Stephen Bunting recorded an impressive 8-3 victory over Luke Woodhouse in the final of the Swiss Darts Trophy on Sunday to claim his second European Tour title of the year.
Bunting claimed his sixth title of the season in Basel with an exemplary display against first-time finalist Woodhouse, in game which saw the Liverpudlian average almost 104.
After missing six darts at double in the opening leg, Bunting never looked back and raced into a 3-1 lead before Woodhouse stopped the rot with a hold of throw on double nine.
However, Woodhouse could not live with the world number four, who responded immediately with an 11-darter en route to a comfortable victory at St Jakobshalle.
"There’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes," said Bunting, who averaged more than 100 in all four of his matches on Sunday.
"I’m playing the best darts of my life. I feel consistently that I'm delivering. I'm so happy with this win, it means a lot.
"Luke’s had a fantastic week, there’s no better time to be playing your best darts. This will give him a lot of confidence going into future tournaments."
Bunting kicked off Sunday with a 6-3 victory over Krzysztof Ratajski, before brushing aside Dutch icon Raymond van Barneveld in the last eight.
The former Masters champion then edged a thriller with Gian van Veen in the semi-finals, surviving a match dart to break in the deciding leg after the young Dutchman fought back from 4-0 down.
Woodhouse reached only his second PDC final after a standout display of doubling across Sunday’s action.
After dispatching a wasteful Jermaine Wattimena, the 36-year-old profited from a missed match dart from last year’s finalist Ryan Searle in squeezing through to the semi-finals.
In the last four, Woodhouse ended Cor Dekker’s best European Tour run, hitting 70% of his darts at the outer ring en route to a 7-3 success over the Norwegian.
