IAN WHITE has spoken of his pride in ending his wait for a first ranking title at last Sunday's Players Championship in Barnsley.
The 43-year-old from Stoke defeated Simon Whitlock 6-3 in Sunday's final, claiming his first PDC ranking victory.
The runner-up in the revived 1997 News of the World Championship, White had also lost in five finals on the PDC circuit in the past two years since becoming a full-time professional.
His triumph on Sunday also included a 6-1 win over Stoke rival and former practice partner Adrian Lewis and a whitewash of Mark Walsh on his way to the £10,000 title - and White admits he was relieved to get the monkey off his back with a first ranking win.
"It's a very proud moment because it's something I've been wanting to do for the last couple of years, so to get over that winning line is the best day I've had all year!" he said.
"The other finals were in my mind. You think about everything that's gone on in the last couple of years and when I got into the final I was thinking 'Don't fall at this hurdle again'.
"When I got into the quarter-finals, I had a bit of a wait to find out my opponent and it was the worst thing for me, because I started thinking! I just wanted to keep playing, but when I got to the final I played good darts and it went for me."
White travels to Stuttgart this weekend for the German Darts Masters event, having lost in the final of last year's tournament to Lewis after hitting a nine-darter earlier in the event.
"It was a good weekend in Germany last year and doing so well there made sure I was qualified for some of the big tournaments too, so it was important," adds White.
"This year's different because the pressure's off me now as the win makes sure I qualify for all the TV events this year - I can just go over to Germany and enjoy the event.
"The TV tournaments are where you want to be to get people noticing you, and I can see that top 16 getting closer and closer.
"I'm up to 23rd in the world at the moment and I'm about £35,000 behind Terry Jenkins in 16th, but I'm not defending as much prize money on the Order of Merit, so whatever I can do between now and the World Championship will benefit me and I can push towards the top 16.
"People like Dave Chisnall and Peter Wright have been doing really well on the ProTour recently, but they're just as good as anyone else on the circuit at the moment but they deserve it for the amount of hard work they put in practising and the way they're playing.
"I'm trying to do the same - I won Sunday's final and had an exhibition booked so I was straight to that, and on Monday I was back on the practice board to get ready for this weekend!"