ROSS SNOOK will make his William Hill World Darts Championship debut in December after defeating Darin Young in the final of the North American Qualifier on Sunday.
The 32-player finals concluded a weekend of action at the Ambassador Resort & Convention Centre in Kingston, Ontario - with Ottawa's Snook emerging victorious after coming through Saturday's qualifiers before progressing through the knockout stages 24 hours later.
After overcoming Shawn Burt in the first round, Snook then knocked out three-time World Champion John Part - the number one seed - in straight sets before seeing off former UK Open finalist Gary Mawson 3-1 in the quarter-finals.
He then edged out Jerry van Loan in a deciding fifth set at the semi-final stage before denying Young a tenth World Championship appearance, and lost only one leg as he defeated the left-hander in straight sets.
Young, the number three seed, dropped only two sets in his run to the final as he defeated Jason Roker, Gary Broomhead, David Fatum and Chris White, only to lose out.
Number two seed Larry Butler joined Mawson, Fatum and DJ Sayre in the quarter-finals, while Canada's Dave Richardson - a qualifier for the 2015 World Championship - joined Part in missing out at the last 16 stage.
The weekend also saw Chris Coulter win the Canadian qualifier for the PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship, with Avery Bozetti having come through the American qualifier a fortnight ago.
2016/17 William Hill World Darts Championship
North American Qualififer
Last 32
John Part (1) 3-0 David Young
Ross Snook (16) 3-1 Shawn Burt
Martin Tremblay (8) 3-1 Norman Madhoo
Gary Mawson (9) 3-0 Jim Long
DJ Sayre (4) 3-0 Kirk Perry
Dave Richardson (13) 3-0 Ryan Morey
Bob Sinnaeve (5) 3-0 Norman May
Jerry van Loan 3-2 Timmy Nicoll (12)
Larry Butler (2) 3-0 Todd Crans
Jayson Barlow 3-2 Paul Bolduc (15)
Chris White (7) 3-2 John Hannon
Bruce Davey 3-0 Danny Lauby Jnr (10)
Darin Young (3) 3-0 Jason Roker
Gary Broomhead 3-1 Gordon Dixon (14)
David Fatum (6) 3-2 Oliver Jones
Shawn Brennemann 3-2 Dan Olson (11)
Last 16
Ross Snook 3-0 John Part
Gary Mawson 3-1 Martin Tremblay
DJ Sayre 3-2 Dave Richardson
Jerry van Loan 3-2 Bob Sinnaeve
Larry Butler 3-0 Jayson Barlow
Chris White 3-0 Bruce Davey
Darin Young 3-1 Gary Broomhead
David Fatum 3-1 Shawn Brennemann
Quarter-Finals
Ross Snook 3-1 Gary Mawson
Jerry van Loan 3-2 DJ Sayre
Chris White 3-1 Larry Butler
Darin Young 3-0 David Fatum
Semi-Finals
Ross Snook 3-2 Jerry van Loan
Darin Young 3-1 Chris White
Final
Ross Snook 3-0 Darin Young