On this day in ... 2008: Stompé beats Taylor by 107 average in final of German Darts Championship

In 'On this day in ...' Dartsnews looks back on an event or performance of a player on a certain date. This time a return to 30 November 2008.

On 29 and 30 November the German Darts Championship was played in the Gerry Weber Centre in Halle. The German Darts Championship was one of the bigger Pro Tour tournaments at the time, there was no European Tour circuit.

On the first day of the tournament the first four rounds were played. Stompé then qualified for the final day by beating Wes Newton (3-2), Mick McGowan (3-2), Steve Brown (3-0) and Vincent van der Voort (3-1).

'The Matchstick' then took on Steve Hine (3-0) and Andy Hamilton (4-2) for a place in the final. Opponent in that final was the great Phil Taylor, who had beaten Kevin Wensink (3-0), Robert Thornton (3-0), Jelle Klaasen (3-0), Kevin Painter (3-0), Wayne Jones (3-0) and John Part (4-2) and had given up only two sets.

From Stompé, Taylor got more opposition, as the former tram driver played the match of his life. The match was played for four sets, where two legs were needed to win a set.

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The final

Taylor opened the match with two 12-darters to win the first set and threw an 11-darter in the second set, but that set went to the Dutchman via double 10.

In the first leg of the third set, both players threw a 180, but it was Taylor who took the lead with a 101 finish. Stompé equalised though by hitting double 20 after a 174 score. The third leg went to Taylor, who took a 13-darter lead to 2-1.

Stompé took the first leg of the fourth set with a 14-darter and then started the second with a 174 score and 180. His seventh and eighth darts also found the triple, but he missed the ninth dart because his dart on double 18 landed just above the iron wire. It was also his only chance to win that leg, because Taylor levelled on double 7, before Stompé made it 2-2 in sets on double 9.

The Dutchman then took the lead for the first time by winning the fifth set 2-1. Stompé then came within one leg of the title by throwing out 105 in the first leg of the sixth set. Taylor then had three chances on tops and double 10 to equalise, but missed his opportunities. Then it was Stompé who, via double 10, scored one of his best wins ever.

Stompé ended the match with a fantastic average of 107.28, while Taylor had an average of 108.09 points per turn. The Power even averaged almost 120 in the first five sets, but it was to no avail.