This time last year, Rob Cross was sitting at home watching the World Darts Championship - now he is world champion.
Cross beat retiring great Phil 'The Power' Taylor 7-2 at the Alexandra Palace on Tuesday Morning (NZ time) to cap off a magical year for the former electrician.
He is the eighth person to lift the trophy in the 25-year history of the PDC championships and the first man to win the PDC tournament on his debut since Raymond van Barneveld in 2007.
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Taylor, 57, who won his last title in 2013, won 10 legs and had 12 180s in the match, one more than Cross.
But he was no match for the 27-year-old who dominated the match, averaging 107.43 compared to Taylor's 102.26, while hitting 58.28 percent of his doubles while Taylor hit 45.45 percent.
"I feel great, but I got to say I won my first world title, but it's about him departing. It was my dream 15 years ago to play this guy and now I played him - absolutely phenomenal," Cross said after the match.
"I was born in 1990 when Taylor won his first world title. What he's done for the game, I hope he has a happy retirement and I wish him all the best."
Cross headed into the tournament ranked 20th in the world, but will jump to third in the world rankings.
He raced out to an early lead, blasting his way through the first three sets. It wasn't till the fourth set when Taylor showed some fight and it looked like a fightback was on the card.
But it wasn't meant to be as Cross won four of the next five sets to become champion.
It was a disappointing end for Taylor, who is hanging up the darts after an illustrious career which has seen him win over 100 televised titles - including 16 world championships.
"I tried my best, I just hadn't got that push against him," Taylor told Sky Sports Darts.
"He was like me 25 years ago, he was good and he was relentless. He just doesn't stop putting you under pressure and that's the way I used to be. He is a lot like myself - trust me, he's dedicated, he's listened, he's learned.
"It was like, I'm at the end of my career and he's at the beginning of his career- it was like old man against a young man. It was a mismatch really, he was a brilliant player. I tried my best, I really did.
"I'm so pleased that's it for me as I just haven't got the energy to beat him or Michael van Gerwen or Adrian Lewis anymore."
On top of lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy, Cross walks away with £400,000 (NZ$760,000) of prize money.
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