MARK Webster’s hopes of claiming an early PDC crown in 2012 ended with him being pipped by Pipe.
Justin Pipe proved to be Mark’s bogeyman when Benidorm’s Melia Hotel staged two Players’ Championship events.
There were a pair of competitions over the weekend and in both of them, Pipe accounted for Webster during the fourth round stage.
In Saturday’s Spanish Darts Trophy Players’ Championship contest, Pipe took the fourth round spoils by edging Mark out 6-4 and he used that triumph as a springboard to taking the title, whitewashing Paul Nicholson 6-0 in the final.
Prior to the last-16, Mark’s progress had been a smooth one.
Seeded 16th, Webster saw off Joe Murnan 6-3 in the first round, which was followed by a comfortable 6-2 win versus Prakash Jiwa in round two. There was a similar scoreline when Mark defeated Nick Fullwell in the third round.
Part two of Webster v Pipe was played on the Sunday and this fourth round clash went the distance, before the Taunton player won it 6-5.
He once again made it through to the final after this success, but Pipe had to settle for the runner-up berth as Michael Smith claimed his second ever PDC ProTour title with a 6-3 final win.
Mark was faced with a trickier draw in the Spanish Darts Classic Players’ Championship.
His first round opponent was James Richardson, who famously dumped five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld out in the first round of this year’s World Championships.
Webster edged through 6-4, while a more comfortable 6-2 success awaited him during the second round meeting with Gibraltar’s Dyson Parody. Mark then saw off World Grand Prix runner-up Brendan Dolan 6-3 in the third round.