Simon Whitlock quarter-finals. He then beat Brian Woods to reach the final, where he lost to the number one seed Mark Webster 7–5. He was the first Australian to reach the final since Tony David won the tournament in 2002. Whitlock entered the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship as the number 12 seed and reached the second round by beating Mark Barilli, but lost to Darryl Fitton. After many weeks of speculation, Whitlock returned to the PDC on 19 March 2009. He began playing in the AGP circuit where he won eight tournaments. He qualified for the Las Vegas Desert Classic but
2009 BDO World Darts Championship champion Trina Gulliver in the 2008 final, but on 7 December 2008 she resigned from the BDO/WDF setup after her defeat in the Winmau World Masters to Francis Hoenselaar. It later emerged that she had accepted the 70th and last place into the rival PDC World Championship, replacing an Indian qualifier. This meant that for the first time, the defending women's champion would not be returning to defend her title. Hoenselaar, a five-time runner-up, won her first world title by beating Gulliver – the player that had beaten her each time – by two sets to one. The event took