of his first round match versus Juan Huertas.
Another last-eight achievement arrived in the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts in November, where Lewis was again Mark’s nemesis. Three-wins-out-of-three ensured that Webster finished at the top of his group, seeing off Aaron Monk (5-4), John Part (5-1) and Jan Dekker.
There was a real battle of North Wales in the second round, where Mark challenged Dolgellau’s Martin Phillips.
Phillips held 3-0 and 8-5 leads at various points, only for Webster to reel off five legs on the bounce to win 10-8.
But Mark’s run was halted in the quarter-finals on the back of a heavy 16-5 reverse at the hands of Lewis.
Mark got to the final of the Players' Championship event in Doncaster in early December, only to lose out to a resurgent Kevin Painter.
The year ended just as 2011 had started... with the world championship.
Sixth seed Webster secured a testing first round draw against fellow Welshman Richie Burnett at the Alexandra Palace.
It was Burnett who prevailed 3-2 in a thriller that yielded no fewer than 20 180s, with Mark paying for a clutch of missed doubles.