JOHN PART claimed the third major title of his career with a 6-3 win over Raymond van Barneveld to take the PartyPoker.net Las Vegas Desert Classic V.

The Canadian, a double World Champion, had to come through the qualifiers at the start of the week just to win a place in the main tournament after slipping out of the world's top 12.

However, he picked up his biggest title since the 2003 World Championship with a brilliant triumph against the Dutchman.

"I had a terrific honour in 2003 being the World Champion by beating Phil Taylor and I wasn't sure I could ever follow that up," said Part.

"But to beat a four-time World Champion like Raymond van Barneveld here in Las Vegas is as good, if not better.

"I've always believed myself and tried to keep going forward. I've switched from being consistent to persistent, and I guess I was the most persistent player this week!"

Van Barneveld, the Budweiser UK Open champion, also qualified for the event earlier this week and knocked out three-time Desert Classic winner Phil Taylor 4-3 in the semi-finals.

But, after going 3-1 down to Part, the Dutchman left himself with too much to do to see his hopes of another big title slip through his grasp.

He stormed out of the blocks to win the opeing set 3-1, hitting two maximums and a 13-dart leg along the way, with Part's only leg coming with a sparkling 11-darter.

Part won the next three sets in a decider, including a 101 finish in the second and a 115 in the third.

However, van Barneveld twice had chances to take sets, in both the third and fourth, before making amends by winning the fifth set decider with a 13-darter.

He began the sixth set with a brilliant 170 finish, and went on to level the game in the fifth leg after Part came from 2-0 down.

Van Barneveld again struggled on double 18 in the opening leg of the seventh set, with Part then landing in the same bed to move ahead.

He then produced finishes of 101 and 91 to take the set with legs of 14, 12 and 11 darts, before winning the eighth set 3-1 to move 5-3 up in the game.

Van Barneveld took the first leg of the next set, but another burst of three legs gave Part the victory.

"I came here having to qualify and defend ranking points from a semi-final two years ago, so it seemed like an overwhelming task when I arrived," added Part, who turned 40 on Wednesday.

"It felt like everything was against me, but somehow I've turned it around.

"It is satifsying after three years ago taking out Phil Taylor here and then losing in the final to Peter Manley.

"Perhaps Ray wasn't at his best, but I think I played a part in that. I tried to make my determination as visible as possible. I put it into my body language as much as I could without shaking my head if I missed, so that Ray knew I was there."

Van Barneveld said: "John is a fantastic player and I'd like to congratulate him on the win.

"But I'm very disappointed to lose. I had some problems with double 18 today, often I may miss once and then get the second dart but it seemed I missed two or three times.

"I think I played my worst game of the week tonight after playing well to get to the final."

Part narrowly failed to make it a double when he went down to Peter Manley in the final of the Mens Cricket tournament which was staged following the final.

THE Women's Singles Final saw Tricia Wright defeat America's Marilyn Popp 6-1 to take the title for the first time.

America's Stacey Bromberg won the Womens Cricket event, defeating Crissy Manley in the final.

John Part 6-3 Raymond van Barneveld
Set Scores: 1-3, 3-2, 3-2, 3-2, 2-3, 2-3, 3-0, 3-1, 3-1

John Part	6-3	Raymond van Barneveld
44	100+	45
22	140+	34
11	180	6
30.93	Ave1	30.95
92.80	Ave3	92.86
115	High Finish	170