Brendan Dolan famously landed the holy grail of darts at the World Grand Prix in 2011
Wednesday 7 October 2020 23:30, UK
The double-in, double-out set format of the World Grand Prix is notoriously one of the toughest on the PDC Tour, so to land the nine-dart finish is the ultimate dream.
Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan will always be remembered for his nine-dart finish against James Wade at the 2011 World Grand Prix.
Dolan created history as the first player to achieve a nine-dart finish in the double-start format, which was the highlight of his career and earned him the nickname 'The History Maker'.
He produced the performance of his life in a 5-2 semi-final defeat of world No 3 Wade, which was crowned when he hit a perfect leg in the game's second set.
Dolan opened the leg with a 160 score before adding a 180 and a stunning 161 finish - treble 20, treble 17, and then the bullseye - for a magical moment which sent the Citywest Convention Centre into a frenzy and earned him a £5,000 bonus on top of a guaranteed minimum pay-day of £40,000 for reaching the final.
It's the greatest moment of my career.
"It's absolutely brilliant," said Dolan. "I've only done three or four normal nine-darters in practice, so to do one on TV with a double-start is amazing.
"After I hit the 160 and 180, I was concentrating so hard on getting the seventh dart in the treble 20. When I hit the treble 17 I just knew the bullseye was going to go in, I felt that comfortable up there.
"It's the greatest moment of my career - to hit a nine-darter and get to the final of a major tournament is brilliant and the only thing that can out-rank it is to win the final now."
Dolan's wonderful run in the tournament came to an end when he lost 6-3 to Phil Taylor in the final.
At the World Grand Prix in 2014, James Wade and Robert Thornton made history as both players threw nine-dart finishes in the same match.
Thornton missed four darts to win the match and that allowed Wade to win it 3-2 to advance. He made it all the way to final that year before losing 5-3 to Michael van Gerwen.
The biggest names in darts will return to Dublin's Citywest Hotel from October 6-12 for the 2019 World Grand Prix and you will be able to watch all the action with us on Sky Sports.
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